Huntington, NY Personal Injury Lawyer
The Town of Huntington has thousands of residents who could be injured in many different types of accidents. If you are injured, you may need help getting compensation to pay for things like medical expenses, lost wages, and other damages. For help getting these damages, consider taking your case to our Huntington personal injury lawyers.
An attorney can help you collect damages from the at-fault parties by filing insurance claims and lawsuits, when necessary. With the help of a legal professional, you can rest knowing that your attorney has your best interests in mind, has taken steps to collect strong evidence, and will fight to get you what you deserve from the lawsuit.
For help with your injury case, call our Huntington, NY personal injury attorneys today at (718) 841-0083. At The Carrion Law Firm, we offer free case evaluations.
When to Call a Personal Injury Lawyer in Huntington, NY
Any time you are injured in an accident, you could potentially qualify for damages from the responsible parties. If you spent any time in a hospital because of your injuries, or you had to miss any work, you have damages that a lawsuit or insurance claim could compensate, and you should consider speaking with a Huntington personal injury lawyer.
In most accident cases, there is someone you can hold responsible for the injuries. In some cases, such as home accidents, you might not have another party you can file a claim against. However, injuries caused by defective or dangerous household products, injuries on someone else’s property, car accident cases, medical malpractice cases, or even car accident cases should all be taken to a personal injury lawyer for help.
As for when in the process you should speak with a lawyer, it is never too early. There are important steps to take early on in the legal process to report accidents, get medical treatment, and collect evidence. Waiting too long can mean losing this opportunity, so you should speak with your Huntington personal injury lawyer as soon as you can.
Statute of Limitations on Injury Cases in Huntington
One other timing consideration to keep in mind is the statute of limitations for personal injury cases in New York. In Huntington and throughout the state, injury cases must be filed in court before 3 years from the date of injury.
While you have up to 3 years to file your case in court, you should typically contact a lawyer earlier. As mentioned above, concerns about medical treatment and evidence, among others, should be dealt with early on in your case. Additionally, there may be earlier deadlines if your case involves insurance companies or a government entity.
Determining Fault in a Personal Injury Case in Huntington
When you are injured in an accident, it can feel like it is all your fault. However, many injuries and accidents are actually caused by other parties that you can hold responsible for their actions. In some cases, victims might share responsibility, but that should not bar them from getting compensation under New York personal injury laws.
Who is at Fault?
Finding the at-fault party is often straightforward in some types of injury cases. For example, in medical malpractice cases, the doctor is often liable (though the hospital might share liability); in car accident cases, the other driver is often liable. In some cases, tracking down the specific parties to blame is harder, such as in defective product or pharmaceutical injury cases where multiple companies might have developed, manufactured, transported, and sold the product.
Ultimately, for a party to be responsible for an accident or injury, you must be able to show that they had a legal duty, and that the breach of duty caused your injuries. Duties are usually based on some relationship between the parties, such as the duties a property owner owes a guest or the duties a medical care provider owes a patient.
In many cases, you can actually hold people who were not present at the accident responsible for the injuries. In cases involving commercial vehicle accidents (e.g., taxi accidents, bus accidents, or truck accidents), the company that hired the driver can often be held responsible. Additionally, landlords or property owners who are not present are still responsible for dangers on their property, and negligent product manufacturers are rarely present when the defective product is purchased or used.
Talk to your Huntington personal injury lawyer for help determining who, specifically, is at fault in your injury case.
Shared Responsibility
When multiple parties share responsibility for causing an accident, the courts can assign partial fault to each party. In cases involving multiple defendants, this can mean each party pays some percentage of the damages you faced (e.g., a 50/50 split between two drivers who both caused your crash). In other cases, one defendant might be responsible for the other defendant’s damages, such as in cases where the victim sues a business and its employee; the business will often be liable for its employee’s negligence.
In cases where the court finds that you are partly responsible for your own injuries, they can assign you a percentage of the damages as well. Under NY law, there is no upper limit where your ability to file a claim is cut off. That means you can seek compensation for even a low percentage of fault caused by another party. However, your own percentage of fault is not compensated, and you are essentially responsible for your own share of damages out of pocket.
For Help, Call Our Huntington, NY Personal Injury Lawyers Today
To get a free case evaluation on your injury claim, call us today at (718) 841-0083. The Huntington, NY personal injury attorneys at The Carrion Law Firm are ready to take your call.