Instead of covering all your medical bills and other damages from an accident yourself, you can likely file a lawsuit against the liable party to hold them accountable for their negligence in Mamaroneck.
Before bringing a car accident lawsuit, you might have to pass the serious injury threshold in Mamaroneck. Our lawyers can compare your specific injuries to those New York deems serious enough to sue. We will need your medical records to do this, so make sure you go to the hospital immediately after the incident. You should do this after any type of auto accident, including rear-end accidents, which can still cause serious injuries. When it comes to approaching settlement negotiations, our lawyers can tally up your damages from the accident and gather evidence to leverage against the defendant to reach a fair settlement agreement.
Call the Mamaroneck car accident lawyers of The Martello Law Firm, PLLC at (914) 685-6950 for a free case analysis today.
Passing the Serious Injury Threshold for Car Accident Lawsuits in Mamaroneck
Victims in Mamaroneck must first show their eligibility to sue for a car accident before doing so. This involves meeting the serious injury threshold for auto accident lawsuits in New York.
Drivers in Mamaroneck must purchase personal injury protection (PIP) insurance, which will cover certain damages in the event of a car crash, no matter who is at fault. To file a lawsuit, you must have an injury mentioned in I.S.C. Law § 5102(d). Injuries that automatically qualify victims to sue include those that cause death, dismemberment, serious disfigurement, fractures, and loss of a fetus, among various others.
Not all victims sustain injuries that neatly align with those mentioned above. In light of this, victims with non-permanent injuries that affect their daily lives for at least 90 of the first 180 days after an accident can also file injury lawsuits.
If you were hurt when riding your motorcycle in Mamaroneck, you would not have to meet the serious injury threshold to sue, and your PIP would not cover the accident, leaving a lawsuit as your only option for recovery. If you were hurt as a driver, pedestrian, bicyclist, or passenger, your PIP insurance would apply, and you would have to pass the serious injury threshold to sue.
Our lawyers can gather evidence of your injuries through your medical records to show you can file a lawsuit. Documentation showing your diagnoses, treatments, tests, prescribed medications, physical therapy treatments, and other information about your injuries can help us achieve this.
Common Car Accidents in Mamaroneck and the Injuries They Cause
Certain accidents happen more frequently than others. Furthermore, some injuries are more commonly sustained in specific types of auto accidents in Mamaroneck.
For example, rear-end accidents are among the most common types and often happen because one driver follows another too closely or gets distracted while driving and cannot stop in time. Rear-end collisions might result in whiplash, a soft tissue injury in the neck that often requires treatment.
T-bone accidents typically happen when two drivers enter the intersection simultaneously. One of these drivers might have the right of way, while the other might have entered the intersection when it was not their turn. T-bone accidents could lead to devastating crushing injuries and spinal cord injuries, which could require long-term physical therapy. Head-on accidents are often similarly catastrophic, and are one of the leading causes of traffic fatalities.
Accidents involving large commercial trucks are some of the most dangerous, leading to life-altering and fatal injuries for some victims in Mamaroneck. These accidents might happen on highways at considerable speeds, worsening the resulting damage and injuries to victims.
How to Approach Settlement Discussions for a Mamaroneck Car Accident Case
Approaching settlement discussions incorrectly could jeopardize your claim before it really begins. Before negotiations start, our attorneys will add up all of your damages, identify possible evidence we can leverage, and explain why the first several settlement offers you get might be unfair.
Add up Your Damages
Victims should not negotiate settlements or file claims before adding up all of their damages from a car crash in Mamaroneck. Our car accident lawyers will divide your damages into two categories: economic and non-economic. All financial expenses and losses from the accident, like property damage, medical costs, and lost wages, go into the economic damages category. We can continue to record losses as you incur them throughout your lawsuit and build up evidence of your various financial damages.
We can estimate the value of your non-economic damages by discussing your pain and suffering with you. Often, defendants will not consider a victim’s non-economic damages in initial offers, so negotiating for some time is often necessary.
Identify Leverage
Also, before starting settlement discussions, our attorneys will identify what leverage we have and can use to strengthen our negotiations. For example, if we have surveillance footage of the defendant speeding, they might not want to risk going to trial and being found liable for more damages.
Anticipate Lowball Offers
Victims should also prepare for settlement negotiations by anticipating lowball offers, at least initially. Generally speaking, the first offers defendants give are low and unfair. They might not cover all of a victim’s economic damages and might barely scrape the surface of their non-economic damages.
Getting offended by unfair offers is understandable but could hurt your case in other ways. Our lawyers can explain why your first offer could be unfair and how we plan to respond to the defendant in that situation. Moreover, if offers never improve substantially, we can help you take your case to court in Mamaroneck. If we do this, the jury could find the defendant liable for all of your economic and non-economic damages from a crash in Mamaroneck.
Call Us About Your Car Accident Case in Mamaroneck Today
Call The Martello Law Firm, PLLC at (914) 685-6950 to have our car accident lawyers evaluate your case for free.
