As we all know, when someone breaks the law and hurts you, that person will be arrested and possibly criminally charged. What about when someone hurts you without technically breaking any laws? Even if the person is criminally charged, the criminal system does not compensate victims. When victims of criminal and non-criminal injuries need compensation to pay for recovery and other expenses, they can file a personal injury lawsuit against the wrongdoer.
Personal injury lawsuits are far more than merely one kind of lawsuit. “Personal injury” is often used as an umbrella term for various injuries and damages a person may need compensation for. Personal injuries could involve damages that are physical, emotional, or property-related. The law recognizes a wide variety of personal injury claims and provides just as many kinds of remedies.
If someone else’s actions caused you pain, hardship, or some other loss, you might have a valid personal injury claim. Our Yonkers, NY personal injury attorneys can help you assess your case and calculate damages. Discuss your situation with our team in a free case evaluation at The Martello Law Firm. Call us at (646) 396-0236 to learn more.
Overview of Services Provided
Our attorneys provide the following services to injury victims and their families in Yonkers and throughout the rest of New York:
Free Case Reviews
Our attorneys offer free case reviews to help injury victims determine whether they have a case, how much it might be worth, and what their chances of success look like.
Frequent Communication
We know that our clients are interested in how their case is progressing and want updates on what is happening, what comes next, and how long they need to wait for news between stages of the case. We will be in touch every step of the way and keep you informed about your case.
No Fees Unless You Win
Our attorneys can take your case on a contingency fee basis. This arrangement would mean that we would only get paid out of a portion of your winnings in your case, and you would not have to pay us a cent unless we win your case.
Why Would I Need to File a Personal Injury Lawsuit in Yonkers?
A personal injury lawsuit may be necessary for a variety of injuries. In many cases, a person is physically injured, either by accident or by the wrongdoer’s willful or intentional conduct. Other times, a person does not suffer physical harm but instead suffers emotionally or mentally. Still, other cases do not involve harming a person but rather a person’s property, like a car, house, or valuable personal belongings. More common still are cases involving injuries that overlap all three of these categories.
What Types of Cases Can a Personal injury Lawyer Help With?
Our Yonkers personal injury attorneys have experience with a plethora of different cases. If you believe you have suffered some sort of harm or loss but are unsure whether your situation meets the criteria of a personal injury case, speak with our team for guidance. You may have multiple legal options worth exploring.
Our team is prepared to provide legal advice and representation on any of the following issues and more:
Car Accidents
Car accidents are one of the most common accidents that people face in their lives, and these accidents can leave victims with devastating, life-altering injuries.
Slip and Fall Accidents
Slip and fall accidents are one of the most common types of accidents, but the severity of injury can range greatly. Still, it is important to take your case to an experienced Yonkers personal injury lawyer for help.
Construction Site Accidents and Injuries
Handling the aftermath of a construction injury can be difficult, especially when it comes to injuries that might make it hard to return to your job.
Accidents in the Workplace
Knowing when you have to file through Workers’ Compensation and when you can file a lawsuit for workplace injuries can mean the difference between full compensation and limited damages for your injuries.
Ceiling Collapses
Structural collapses can come as a surprise, potentially leaving entire families with serious medical expenses and other costs to deal with.
Dog and Animal Attacks
Dog bites and other attacks by animals are often difficult to handle in New York because of complex dog bite laws; work with an experienced Yonkers personal injury attorney to ensure your claim is handled properly.
Assaults
Injuries from assault and battery can leave you with devastating injuries and other traumatic effects from the assault that may deserve substantial financial damages.
Nursing Home Abuse and Neglect
Nursing home abuse and neglect lawsuits can be filed to seek compensation for injured and abused nursing home residents no matter their age or condition.
Wrongful Death
Losing a loved one to an avoidable accident can be tragic, and the parties responsible for the injuries and death should be held accountable to the fullest extent of the law.
