Throughout Little Italy and surrounding Manhattan neighborhoods, at least one motorcycle accident occurs daily on average. Even worse, hundreds of motorcycle accidents happen in Greater New York City each month. About one person dies every week from these incidents.
Have you or a loved one been unfortunate enough to experience a motorcycle accident? If the crash was even only partially someone else’s fault, you have the right to compensation. Learn more about motorcycle accidents and how our Little Italy, NY, motorcycle accident lawyers help you get justice.
How Can Our Lawyers Help You After a Motorcycle Accident in Little Italy, NY?
If you think you have a case, we’ll meet with you for free and get to know your situation. We’ll share which steps put you in the best position to get fully compensated for your injuries.
If you decide to work with us, we start intensely investigating the facts. We determine the cause of the crash and figure out who is to blame.
If necessary, we consult accident specialists who can reconstruct the events. Medical expert testimony may be necessary to prove the long-term effects of your wounds. With this information in hand, we can file an insurance claim and aggressively negotiate for you.
If the insurer or defendant won’t offer a fair settlement, we go to trial. Though this is rare, we are fully ready to fight your case in court to get justice. All along the way, we help you understand what’s happening and what to expect.
How Much Is Your Case Worth?
You might try to find out how much your claim is worth online by looking for averages or comparing your accident to others. The reality is that getting an accurate figure is impossible to do without the specifics of your case.
In fact, averages for payouts can never show you exactly what to expect. Part of the reason is that most accident claims end in a settlement instead of a jury trial. (That’s because settlements are much quicker and less costly for both sides.)
However, these agreements are usually confidential. Therefore, you’ll have a hard time finding reliable statistics. What you can do is talk to our legal professionals to get a better idea of your case’s value by looking at the following factors.
Economic Damages
We start by helping you calculate the full extent of your financial losses. The at-fault parties should cover their portion of your medical care, both current and future. This includes any specialized treatments or therapy.
Additionally, your lost wages and income from caring for yourself and related matters after the accident are also recoverable. If your injuries affect your earning capacity, we’ll help you carefully calculate that as well.
Property damage is another thing you can recover. Keep invoices for the repair or replacement of your bike, equipment and other personal effects.
While economic damages are the easiest to figure, that doesn’t always make them easy to claim. You have to make a direct connection between these losses and your accident. Furthermore, there can be debate about how much future costs for medical bills or lost earning capacity may be.
You have to get it right because once you accept a settlement, it is practically impossible to go back and renegotiate. With our help, you can confidently compute your full compensation and fight for it.
Noneconomic Damages
Your accident will likely cause mental, emotional and psychological harm that is hard to quantify. Your pain and suffering or diminished quality of life from disability or injuries are also recoverable damages.
If the accident negatively impacts your relationships, you can claim “loss of consortium.” This could be due to a change in your disposition, ability to care for the household or loss of sexual function.
As intangible losses, these are all harder to calculate. Our team understands the precedents and formulas to use to help you recover whatever is possible for noneconomic damages.
Punitive Damages
Punitive damages are also possible in motorcycle accident cases, but such a payout is rare. Courts award these payments as punishment to the at-fault party for deliberate, malicious or excessively negligent conduct. Examples include someone driving under the influence of illegal drugs or a transportation company that repeatedly violates safety standards.
While New York places no caps on these damages, such payouts cannot be excessive. If you’re curious about whether your case merits punitive damages, feel free to contact us at Cellino Law.
What if You’re Getting Blamed for the Accident?
You shouldn’t accept any blame for the accident or even apologize for what happened. Even if you think you were responsible, there could be other factors that contributed to the incident that you aren’t aware of. However, even if you must accept part of the responsibility, New York’s pure comparative negligence laws don’t bar you from claiming compensation for someone else’s portion of the liability.
As an example, suppose the evidence indicates that 20% of the liability falls on you for your injuries. However, 50% of the responsibility is on a manufacturer for a product defect, and the other 30% is on a negligent driver.
In that case, you would recover 80% from the other parties for your damages. If your total losses were $100,000, you could get $50,000 from the manufacturer and $30,000 from the other motorist’s insurance for a total of $80,000.
No matter your case, we’ll do everything we can to help you get what’s fair. Remember, if we can’t recover compensation for you, you pay us nothing.
How Long Do You Have To File?
New York’s statute of limitations on personal injury lawsuits is three years. If you’re filing for wrongful death after a motorcycle accident of a loved one, the timeframe is two years. However, if the case involves a local government entity, you have to file a claim within 90 days. In any situation, it’s better to take swift action to start collecting evidence and building your case.
Get the Support You Deserve From Our Little Italy Motorcycle Accident Lawyers
After an accident, you don’t have to navigate your insurance and legal claims alone. We’re ready to stand by your side. Contact our Little Italy, NY, motorcycle accident lawyers at Cellino Law for help.