Personal Injury Lawsuits

Personal injury lawsuits provide compensation to victims of accidents or social wrongs such as defamation. Such claims usually seek damages such as medical expenses, lost income and pain and suffering compensation.

Personal injury cases can often be complex and time consuming to pursue, so hiring an experienced lawyer to manage all communications and legal work on your behalf is invaluable in order to save both time and effort.

Damages

An accident victim typically has the right to recover damages that cover various expenses associated with their injury, including medical special damages, general damages and future losses.

Economic damages are easily quantifiable through invoices, receipts, bills and statements from an employer. Medical and financial experts often help calculate their value.

Noneconomic damages or general damages are much harder to assess and calculate, including compensation for pain and suffering, lost enjoyment of life and emotional distress. Therefore, per diem multipliers have become the go-to method for calculating these losses.

Future damages depend on an estimate of how long an injury will impact, its severity and any lasting impairments; such as income lost from work due to care and treatment and medical equipment requirements. Some states have caps in place; however these caps don’t always apply in every situation.

Statute of Limitations

Every state imposes its own statute of limitations, or timeframe within which people must file suit to recover damages caused by personal injuries, and this time limit usually ranges between two and four years depending on where someone lives.

Statute of limitations exist to ensure claims are filed on time. This is important given how evidence may deteriorate over time and memories fade over time, not to mention it is unfair that individuals should constantly face legal proceedings related to decades-old incidents.

In most personal injury cases, the statute of limitations begins running from the date of an incident; however, due to extenuating circumstances this timeframe may be extended or tolled (delayed).

Minors who sustain personal injuries on government property (e.g. New York City Department of Sanitation or NYC Transit Authority bus) can sue until their 18th birthday (the statute of limitations will be tolled until then).

Medical Bills

Medical expenses associated with personal injury accidents can quickly add up, often totalling tens of thousands of dollars in treatments costs. Car, health and/or life insurance as well as Medicare/Medicaid may cover some or all of this financial liability; any settlement should account for these medical bills as general compensatory damages to reimburse victims for all losses suffered as a direct result of their injuries.

Experienced personal injury lawyers understand how expenses are valued in injury cases, and can assist the victim in recovering all medical expenses from the at-fault party and their insurance company. Many hospitals will allow victims to sign a lien letter that allows them to recover what is owed from settlement or verdict awards; this is also common practice; working with billing departments could allow victims to arrange payment plans or reduce amounts owed altogether.

Hire an Attorney

Personal injury claims provide more than just reimbursement of medical expenses – they also cover emotional trauma and pain and suffering damages that cannot be quantified financially. While the figure might seem small at first glance, these non-monetary damages could prove highly significant over time.

Experienced attorneys can ensure your claim includes all injury-related costs. Furthermore, they have experience negotiating with insurance companies to get you a more favorable settlement than would be available without legal representation; studies show that people represented by lawyers tend to receive settlements that are three times larger on average.

An experienced New York personal injury lawyer will be able to level the playing field against insurance companies and fight for your rights. Most will operate on contingency basis so you only pay them when they win a settlement or jury verdict in your favor, giving you time to focus on healing from injuries sustained in an accident.