New York City Personal Injury Lawyer

Personal injury cases arise when something called a “tort” is committed. A tort is a civil wrong that infringes on someone else’s rights or harms them in some way.

So, it’s a type of legal dispute involving two parties – a plaintiff and a defendant. Very simply, the plaintiff claims that they’ve been injured in some way because of something the defendant did. Through the personal injury case, the defendant is being asked to take responsibility and compensate the plaintiff for their injuries.

Personal injury cases can be private disputes between the two parties (e.g., insurance claim for benefits) or navigate the civil court system in New York (e.g., personal injury lawsuit).

After you get hurt, you might not know whether or not you have a legitimate claim for damages. The only way to find out is to discuss the circumstances surrounding your injury with an experienced personal injury lawyer. Like most personal injury law firms in NYC, Mirman, Markovits & Landau, P.C. offers a free consultation. This gives you an opportunity to learn about your legal rights and get some preliminary legal advice and assistance.

When you sit down for a free initial case evaluation, our attorneys will ask you to recount the details of what happened. Our team will probably ask a lot of different questions to get a better understanding of what might have happened. If you have evidence, bring that to the consultation with you. Your lawyer can review what you have, assess the situation, and identify what, if any, legal options for recovery might be available to you.

After an accident, anyone who is personally harmed can potentially file an injury claim and request damages. There are times, however, when someone who wasn’t personally involved in an accident can potentially file an injury claim.

This would be the case if the accident victim did not survive the extent of their injuries. When an accident is fatal, the right to file an injury claim isn’t lost. Rather, it’s transferred to the victim’s family. More specifically, the personal representative of the victim’s estate assumes the right to file a wrongful death claim and seek compensation on the family’s behalf.

No two personal injury cases are alike. Every accident is different. So are the victims. There are a lot of different factors that can influence what a particular case might be worth.

• Are your injuries mild or catastrophic?
• Do your injuries interfere with your ability to work?
• Do your injuries impair your ability to take care of yourself?
• Have the trauma of the accident or the severity of your injuries interfered with your ability to participate in or enjoy your life?
• Are you disabled, scarred, or disfigured because of your accident?
• Was any property damaged or destroyed in the accident?
• Has the accident caused emotional distress or suffering?
• Will you struggle with chronic pain or face a permanent disability?

The answers to these questions will be fundamental in determining what your personal injury case is worth. Insurance companies will work to downplay the seriousness of your accident and injuries and, in turn, the value of your case. Don’t let them. Put up a fight and have Mirman, Markovits & Landau, P.C. by your side.

In New York, plaintiffs in a personal injury case can pursue two types of compensatory damages – economic and non-economic. Economic damages are paid to make up for the verifiable financial costs of an accident. So, things like medical bills or lost wages. Calculating these is fairly straightforward. You might have bills, receipts, or pay stubs to prove your losses.

Non-economic damages are paid to compensate for subjective injuries and losses. This includes things like pain and suffering, which can vary significantly from one person to another. Many times, non-economic damages are calculated using a multiplier. Once an economic award is determined, it’s simply multiplied by a factor between 1 and 5, depending on the seriousness of the accident and extent of the injuries. The more serious the consequences, the higher the multiplier.

It’s important to note that there is another type of award that is sometimes available in personal injury cases – punitive damages. Punitive damages are awarded to punish the defendant. They’re issued on top of any compensatory (economic and non-economic damages) awards. Since these are intended as a punishment, they’re reserved for only the most serious and egregious of situations.

It depends on a lot of different factors. Some cases can be resolved and settled privately in a matter of days or weeks. Others will proceed to court, where they might not be resolved for years. It really depends on what type of case you have, who is involved, and the potential value of your claim. The higher the stakes, the harder insurance companies and negligent parties will fight you.

The thing you have to remember is that you should never settle for less money than your case is worth. Insurance companies and big businesses will work hard to wear you down and get you to do just that. You can protect yourself by letting our skilled NYC lawyers represent you throughout the claims process. We won’t let insurance companies push you around or bully you into accepting a lowball offer. While we will work diligently to settle your case, our accomplished trial lawyers will not hesitate to bring your case to a jury, if that’s what it takes to get you all of the money you deserve.

Once you agree to a settlement or are awarded compensation by a jury, it could take anywhere from a few weeks to a few months to actually get money in your hands. Keep in mind that insurance companies must act in good faith when handling your claim, which means that payment has to be issued within a reasonable amount of time after a case is resolved. Our attorneys will do everything in our power to accelerate the payment process so that you can begin to move forward.

New York is a comparative negligence state. This means that sharing fault for an accident will not automatically bar you from recovering compensation. However, it does mean that your damages will be reduced in proportion to your role in the accident. It also means that you can be liable for a percentage of the damages sustained by other parties in your accident.

So, for example, let’s say you’re allocated 20 percent of the blame for a car accident in New York City. If your damages – between medical bills, property damage, lost income, and emotional distress – totaled $100,00, you’d be able to receive up to $80,000. Why? Your damages ($100,000) would be reduced by your contribution to the accident (20 percent). At the same time, you could be liable for up to 20 percent of other victims’ damages.