New York State’s No Fault law sets forth several categories that define a “serious injury.” One of these categories of injury must be proven to successfully pursue a Buffalo personal injury lawsuit involving a motor vehicle accident.
One of the primary purposes of the No Fault law is to eliminate unnecessary or unfounded lawsuits. As a result, when a personal injury is the result of a motor vehicle accident, it is not enough to have a complaint of pain and documentation of physical limitations. The plaintiff must also be able to provide objective medical evidence of injury.
Objective medical evidence includes any testing or examination of the injured party that renders a result that is not influenced by the victim’s subjective complaints of pain. Typical objective medical evidence includes radiological examinations – such as x-rays or MRI tests – physical signs of injury outside of the control of the victim (cuts, tears, contusions, etc.), and uncontrolled physical responses to testing, such as muscle spasms.
If you have been in a motor vehicle accident and have any questions, we would be happy to help you. Please feel free to call us at 716-542-5444.
The Chapter 11 bankruptcy of automakers GM and Chrysler resulted in sales of many of their assets to the U.S. Government and Fiat, respectively, approximately two years ago. Their bankruptcy, however, is still having an impact on Buffalo residents pursuing a personal injury lawsuit against either of these manufacturers.
Usually, an individual who has been injured as a result of a defect in the design or construction of a motor vehicle may sue the manufacturer. Pursuing and actually obtaining compensation for an injury, however, has become much more difficult for those who initiated a lawsuit involving an automobile manufactured by GM or Chrysler prior to the conclusion of the bankruptcy proceedings. This is because the sale of the company’s assets were allowed to proceed clear of any encumbrance for prior debt incurred as a result of product liability claims. In other words, the new owners would not be required to pay any debt arising from old product liability claims.
This decision applied even to lawsuits that had been concluded and the victim was simply awaiting payment from the company.
Following protests by several members of Congress, the new owners of both companies have agreed to remain exposed regarding accidents occurring after the bankruptcy, regardless of when the vehicle was manufactured. For those who had pending lawsuits, however, there is little money being made available to them, and – if they receive anything in negotiations with the companies – it is often a fraction of the actual value of their damages.
If you have been injured in a motor vehicle accident and have any questions, we would be happy to help. Please call us at 716-542-5444.
We discourage all Buffalo drivers from texting while driving not because it is illegal, but because it is dangerous. Distracted driving is a major cause of personal injury accidents. Because the potential for distraction has only increased over the past several years with the popularity of texting, tougher laws went into effect in New York State this month to help curb this problem.
Previously, a driver could not be pulled over for texting while driving and charged with the offense. Instead, a police officer would have to observe some other violation, such as weaving, before being able to legally pull over a texting individual. Under the new law, texting has become a primary offense for which a police officer may pull over and subsequently charge a driver.
The new law also prohibits emailing, internet browsing, taking images, reading and playing games while driving. While the fine for the offense of $150 remains unchanged from the prior law, the driver license penalty has been increased. Violators will receive three points against their license instead of the two points under the prior law.
Of course, drivers have also been banned from using hand held cell phones in New York State for several years because of the increased risk of motor vehicle accidents. They may continue to use hands-free devices while driving.
The initial medical and lost wage expenses associated with a Buffalo motor vehicle accident are paid under New York State’s No-Fault Insurance Law. This law requires the vehicle owner’s insurance to pay at least the first $50,000 in medical and lost wage expenses for that vehicle’s occupants following a motor vehicle accident, regardless of who is at fault.
As a result, the victim’s medical provider and employer will be submitting various bills and reports to the No-Fault provider to receive payment, and – when a victim’s injuries are serious – the No-Fault provider will have an extensive record of the victim’s treatment as a result. Also, it is not unusual for the No-Fault provider to have an injured person examined by a medical provider of their choosing to determine if treatment is actually necessary, and reports from those medical providers will also be in the No-Fault file.
Because the No-Fault file contains an extensive record of the victim’s treatment, the attorneys for the both the victim and the defendant in a personal injury lawsuit will usually want a copy of this file so that they can review its contents. It can be a convenient way of double checking the information submitted by medical providers, obtaining a complete listing of all treatment, and confirming that no treatment providers have been inadvertently omitted when obtaining medical records.
Not all Buffalo personal injury lawsuits involve one defendant. When multiple parties contribute to the occurance of a personal injury accident, the victim has the right to proceed against everyone whose actions led to the injury-causing situation.
When one vehicle is going around another, illegally parked vehicle, the driver is still required to follow the rules of the road and exercise due care for any pedestrians that may be in the area. As a result, if a pedestrian is injured, that driver is likely to bear at least part of the responsibility. Of course, the accident also would not have occurred if the driver of the illegally parked car had not created a possibly dangerous situation, and he or she may also bear part of the responsibility.
In terms of who pays for your immediate medical attention, this would usually fall on the insurance company of the owner of the car that actually struck you. New York law usually requires that at least the initial medical expenses and lost wages of a pedestrian struck by a car be paid by the car owner’s insurance.
If you or a loved one has been struck by a car, we would be happy to help you. Please call us at 716-542-5444.
