In New York State, mediation is a way of trying to reach a settlement in a personal injury case without having to resort to a trial. In mediation, the two parties are seated in separate rooms. A mediator then meets with each party separately and discusses the case with them. This mediator is usually a local attorney who has agreed to assist in resolving the case, so, for example, if your case is being pursued in Western New York, the mediator may be a lawyer from Buffalo or Rochester.
Each party presents their side of the personal injury case to the mediator and discusses what dollar value they think the injuries are worth. The mediator then brings this information to the other party and shares with them his perspective on the information he has been given and the value of the case. The mediator may go back and forth between the parties several times.
Ideally, the plaintiffs and defendants will eventually reach an agreement through this process on the value of the injuries, and the case may be settled without the need for a trial. If the parties cannot reach an agreement, the case may still proceed to trial.
Under New York State law, it is entirely possible to make a claim against more than one party if you are injured. For example, a factory worker suffers a serious personal injury while operating industrial machinery at his workplace in Buffalo.
If that worker hires a personal injury attorney, that attorney may wish to explore the liability of several different parties who may bear some of the responsibility for the injury. Possible parties bearing responsibility could include the business where the worker was employed, the company that manufactured the machine, and the company that installed the machine and trained the worker in its use.
Who pays for the injuries, and how much, is a more complicated question. In New York State, in some types of cases, all parties are responsible for the total amount of damages, so if one party cannot pay its share, the injured party should still receive total compensation because the other defendants have to pay it.
In other types of cases and in certain situations, however, the parties may only be responsible for the amount of damages assigned specifically to them. If you are involved in a personal injury case involving multiple defendants, your personal injury attorney should be able to provide you with specifics regarding how compensation will be handled based on the facts of your case.
Most personal injury lawyers in Buffalo and Western New York will advise their clients not to talk to their own auto insurance company if they have been injured in an accident. This is usually because in certain situations, you may have a claim against your own insurance company to seek monetary compensation for your injuries.
Because of the possibility that you may be making such a claim, personal injury attorneys are concerned that you may make some statement to the insurance company that could be used against you later. If you hire a personal injury lawyer, he or she will almost always wish to handle any contact with your insurance company instead of having you speak with them yourself.
As residents of the Buffalo region, we understand that it can be tough to support yourself and your family, even without the additional problem of being unable to work as a result of a serious personal injury. Unfortunately, because New York State law makes different provisions for different types of cases, there is no easy “yes or no” answer to the question of suing for lost income.
If you are injured in a car accident, for example, your own automobile insurance company may compensate you for part of your lost wages. How much they will compensate you, however, may be offset by the availability of other forms of monetary compensation for lost wages, such as New York State disability insurance or Worker’s Compensation, and by a cap on how much they will pay. If you are being compensated by your own insurance company, you generally cannot “sue” for lost income. If you have suffered a personal injury as a result of some other type of accident, such as falling on a wet floor in a store, you may not be receiving any compensation from your own insurance company and, as a result, can seek it from the other party as part of the monetary damages for your losses.
In a personal injury car accident, the driver who caused the accident may be given a traffic ticket by the police for an offense such as Speeding or Following Too Closely. This traffic ticket will usually be handled in the local village, town or city court. So, for example, here in Erie County, New York, a traffic ticket issued in the Town of Amherst would be handled in Amherst Town Court. In some larger regions, like the City of Buffalo, traffic tickets are subject to an administrative hearing instead of being heard in court.
If you are suing someone in a personal injury car accident case, your personal injury attorney will need to establish that the other driver was negligent. Under New York State law, the mere fact that the other driver was issued a ticket, even if the driver is found guilty after trial, is not evidence of negligence. If, however, the other driver pleads guilty instead of being found guilty after a trial, that plea is considered an admission by the other driver to the conduct that led to the ticket being issued. This admission may be used as evidence against the other driver in a personal injury accident case.
