Hiring a car accident lawyer on Long Island can offer many benefits for your case. While no law says you have to hire a lawyer, legal counsel can help you:
- Identify evidence of negligence and liability
- Demonstrate that you deserve compensation for your injuries
- Seek the best possible recovery
- Take your case to trial
Read on to learn more about how a lawyer can help you with your car accident case on Long Island.
Identify evidence of negligence and liability
If someone else caused your crash and you were seriously injured, you’ll need to show evidence that they were negligent. Negligence refers to the carelessness or recklessness that caused your crash, such as improperly changing lanes or driving under the influence of alcohol.
Gathering strong evidence can be crucial to your car crash case, as it will help you prove that the other party is liable for paying you.
A lawyer will know how to gather this evidence for you. They may draw from sources such as:
- Police reports
- Witness statements
- Camera footage
- Black box data
- Dashboard camera footage
- Crash reconstruction data
Demonstrate that you deserve compensation for your injuries
Your injuries could be severe, and the costs associated with your medical care could also be substantial. A lawyer can help demonstrate the seriousness of your injuries as well as the costs involved with your recovery. They may do this by gathering evidence from:
- Your medical records
- Statements from your doctors
- Expert testimony verifying the extent of your injuries
Often, insurance companies will attempt to make an initial offer that does not fully cover all of your medical costs and other damages. A lawyer can work to show not only that you have bills to pay for past treatments, but that you may be expecting future or ongoing treatments.
Your lawyer’s goal is to seek all forms of compensation available to you—including for your medical care costs and more. Depending on your case’s details, a lawyer can help you pursue compensation for:
- Lost income: This can reflect the income you couldn’t earn while recovering from your injuries.
- Reduced earning capacity: If you need to change jobs or reduce your hours, you could recover the difference between your past and current earnings.
- Pain and suffering: If you’re in serious pain or dealing with emotional suffering, you could seek compensation.
Seek the best possible settlement
Seeking a fair settlement for your car crash can be more complicated than it seems. Thankfully, you can work with a lawyer who can handle the entire process for you.
For instance, a lawyer will deal with any of these common roadblocks during the insurance claims process:
- Outright denial of your case
- Delays in processing
- Unfair claims that misrepresent your case’s details and lower your settlement value
Some collision victims may be told by the insurance company that their injuries don’t qualify as serious, or that their injuries resulted from a pre-existing condition. A lawyer will know what to do if this happens in your case. These types of challenges are familiar aspects of the settlement process, as insurance companies will often take many steps to protect their bottom line.
Take your case to trial
In some situations, a lawyer may advise filing a lawsuit against the liable party. This may happen when the liable party’s insurer refuses to make a fair settlement offer. If you need to file suit, a lawyer can handle all the necessary tasks for you, such as:
- Filing lawsuit paperwork
- Preparing your case evidence for trial
- Cross-examining witnesses
- Preparing arguments for your case
- Ensuring your case meets the statute of limitations deadline
Handling the litigation process can be complex, but you don’t have to worry about dealing with the challenges when you hire a lawyer.
A Lawyer can explain how New York state law could affect your case
In New York, you will need to determine how various state laws regarding auto insurance and personal injury could affect your case. An attorney can help you navigate all relevant laws, including:
- The serious injury threshold: In New York, you could file a lawsuit to seek damages from an at-fault driver—but you will need to show that your injuries meet a certain “serious injury” threshold. A lawyer can explain everything you need to know about navigating these rules.
- The statute of limitations: In most states, including New York, you have a deadline to file a lawsuit after a car crash. This is known as the statute of limitations deadline. You generally have three years to file a suit, per CPLR § 214. If you are filing suit for a wrongful death case, you have even less time—two years in most situations (per EPTL § 5-4.1). There could be exceptions to these limits, however, based on the details of your case. For example, a municipal claim must be brought within 90 days.
- The deadline for filing no-fault claims: If injured in an auto accident, you must file for no-fault benefits for medical bills and other basic economic losses. This may be your own company, if operating your own vehicle or a pedestrian/cyclist the victim of a hit-and-run; the vehicle that struck you if a pedestrian/cyclist, or the vehicle you were traveling in at the time of the collision. A no-fault claim must be filed within 30 days of the crash, according to New York State’s Department of Financial Services.
Other important laws could affect your case, and a car crash lawyer can explain them all.
Get a case review from a car accident lawyer on Long Island
You can learn about many more reasons to hire a car accident lawyer when you call a lawyer’s office. During this call, you can get all of your questions answered and learn more about the law firm’s services. You can ask:
- If you have a valid case for compensation
- What forms of compensation you could seek
- If you could qualify to file a lawsuit
- What a lawyer could do to handle your case
- What legal fees are entailed
Often, car crash lawyers work based on contingency fees, which means that you don’t need to pay anything to get started with a case. With contingency fees, if you don’t win your case, you don’t pay your lawyer. This means that hiring a lawyer can come at minimal financial risk to you.
Call Rosenberg & Gluck, L.L.P. today for a free consultation about your collision
You don’t have to be alone in your case for compensation. A car crash lawyer from Rosenberg & Gluck, L.L.P. can help you with every detail of an insurance claim or lawsuit.
Call our team today to learn more today. The call is free and comes with no obligation: (631) 994-1910. We can assist clients in both English and Spanish.