Elevator and Escalator Accidents
Millions of elevators and escalators across New York could cause serious injuries that leave victims with expensive damages, justifying injury claims against the elevator/escalator company, the repair/maintenance staff, or the building owner where the elevator or escalator was installed.
Medical Malpractice
Doctors and hospitals can be held liable for injuries from misdiagnosis, medication errors, surgical errors, and objects left inside the patient, especially when they lead to long-term health consequences or death.
Bus Accidents
Accidents involving a public transit bus, charter bus, or even a school bus can leave passengers and other drivers with serious injuries that often require substantial compensation.
What Will Our Personal Injury Lawyers Do for You
Our attorneys aim to provide exceptional service by taking the following steps to serve our clients:
Advising You on Your Legal Options with a Free Case Evaluation
Your attorney’s job is to provide you with counsel and advice and to put our experience to work for you. Our Yonkers personal injury lawyers can discuss your case with you and keep you informed of your options from the beginning of your case so that you feel confident in the direction your case is headed.
Investigating Your Case and Gathering Evidence
To prove your case, we need evidence. Our attorneys can investigate what happened, search for evidence you might have missed, and interview witnesses and other interested parties to get all of the information we need to build a strong case.
Negotiating with Insurance Companies
Most injury cases ultimately end with settlements, but it is important that you do not blindly trust the insurance company’s valuation of your case. Most insurance companies seek to end cases quickly by settling at low dollar values that might not cover your needs. Have our Yonkers personal injury attorneys talk to the insurance companies for you and fight to drive your case toward a fair, full settlement.
Taking Your Case to Trial
If a settlement is not possible, we can fight your case in court to get the compensation you need. We will fight to create a strong case and argue it before a judge and jury if your case has to go to trial.
How Much Money is Your Case Worth?
Getting you the money you deserve from your case is an important facet of a personal injury lawyer’s job. However, to get you the money you need, we first need to determine what your case is worth.
Injury cases are often hard to value without looking at the specific facts of your case. We need to look at the medical bills and other financial records in your case to help determine exactly what damages you have already paid because of the injuries and what bills and costs you will have to pay in the future. It is also important to look at your income and how your injuries might have hurt your ability to work and reduced your earning capacity.
Lastly, calculating non-economic damages will be a vital step in determining what your case is worth.
We go more in-depth into the different damages you can claim in your case elsewhere in this article.
How to Maximize Your Chances of Winning a Case
The entire job of a Yonkers personal injury attorney can be summarized as helping you win your case. To maximize your chances of winning, there are a few important steps to take – most of which will be the primary focuses of our services.
First, it is vital that you gather strong evidence to build a strong case. Most evidence comes in the form of witness testimony, which can include testimony from the victim. Additionally, any documentation you can provide will be vital to proving what happened, when it happened, and what steps were taken to resolve the issue. Photos and video of the accident, the injuries, the accident scene, and other relevant places, people, or things can also go a long way toward proving what happened and who was at fault.
Second, it is important to work with a lawyer on how to prove your case. There are certain elements that must be proven in each type of injury case. Our lawyers will assemble evidence that helps prove each of these points clearly so as to maximize the chances of winning your case.
Lastly, it is important to work with a lawyer who has the experience to handle your case. The legal system is challenging, and navigating the required filings, the rules of evidence, and the rules of criminal procedure without an experienced Yonkers personal injury lawyer can quickly set you up for failure. With an experienced lawyer in your corner, you can know that your case is being handled by a professional from beginning to end.
What is the Statute of Limitations for Personal Injury Lawsuits in New York?
A personal injury case can feel like a whirlwind from the date of your accident up through numerous court hearings and a trial. After being injured, people sometimes wonder if and when they should file a personal injury lawsuit. It is crucial that you speak with an attorney sooner rather than later about your case. Our Yonkers, NY personal injury lawyers can help you decide whether to file a claim and quickly.
