Sunnyside Personal Injury Lawyer
Victims injured by another person’s negligent acts have the right to recovery in Sunnyside, provided they do so within the necessary timeframe.
Victims in Sunnyside generally have three years from the date they sustained their injuries to sue for injury. When entering into litigation against another party, having statements from witnesses such as eyewitnesses, expert witnesses, and character witnesses, is helpful. For victims of vehicle accidents, proving that their injuries are severe enough to warrant civil action may be necessary. Depending on the cause of your injuries and the type of accident you were hurt in, you might be able to sue multiple parties for compensatory damages in Sunnyside.
To get a free and confidential review of your case from The Carrion Law Firm, call our Sunnyside personal injury lawyers today at (718) 841-0083.
Deadline to Sue for Personal Injury in Sunnyside
Personal injury cases are beholden to a filing deadline in Sunnyside. Claims that are not brought within a specific timeframe will not be successful.
The general filing deadline for injury claims is three years in Sunnyside. This is put into effect the day a victim is injured or the day a victim should have reasonably discovered their injuries. The filing timeline is also tolled for minor victims. Minors injured in Sunnyside have three years from the day they turn 18, or their 21st birthday, to sue for an injury.
The deadline to bring a claim for injury is strict. Suppose you do not contact our personal injury lawyers soon enough to bring a case before the time to sue runs out in Sunnyside. In that case, you will be unable to recover compensation of any kind against a negligent party. This is true for victims of any type of accident that falls under the umbrella of personal injury, such as victims of car crashes, defective product incidents, workplace accidents, and slip and fall accidents.
Helpful Witness Statements in a Sunnyside Personal Injury Claim
To succeed, personal injury cases often depend on certain types of evidence, such as witness statements. Several types of witness statements can be helpful in your lawsuit for injury in Sunnyside.
Statements from eyewitnesses can be crucial for victims seeking compensation for an injury in Sunnyside. These are accounts from those who saw an accident unfold first-hand. Eyewitnesses may be able to identify an at-fault party or provide additional insight into how a defendant acted negligently. Although law enforcement officers might not have witnessed an incident, they may be able to provide statements in support of a victim’s claim. For example, police officers can attest to a defendant’s demeanor, initial property damage, and a victim’s immediate injuries.
Statements from expert witnesses are also typically important. Medical experts can explain how a victim would most likely sustain the injuries they did and what medical treatment is necessary to aid in their physical recovery.
Finally, statements from people who know a plaintiff personally can be hugely beneficial. Statements from a victim’s close friends and family can help to demonstrate the pain and suffering they have experienced while living with injuries caused by an at-fault party in Sunnyside.
The Serious Injury Threshold and Personal Injury Claims in Sunnyside
New York’s serious injury threshold might impact certain victims looking to bring a compensation case for injury. These include victims of vehicle accidents, primarily.
If a victim is struck by a car as a pedestrian, driver, passenger, or bicyclist in Sunnyside, they have to pass a serious injury threshold in order to enter into litigation. Otherwise, their personal injury protection insurance will provide compensation for certain damages.
Injuries that pass this serious injury threshold include death, disfigurement, dismemberment, loss of a fetus, and permanent or significant use of a body member, function, organ, or system, according to I.S.C. Law § 5102(d). Suppose your injuries do not pass these criteria. In that case, you may still be able to sue if a doctor confirms that your injuries will seriously disrupt your quality of life for at least 90 of the first 180 days of your recovery in Sunnyside.
New York’s serious injury threshold will not impact personal injury victims of non-vehicular accidents, nor does it impact victims of motorcycle accidents in Sunnyside.
Who to Sue for Personal Injury in Sunnyside
Knowing who to name in your personal injury claim might not be clear, depending on how you sustained your injuries in Sunnyside.
The person whose negligence caused your injuries will be the one named in your compensation claim for injury in Sunnyside. This might be the property owner of the building in which you were hurt in a slip and fall accident or the driver of the car that struck you. In some situations, liability might not be obvious or could be shared between multiple parties.
For example, suppose a victim was hurt at work. While their employer’s negligence could have caused the victim’s injuries, so could a negligent third party, such as a product manufacturer. Or, suppose a victim was struck by a commercial truck in Sunnyside. While the driver of the truck could share liability for the victim’s damages, so could the company that employed the negligent driver. Identifying who is to blame for your damages is crucial in order to begin gathering evidence of fault and building a strong claim for compensatory damages in Sunnyside.
While fault can be shared between multiple negligent parties, it might also be shared with a victim. New York has pure comparative fault laws, reducing damages awarded to victims in proportion to their liability. Anticipating how comparative fault laws might be used against you in a personal injury claim is important so that your awarded compensation is not reduced in Sunnyside.
Learn More About Suing for Personal Injury in Sunnyside
Call (718) 841-0083 today to set up a free evaluation of your case from the personal injury lawyers at The Carrion Law Firm.