Most people are used to hiring a lawyer to handle a real estate transaction or prepare a will. In those situations, the lawyer is paid an agreed upon fee for his or her work. If you have suffered a serious personal injury in Buffalo or Western New York and need a personal injury attorney, however, that is not how payment of that lawyer is handled.
Typically personal injury attorneys do not receive any money up front from their client. Instead, once the case is finished, the personal injury attorney receives a previously agreed upon percentage of any monetary compensation they have obtained on behalf of their injured client. The idea behind this payment method is that it gives the personal injury attorney incentive to work hard to obtain the best result possible for his or her client, because a higher settlement also means the personal injury attorney will receive a larger fee.
This is good news if you have suffered a serious personal injury and feel you cannot afford a lawyer: in a personal injury case, your lawyer does not get paid until you do.
To sue for damages beyond property damages resulting from an automobile accident in Buffalo, Erie County or elsewhere in New York State, the injured party must prove that he or she has suffered a “serious injury.” For personal injury accidents involving an automobile, New York State Insurance Law provides the following types of personal injuries that are considered “serious injuries”:
- death;
- dismemberment;
- significant disfigurement;
- a fracture;
- loss of a fetus;
- permanent loss of use of a body organ, member, function or sysem;
- permanent consequential limitation of use of a body organ or member;
- significant limitation of use of a body function or system;
- a medically determined injury or impairment of a non-permanent nature which prevents an injured person from performing substantially all of the material acts which constitute that person’s usual and customary daily activities for not less than ninety days during the one hundred eighty days immediately following the occurrence of the injury or impairment.
Some of these types of injuries, fractures or dismemberment, for example, are easy to prove when suing in a personal injury case. Other categories, however, are more difficult to establish. If injured in a car accident, you should document all of the limitations your injuries place on you and be prepared to share this information with a personal injury attorney who can help you determine if you have suffered a “serious injury” under the law.
While there are several exceptions, personal injury cases in New York State are usually handled at the supreme court level in the county where the accident occurred. While for many other states and the federal goverment a “supreme” court is the highest level of court, in New York State there is a “supreme” court in each county.
For example, if you are injured in a car crash in the Town of Clarence or the City of Buffalo, your case is most likely to be heard in the New York State Supreme Court in Erie County. If you are hurt after slipping on an icy sidewalk in the City of Batavia, the most likely venue for your case is New York State Supreme Court in Genesee County.
Having a case decided near the location where your injury occurred is often easier because of its proximity to evidence such as eyewitnesses, police officers who may have investigated the accident, and anyone who provided immediate medical care. There are exceptions to this general rule, however, and you should consult with an experienced personal injury attorney who can determine if there are other possible venues to bring your case in and which of these courts is appropriate for your case.
In many cases where a person is injured as a result of someone else’s negligent conduct, such as a car accident or tripping over a hazard on someone’s property, the extent of that person’s injuries may not be immediately apparent. At first, they may not even think their injuries are serious enough that they may need to hire an experienced personal injury attorney and sue for the damages they have sustained.
If it does turn out that an accident has resulted in a personal injury serious enough that you need to sue, you have three years from the date of the accident to bring a lawsuit for your personal injuries. If you think you may need to bring a lawsuit but are not sure, you may wish to consult with an experienced personal injury attorney as soon as possible so that they will be aware of the time limitations in your case and can help you determine if a lawsuit is necessary.
New York State is what is referred to as a “No Fault” state. This means that if you are involved in an automobile accident in, for example, Erie County and suffer a personal injury, your initial medical bills and a portion of any lost wages will be paid by your own automobile insurance company, even if the other driver is at fault and ultimately found liable for your injuries.
The amount your insurance company must pay is, however, capped based on how much coverage you have purchased. If you do not know how much coverage you have, you should contact your insurance provider to discuss this. Medical bills from an automobile accident can mount quickly.
Under New York State law, you have thirty days to report a no fault claim to your insurance company, or you may be denied coverage. If you are in an automobile accident and require medical treatment, you, a member of your family, or your personal injury attorney should contact your automobile insurance company as quickly as possible and inform them of the situation.