Buffalo personal injury lawsuits, like most legal matters, tend to revolve around documents (for example, medical records) and testimony of witnesses (for example, eye witnesses and treatment providers). One method personal injury attorneys use to obtain needed documentation or the testimony of a particular witness is a subpoena, which is a legal order requiring an individual to provide the requested documentation or appear to provide testimony.
In some cases, one of the parties may issue a subpoena that the other party feels goes beyond the scope of the material they are allowed to obtain. For example, the defense may request medical records completely unrelated to the injuries suffered by the plaintiff or seek to obtain material that would be protected by the attorney-client privilege. When this happens, the other party may bring a Motion to Quash the Subpeona.
A Motion to Quash is a formal legal request to the judge presiding over the case seeking a ruling that the party being subpoenaed does not have to comply with the request. This motion will usually be argued before the judge, and the judge may also request to review the material being sought prior to making any ruling. If the judge quashes the subpoena, it does not have to be complied with.
If you have suffered a personal injury, we would be happy to help you. Please feel free to call us at 716-542-5444.
To pursue a Buffalo motor vehicle accident lawsuit, the injury to the victim must fit within one of the categories set forth in New York State’s No-Fault Law. The purpose of the No-Fault Law is to eliminate claims for insignificant injuries or frivolous claims. One of the No-Fault Law injury categories is a “significant limitation of use of a body function or system.”
For an injury to fit within this category requires proof that the limitation complained of is actually “significant.” While people may have different ideas regarding what degree of injury is necessary for it to be significant, the Court of Appeals has offered some guidelines to help in the evaluation of this category.
To prove the extent or degree of physical limitation, a medical expert’s designation of a numeric percentage of a plaintiff’s loss of range of motion can be used. A medical expert’s qualitative assessment of a plaintiff’s condition also may suffice, provided that the evaluation has an objective basis and compares the plaintiff’s limitations to the normal function, purpose and use of the affected body organ, member, function or system. A qualitative assessment in a personal injury lawsuit may include a description of how the injury has impacted the plaintiff’s ability to perform normal activities, such as standing, sitting, driving, lifting, etc., as compared to an uninjured person.
Accidents involving large commercial trucks can be some of the most devastating cases that Buffalo personal injury attorneys deal with. These large vehicles are capable of causing catastrophic personal injuries. Last month, the National Transportation Safety Board held a forum involving representatives of the trucking industry, government regulators and safety advocates to discuss truck safety.
Not surprisingly, there is a great deal of contention among these groups regarding what additional steps, if any, need to be taken to reduce the number of personal injury accidents involving commercial trucks. For example, because the number of fatal accidents involving large trucks have decreased from about 5,200 in 2005 to 3,200 in 2009, some members of the trucking industry argue that current regulations are working and no additional steps need be taken. Many safety advocates, on the other hand, argue that this decrease in fatal accidents is related more to the poor economy and reduced traffic than the safety regulations.
The federal government is currently considering several new regulations that would impact the trucking industry. These include a proposal that all trucks and buses be equipped with devices that record how many hours a driver is behind the wheel. According to the National Transportation Safety Board, as much as third of all commercial motor vehicle accidents are related to driver fatigue.
Other regulatory changes being considered include reducing the daily limit on hours a driver may spend behind the wheel from 11 hours to 10 hours, limiting the overall work day to 14 hours and requiring more time off when a driver has reached the weekly driving limit of 60 hours. These changes tend to be opposed by the trucking industry, which feels they would merely be imposing additional regulation without significantly impacting the number the personal injury accidents involving large trucks.
If you have been injured in an accident involving a commercial truck, we would be happy to help you. Please feel free to call us at 716-542-5444 with any questions.
Buffalo residents who suffer a personal injury in a motor vehicle accident will – in nearly all cases – have their initial medical bills and lost wages paid by their own automobile insurance provider under New York State’s No-Fault law. Basically, this law requires the No-Fault provider to pay at least the first $50,000 in medical bills, lost wages and other necessary expenses following a motor vehicle accident.
As part of making such payments, however, the No-Fault provider often will require an injured party to submit to a medical examination by a doctor chosen by them. The purpose of this examination is to determine if the treatment the injured party is receiving is actually necessary and whether further treatment should be paid for. In cases involving long term injuries and extensive treatment, an injured person may be
required to submit to examinations on multiple occasions – and even from doctors with different specialties – as the insurance company attempts to keep track of the condition of the insured.
It is necessary to attend these examinations. Failure to do so may result in the No-Fault provider cutting off future payments to your medical providers. Bear in mind, however, that the doctor examining you is hired by the insurance company to protect them, not you.
When a Buffalo personal injury victim is rendered unable to work, they are often placed in a peculiar situation. On the one hand, if they return to work before they are ready, it may appear that they are healed. On the other hand, if they do not return to work, it may appear that they are using the injury as an excuse to stop working.
Unfortunately, in a personal injury lawsuit the victim can be assured that the defense will use whatever action they take in this situation against them in some way. A quick return to work will be portrayed by the defense as proof that the injury was really not that serious. A slow return to work will be portrayed as evidence of malingering and a lack of effort to get on with your life following the accident.
The real answer to this situation is that your return to work should be predicated upon what you and your medical providers determine is best suited for you given your particular condition. It should not be based on its potential impact on the outcome of your personal injury lawsuit.
If you have suffered a personal injury and cannot work, we would be happy to answer your questions at 716-542-5444.
