Sustaining a personal injury is often one of the most traumatic experiences in a person’s life. Many people do not know how to recover damages after being injured.
Fortunately, recovery is possible. Each type of injury case presents its own challenges and requires different pieces of evidence to prove each elements of a personal injury lawsuit. While personal injury cases can be complex, there are many steps you can take that can significantly increase your chances of recovering compensation later. Recovery in a lawsuit requires evidence, the specifics of which will depend on your case.
Contact The Carrion Law Firm today at (718) 841-0083 to have our Staten Island personal injury lawyers review your case for free.
What to Do After Suffering a Personal Injury in Staten Island, NY
An incident that causes a personal injury can often be chaotic, and a victim might not know what to do at that moment. While that is understandable there are certain steps that, if taken, can significantly improve your chances of recovering compensation later. These include getting medical care, reporting your injuries, taking photos, and reviewing your legal options.
Get Medical Care
Of course, the first thing you should be sure to do after sustaining a personal injury is to receive medical attention. Even if you do not believe your immediate injuries are severe, you should still seek medical care. Going to the hospital could uncover underlying injuries that you did not notice. This starts the important process of documenting your injuries and the accident.
In the days, weeks, and months following your accident, continue attending visits with doctors and medical specialists. Carefully follow all guidelines of your treatment plan, including surgeries, physical therapy, prescription medication, and any other treatments necessary to help you heal from your injuries. If you do not appear committed to your physical recovery, your case might be hindered. Furthermore, having gaps in your medical treatment or medical records might make it more challenging to draw the connection between your injuries and the negligence of another party.
Report Your Injuries
Victims should also take the time to report their injuries to the necessary parties. Depending on the case, you might have to call the police. Alerting law enforcement is often necessary when auto accidents occur in Staten Island. If you were hurt at work or on another person’s property, inform the necessary people of your injuries. You can do this in writing so that there is evidence of your correspondence.
Calling the police can result in an official incident report, parts of which can be used as evidence in your case. Failing to report your injuries at all, whether to the police or directly to the negligent party, might result in insufficient documentation that an accident ever took place.
Take Photos
If you can, take photos of your injuries and the accident location. For example, suppose you were hurt in the stairwell of your apartment building because of a leak that caused you to slip. In this type of situation, taking pictures of the area can allow you to gather evidence of a landlord’s negligence. If you were harmed in an auto accident, photograph debris and property damage to your vehicle. Take pictures of your injuries too.
Review Your Legal Options
Once you have received medical treatment, you should reach out to our attorneys to determine your legal options. Our personal injury lawyers will start gathering evidence for your case immediately so that there are no unnecessary delays in recovering compensation. If you were hurt because of another person’s negligence, you can likely sue for injury in Staten Island.
Recoverable Damages in Personal Injury Claims in Staten Island
Various damages are recoverable, regardless of the type of personal injury claim you file in Staten Island. These include damages for economic losses and non-economic losses.
The first set of damages victims are entitled to receive is for economic damages. These are all of the financial losses you have sustained because of an accident. When you provide proof of your financial damages in the form of medical bills, past paystubs, employment records, and evidence of other out-of-pocket expenses, you can more easily recover compensation for these losses. All costs related to an injury should be reported to our lawyers. If there is no proof that certain damages have been incurred, victims cannot recover compensation for them.
Then, there is possible compensation for non-economic losses. These losses include emotional and mental challenges victims might experience in the aftermath of an accident that causes them injury. In Staten Island, victims are typically not limited regarding recovery of non-economic damages. That said, in certain cases, like wrongful death claims, compensation for pain and suffering is not available. However, victims’ families can recover non-economic damages by filing a concurrent survival action.
Finally, there are punitive damages. Punitive damages are not compensatory damages and are used to punish or make an example out of defendants. Punitive damages are only recoverable if a defendant exhibited gross negligence when causing an injury. Because of this, not all injury victims are able to recover punitive damages in Staten Island. We can review the circumstances of your case to determine whether or not punitive damages are a possibility for you.
Proving Fault in a Personal Injury Lawsuit in Staten Island, NY
Personal injury law is separated into a few different categories based on the type of harm a victim suffered. Some personal injury cases result from careless accidents, while others are filed because the injuries were caused on purpose.
Negligence
Personal injury cases caused by the carelessness or recklessness of another person are considered negligence lawsuits. If the negligent party owed you a duty of care and breached that duty, injuring you, they can potentially be held liable for their negligence. For example, car drivers must care for themselves and others using the road. If they negligently cause a car accident, they should be held accountable for the damages a victim incurs. Slip and fall accidents and product liability cases are other common examples of personal injury cases based on negligence. In these cases, you must prove that the other party owed you a duty of care, breached that duty of care, the accident occurred because of the breach, and you incurred damages. This will require proof of negligence, which can be accomplished with evidence like witness statements.
Intentional Harm
The other most common type of personal injury claim is for damages caused by intentional harm, known in the law as intentional torts. Unlike negligence, which is essentially a careless accident, the injuries caused in an intentional harm case were done on purpose. Intentional harm includes acts like assault and battery. Because of this, sometimes a civil case will be accompanied by criminal charges. If the act and injuries are egregious enough, you can be awarded additional punitive damages intended to punish the defendant in a lawsuit.
Strict Liability
Rarer types of personal injury cases are based on what is known as strict liability. In typical strict liability cases, a business or property owner is held responsible for injuries, regardless of whether they were negligent in causing a victim’s injuries. Essentially, the plaintiff in a strict liability lawsuit is not required to prove negligence on the part of a defendant but must show that they did not assume the danger. Our lawyers are ready to help you with your personal injury case, no matter how your injuries came about.
Evidence Used to Prove Fault in a Staten Island, NY Personal Injury Lawsuit
Proving fault in a personal injury case requires evidence. Otherwise, victims will be unable to meet the burden of proof and recover the compensatory damages they need in Staten Island.
Some personal injury cases can be fairly straightforward, taking little time to resolve in a victim’s favor. For instance, a small fender bender that causes minor injuries might only require a select few pieces of evidence for our attorneys to successfully negotiate an insurance settlement on your behalf.
Other personal injury cases are incredibly complex, requiring a great deal of evidence gathering, investigation, and expert testimony. There may be many different sources from which evidence will need to be collected depending on the type of personal injury case. Some common pieces of evidence used to prove fault in a personal injury lawsuit in Staten Island include police accident reports, other accident reports, physical evidence from the scene, photographic evidence of the scene, photographic evidence of a victim’s injuries, surveillance camera footage, medical records, business and employment records, property records, witness testimony, and expert testimony.
This list is by no means exhaustive. Many other sources might harbor important evidence that our we can help you obtain.
With all evidence, fast collection is of the utmost importance. When investigations are delayed, things like surveillance footage and eyewitness statements might become increasingly difficult to obtain. Some evidence might get lost or destroyed if not collected immediately after an accident in Staten Island.
Call Our Staten Island, NY Personal Injury Lawyers for Help
For a free case assessment from our personal injury lawyers, call The Carrion Law Firm at (718) 841-0083.