In New York, personal injury lawsuits are subject to a 3-year statute of limitations. These kinds of statutes place time restrictions on different cases. Different statutes of limitations may govern different types of legal actions. For this reason, it is imperative to get your case started sooner rather than later. Not only that, but your time limit might change depending on who your defendant is. For example, suing a municipality like a town or a city may mean you have a smaller time window to file a case.
While statutes of limitations impose hard deadlines on personal injury lawsuits, you can buy yourself more time if you can toll the statute. Tolling may occur if special circumstances prevented you from filing your lawsuit on time. For example, because minors cannot file personal injury lawsuits on their own, the statute is usually tolled until the child turns 18.
Damages Available in Yonkers Personal Injury Cases
In a personal injury lawsuit, damages include losses or injuries suffered by the plaintiff that they want to be compensated by the defendant. While damages are usually compensated with money, not all damages are financial in nature.
Compensatory damages are related to losses and injuries suffered by a plaintiff. Compensatory damages are designed to make a plaintiff “whole” by putting them in a financial situation similar to before they were injured. However, compensatory damages can be for monetary losses as well as non-monetary.
Economic damages are those related to injuries and losses that are financial. Things like medical bills, repair bills, and lost wages are all considered economic damages. Calculating these damages is simpler than other damages because we do not have to estimate what a loss is worth.
Non-economic damages are for losses that did not come with a price tag. A common non-economic injury is pain or suffering experienced by a plaintiff, both physical and mental. Even though mental and physical pain does not cost a plaintiff money, courts usually have no other way of compensating plaintiffs than by financial payments.
Punitive damages are not meant to make a plaintiff whole. Instead, they are designed to punish defendants for their bad behavior. In New York, punitive damages may only be claimed if the defendant acted with especially egregious, outrageous, or malicious behavior. Ordinary negligence is not enough to warrant punitive damages. As such, these damages are rarely awarded. Our Yonkers, NY personal injury lawyers can help you figure out if your case may qualify for punitive damages awards.
How an Attorney Can Help Your Personal Injury Case
Handling a personal injury lawsuit requires advanced legal knowledge and skills with which an ordinary person might not be equipped. Simply filing a lawsuit is a complicated task on its own. Our Yonkers, NY personal injury attorneys are prepared to help you file your case and argue for compensation.
A successful personal injury lawsuit will rely heavily on a good legal strategy. Knowing what arguments to make and what evidence to present is crucial. There are also numerous hearings and proceedings involved in a lawsuit before ever getting to a trial. You may also have to contend with the decision to accept a settlement offer. Handling a lawsuit on your own is nearly impossible as the process is extremely complicated and requires special training, skills, and education. An attorney will best be able to help you get you the compensation you need.
Determining Who is Liable for a Personal Injury in Yonkers, NY
Figuring out who is responsible for causing your personal injury can be more challenging than some might assume. However, if you suffered a personal injury because of the conduct of another, you deserve to be compensated by them.
Many personal injury cases are fairly straightforward and do not require much investigation to determine the liable party. For instance, if you were stopped at a red light and hit from behind by another driver, it is relatively simple to determine who caused your injuries. However, there are many situations where liability is much more difficult to determine. For example, determining liability becomes harder if a car accident involves several vehicles or commercial trucks.
One example where figuring out liability can be complicated is in premises liability cases. Property owners generally owe a duty of care to individuals on their property. However, many property owners lease their spaces to other businesses or contract with third-party companies to manage the safety of the premises. In premises liability cases with multiple parties, several people could be responsible for your injuries, depending on the circumstances of your case.
If a property is leased to a tenant, like a store, the lease could include terms indicating each party’s responsibilities. For instance, if a store’s employees fail to clean the premises and cause a slip and fall accident, the tenant will likely be liable, not the property owner. Our Yonkers personal injury lawyers can review your case to determine who owes you compensation.
