While in most Buffalo personal injury lawsuits it is clear who may be held responsible for a plaintiff’s injuries, on some occasions a new party may come to light after the lawsuit has been initiated. This can occur, for example, when it is discovered that a landowner had hired another party to maintain an area where an injury occurred.
After a personal injury lawsuit has been initiated, the injured party may change the document setting forth its complaint once without the permission of the court. This change, however, must be made within twenty days after the document was served on the original defendant or within twenty days after service of the defendant’s response to it. If this time period has passed, the complaint may still be amended, but such a change requires either the leave of the court or a stipulation by all the parties that they do not oppose the change.
The courts are generally encouraged under New York State law to freely give leave for such changes, provided they do not result in unfair prejudice to the other parties. As a result, the court will examine issues such as how much time the new party will have to investigate and prepare its defense and whether its ability to investigate the personal injury claim will be hampered by the delay.
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