Mariners Harbor Personal Injury Lawyer
A personal injury is perhaps one of the most frequently filed civil claims in our legal system. They may involve a wide range of accidents and injuries, and it is important that you hire a lawyer with experience working on cases like yours. Your lawyer should help you identify your damages and find the evidence necessary to hold the defendant liable.
Since the legal field of personal injury law is so enormous, different attorneys tend to work on certain cases, as handling all possible claims is simply not possible. Our office handles a number of different cases, including construction accidents, premises liability claims, drowning accidents, and more. If you decide to take civil action against the person who hurt you, you must do so within 3 years or risk losing your right to bring the cause of action to court. To have the defendant held liable, we must prove by a preponderance of the evidence that their negligent actions caused the accident and your damages. Doing so requires strong evidence, and we need time to find and prepare the evidence.
Get a free, private case review by calling The Carrion Law Firm at (718) 841-0083 and talking to our Staten Island personal injury lawyers.
Different Personal Injury Cases Our Attorneys Have Handled in Mariners Harbor
Accidents can happen anywhere on Staten Island at practically any time, and injuries are a regular occurrence. While some people might only suffer minor injuries, others might be far worse off. On top of that, the accident might hinder other areas of the victim’s life. If you were injured in or around Mariners Harbor on Staten Island, talk to our lawyers about getting fair compensation.
Construction Accidents
Staten Island and much of the rest of New York City are densely populated, with lots of homes, businesses, and buildings crowded together. While many people love the hustle and bustle of a busy city, they also have to contend with nearly constant construction. The city is constantly growing and changing, and old buildings might be torn down and new buildings erected in their place. Construction sites themselves are very dangerous places, and workers are sometimes hurt in accidents.
A great place to start is with New York’s Scaffold Law under L.A.B. Law § 240. The law imposes various safety requirements on contractors regarding when and how scaffolding is erected. Since scaffolding is a common part of many construction projects throughout the city, there is a good chance that a violation directly caused your accident. Alternatively, our personal injury attorneys should investigate other possible factors like faulty tools or generally unsafe work conditions created by employers.
Premises Liability Accidents
Another common personal injury claim involves dangerous conditions on someone else’s property. For example, you might be shopping in the grocery store when you slip and fall because someone spilled something in an aisle of the store, and nobody cleaned it up. While this might seem like a very minor accident, people are sometimes very badly hurt and might need extensive and costly medical care.
Property owners generally have a duty to make the premises safe, including removing or repairing known hazards and making reasonable inspections for unknown hazards. Exactly what makes someone’s premises dangerous depends on what kind of premises are involved. The property owner may be held responsible, even if they were not present when you were injured.
Drowning Accidents
Whether you are swimming in someone’s private pool or spending the day at a public pool, drowning accidents are possible and may inflict severe injuries on victims. If someone you love passes away in a drowning accident, you may file a wrongful death claim against whoever owns the pool where the drowning happened. Should a lifeguard have been on duty? Was there an overall lack of supervision? Your attorney can help you get justice for your family.
It is also possible that the plaintiff was the victim of a near-drowning accident. For example, they might have been underwater with no oxygen for too long and suffered serious brain damage as a result. Victims of these kinds of accidents might live with cognitive disabilities for the rest of their lives, and damages are likely substantial.
How Soon You Should Start a Personal Injury Case in Mariners Harbor
Surviving a bad accident takes time, but time is the one thing we do not have a lot of. You must file your civil case against the person or people responsible for the accident within 3 years. According to C.V.P. Law § 214, the 3-year window opens on the day of the accident. If we do not file your case in the appropriate civil court before the window closes, you might be forever time-barred from filing the case.
Remember, it might take longer to prepare your case and investigate for evidence than you think. It is normal for plaintiffs to spend months or even longer working with a lawyer on their personal injury case. Getting started sooner will help you and your lawyer make the most of your time.
Proving Who is at Fault for a Personal Injury in Mariners Harbor
Arguably, most personal injury cases are based on theories of negligence. Accidents are often not intentional, but that does not mean that a person’s negligent behavior should be excused. Negligence is a legal concept that involves four key elements: duty, breach, causation, and damages. All these elements must be proven for your case to succeed.
The defendant’s duty is the legal obligation they owe to the plaintiff. This obligation may vary based on the circumstances, but even a total stranger may owe you a duty of care under the right conditions. Next, we must prove the breach or whatever the defendant did or failed to do that violated their duty of care. Again, this may vary greatly based on the circumstances. The causation element is the connection between the accident and the breach. In short, the defendant’s breach must be the direct cause of the accident for them to be held liable. Finally, we must prove your damages. Damages must be real and backed up by evidence.
Evidence to prove negligence will very likely be unique to your case. For example, if a defective product injures you, we need the defective product as physical evidence. If a negligent truck driver injured you, we might need records from the trucking company regarding the trucker’s employment status and details about driving logs. A good place to start is the scene of the accident. Take photos, record videos, and exchange information with people who might testify as witnesses. Your attorney can help you gather and prepare the evidence.
Connect with Our Mariners Harbor Personal Injury Attorneys to Talk About Your Case
Get a free, private case review by calling The Carrion Law Firm at (718) 841-0083 and talking to our personal injury lawyers.