Flatbush Personal Injury Lawyer
If you were injured, you might be left with medical bills, you may be stuck out of work, and you may be dealing with extensive pain and suffering from your injuries. This situation can make many feel hopeless, but there may be chances to get compensation that can provide you with the financial security that you deserve.
Personal injury lawsuits are legal actions that may be available to a person who suffers an injury caused by the negligence of another person or entity. To succeed in court, you will have to demonstrate the four key elements of a negligence claim: duty of care, breach of duty, causation, and damages.
If you feel you may have valid grounds for a personal injury lawsuit, you do not have long to wait. Call (718) 841-0083 today to get your first case evaluation for free from the dedicated Flatbush personal injury attorneys at The Carrion Law Firm.
Proving Negligence in a Personal Injury Lawsuit in Flatbush
When another person or entity causes you injury, you can seek compensation by filing a lawsuit against them in court. To win, you typically must be able to demonstrate that they were negligent, and that their negligence caused the accident that injured you. Below are summaries of the four key elements of any negligence claim: duty of care, breach of duty, causation, and damages.
Duty of Care
A duty of care is a legal obligation that guides how one person or entity must act towards another in order to avoid an accident (and liability for that accident). These duties are created and defined by the relationship between the party that owes the duty and the party to whom they owe the duty. For instance, doctors owe different duties to their patients than bus drivers owe to their passengers. Your Flatbush personal injury lawyer can help you learn more about what specific duties were involved in your injury case.
Breach of Duty
The next step in proving negligence is showing that the defendant breached the duty that they owed you. Essentially, this comes down to demonstrating the difference between what was expected from the duty and what the defendant actually did (or didn’t do). Flatbush personal injury lawyers will typically introduce expert testimony to explain industry standards in cases that are more complex, such as medical malpractice or defective products cases.
Causation
Once you have established that the defendant breached their duty that they owed to you, you must then be able to prove that their breach led to the incident that left you injured. This is referred to as cause. In New York, cause is split into two criteria: cause-in-fact and proximate cause. Cause-in-fact essentially means that the incident would not have happened “but for” the negligence, and proximate cause means that there were no superseding or external causes that might divert blame from the negligence.
Damages
To recover in a lawsuit, you must show that the incident actually caused you compensable harm. Compensable harm is any injury that you could obtain damages for in a lawsuit. This is one of many reasons why you should seek medical attention as soon as possible after suffering a personal injury.
Time Limit on Filing a Personal Injury Lawsuit in Flatbush
If you believe that you may have a valid personal injury claim in Flatbush, you should not wait long to act. The State of New York places time limits on the lifespan of these opportunities through laws known as statutes of limitations.
In New York, the statute of limitations for personal injury lawsuits generally provides potential plaintiffs with up to three years to file their formal complaint in court. This period usually begins on the date that you sustained your injury.
There are a few narrow exceptions to the three-year deadline that may apply to your case, so if the window has already passed, you should still look into whether you have a claim. However, it is always better to get started on your case sooner rather than later. Acting early allows for easier preservation of evidence, avoids missing any critical deadlines, and gets you the compensation that you are owed sooner.
Compensation Available in a Personal Injury Lawsuit in Flatbush
If you are successful in your personal injury claim, you are rewarded with damages. Damages are how courts compensate injury victims for their harms, both personal and financial, and may also be a way to punish particularly reckless defendants for reprehensible behavior.
Economic Damages
Economic damages are how the court compensates the victim for their direct financial losses stemming from their injury. This not only includes the costs of dealing with the injuries themselves, such as medical care, but also the costs of accounting for how these injuries impact you, such as having to take time off of work or change career paths to account for the effects on your functional capacity.
Noneconomic Damages
You can also seek compensation through a lawsuit for the pain and suffering that you experience personally. This could come from the consequences of your injuries or the trauma of the injurious experience itself. Because these damages don’t come directly off of receipts or invoices, you may find it more difficult to calculate noneconomic damages in your case without the help of a seasoned Flatbush personal injury attorney.
Punitive Damages
Punitive damages are not available in every personal injury case. However, when a defendant’s conduct rises above simple negligence to the point of recklessness or intentionally harmful conduct, a court in Flatbush may determine that additional punishment is necessary to restore equity and caution others against similar behavior in the future.
Discuss Your Case with Our Flatbush Personal Injury Lawyers Today
When you reach out to the seasoned Flatbush personal injury attorneys at The Carrion Law Firm today, you can obtain your first case evaluation for free. To learn more about our firm and the services we provide, dial (718) 841-0083 today.