How Liability is Proved in a Yonkers, NY Personal Injury Lawsuit
Most personal injury lawsuits arise from accidents caused by another person’s negligence. When another person’s conduct causes your personal injury, even if unintended, you have a legal right to pursue compensation through a lawsuit. Four distinct elements must be proved with evidence to prevail in a negligence lawsuit in Yonkers.
Duty
The first element needed to prove a negligence claim is that the person who injured you owed you a duty of care. A duty of care is a legal obligation owed by one party to another. For instance, drivers owe a duty of care to others using the roads, and doctors owe a duty of care to their patients. However, establishing this standard can be challenging. In some cases, expert testimony might be needed to show that the defendant owed you a duty of care.
Breach of Duty
Once you have shown that the defendant owed you a duty of care, you must then show how the defendant breached that duty when they injured you. A breach of duty can occur from a careless act or a failure to act in a way that the person should have. This can usually be shown if the defendant violated a law or regulation to cause the accident. However, a defendant’s conduct does not have to be illegal to be liable in a negligence case.
Causation
Arguably the most challenging element to prove is that of causation. If you have established that the defendant owed you a duty of care and breached that duty, you must show that the defendant’s breach was a direct and proximate cause of your injuries. Put simply, you must show that your injuries would not have occurred but for the defendant’s acts.
However, defense attorneys will argue that you were the cause. Even if you were not at fault, it is common for the defense to claim a plaintiff contributed to their accident to lessen their client’s liability.
Damages
Lastly, you must show that you suffered actual damages to recover financial compensation. This usually comes in the form of medical bills, lost wages, and other out-of-pocket expenses associated with treating your injuries. It is critical to keep thorough records of your financial losses as this will be your proof to the court of the extent of your damages. Most importantly, the court will rely on these records when determining the amount of compensation to award in your lawsuit. Our Yonkers personal injury lawyers have the experience to handle complex issues like determining how your injuries were caused to recover the compensation you deserve.
Evidence Used to Prove a Yonkers, NY Personal Injury Lawsuit
Proving the elements mentioned can be daunting if a person is unsure what documents they need to support their claim. That is where our knowledgeable Yonkers personal injury lawyers can help. Each element of a personal injury case could require several pieces of evidence and witness testimony to be successfully established.
In most personal injury cases, evidence comes from a variety of sources, and some might not be eager to support your claims without legal counsel to help you compel them. The following are common types of evidence that our Yonkers personal injury lawyers can help you obtain:
- Police reports
- Accident reports
- EMS records
- Medical records
- Photos from the scene
- Photos of your injuries
- Physical evidence from the scene
- Personal recollections
- Property damage estimates
- Property records
- Contractual agreements
- Eyewitness statements
- Expert witness statements
- Surveillance footage
- Smartphone footage
While this list is long, it is not exhaustive. Each personal injury case is different, and the circumstances of a particular case could require different strategies to collect novel evidence. Our Yonkers personal injury lawyers can help you gather the evidence you need to build the strongest case possible.
Comparative Negligence in a Yonkers, NY Personal Injury Case
Many victims of personal injury wonder if any actions on their part could affect their chances of recovering compensation. Fortunately, you will not be barred from recovering damages under New York’s comparative negligence rules. Under New York’s comparative negligence system, a person can recover compensation even if they are partially to blame for causing their injuries. However, the amount of compensation you are awarded will be reduced in proportion to the percentage you were found at fault for the accident.
For instance, if the court found you to be 10% at fault for causing the accident, the amount of damages you would recover would be reduced proportionally to your level of liability, meaning you would still recover the remaining 90%. Our Yonkers personal injury lawyers can help you fight accusations that you contributed to your accident.
Contact Our Yonkers Personal Injury Attorneys
If you suffered some sort of harm at the hands of another, you might have a personal injury case. Our Yonkers, NY personal injury attorneys can help you argue for just compensation. Call The Martello Law Firm at (646) 396-0236 to arrange a free case review.
