While most car accident cases leave victims with property damage only, many victims face mild, moderate, or even severe injuries in the crash. Getting compensation under New York’s no-fault insurance laws can often be difficult, and most drivers are unaware of exactly how these insurance rules affect their claims.
When you work with an experienced attorney, your legal team can help you understand your right to sue and file your case in the best way to get you the compensation you deserve. Never try to handle an insurance claim or accept a car accident settlement before your case is reviewed by a legal professional.
The Greenburgh, NY car accident lawyers at The Martello Law Firm offer free case reviews to help get you set on the right path to recover the damages you need after a car accident. For your free case review, call us today at (718) 841-0083.
How No-Fault Insurance Rules Affect Car Accidents in Greenburgh, NY
New York uses a no-fault insurance system. This kind of system requires every driver to carry PIP insurance (personal injury protection insurance) that will cover them and any passengers in their car or pedestrians injured in the crash for bodily injury. Under this system, you have to file an injury claim with your own insurance first before you can turn to other sources of compensation.
There are, however, some exceptions that our Greenburgh car accident lawyers can help you with. First, if your injuries are sufficiently serious, you can typically sue for injuries instead. This usually applies in cases involving permanent injuries or disabilities that will affect you for at least half of the next 180 days. Second, the family of someone who dies in a crash can always sue for their death. Third, if the other driver does not have insurance, you might not be able to get money from them anyway, so you can use your own uninsured motorist insurance instead to get additional coverage beyond your PIP limits.
PIP insurance only covers injuries. Each driver must carry at least $50,000 for PIP, which will pay you first before anyone needs to prove fault. However, those damages are not always enough for your injuries. Drivers must also carry liability insurance that will pay for any injuries they are at fault for. If you have serious injuries and file a claim against the other driver, their liability insurance must have at least $25,000 per person to cover your injuries.
Property damage also uses liability insurance, so the at-fault driver needs to have at least $10,000 to cover your vehicle damage and other property damage. Talk to a Greenburgh car accident lawyer about how to claim damages from insurance and to learn more about what your case is worth.
Types of Car Accident Cases We Handle
Our Greenburgh car accident attorneys can help with any kind of car accident case you are involved in. In many of these cases, there are particular issues and difficulties that our attorneys can help with.
Hit and Run Crashes
If you are injured in a hit and run, it can be difficult to get the damages you need from the other driver. If the police are able to find and arrest the driver who hit you, you can typically pursue damages normally. Your testimony and the testimony of any witnesses to the crash, as well as testimony from the police who arrested the driver, can be used to connect them to the crash.
If the driver cannot be found, you may be able to file a claim with your own uninsured/underinsured motorist insurance. This allows you to get additional damages from your own insurance company if you do not know who hit you.
Speeding Accidents
Most crashes involve speeding as a factor in causing the crash. Car crashes at higher speeds are often more dangerous and more deadly. If you faced serious injuries in a high-speed car accident, you may have additional, more severe damages that will allow our Greenburgh car accident attorneys to file a lawsuit to get you the compensation you need.
Drunk Driving Accidents
Proving that the other driver was intoxicated can go a long way toward holding them at fault for the crash. Typically, police will be called to the scene after any accident, and if they find signs that a driver was intoxicated, they can arrest them and test their BAC. These test results can help in your injury case and, if the driver is convicted of drunk driving, the evidence of that conviction might be able to help you in your civil injury case as well.
Texting and Driving Cases
Crashes involving a driver who was texting while driving can be somewhat complicated. In many cases, testimony that you witnessed the driver with their phone in their hand can be excellent evidence that they were texting while driving. Additionally, we can often subpoena phone records to show that texts were sent to or from the driver’s phone in the minutes or seconds before the accident. However, obtaining these records and connecting the timing directly to the driver’s actions can often be more difficult in practice. Talk to a Greenburgh car accident attorney for help pursuing these kinds of cases.
Tired and Drowsy Driving Crashes
If the other driver was driving tired or fell asleep at the wheel, we can use that as evidence of fault. When it comes to accidents involving long-haul truckers or other commercial drivers, there may also be federal driving hour regulations that they violated.
Get a Free Case Review from Our Greenburgh Car Accident Lawyers
If you were hurt in a car accident in Greenburgh, NY, contact The Martello Law Firm today. Call our Greenburgh car accident attorneys at (718) 841-0083 for a free case review.
