When dealing with the aftermath of an accident, there are many good reasons to get help from an experienced Buffalo personal injury lawyer. If you have been involved in an accident and are not sure what to do, call (888) 888-8888 today and schedule your free consultation.
Our attorneys will take the time to look over the details of your case completely free of charge. We don’t want a high-price of legal assistance to get in between you and your right to full compensation. Contact our Buffalo injury firm today to get your claim started.
How Can a Personal Injury Lawyer Help my Claim?
Here are some of the advantages a personal injury lawyer can provide when seeking rightful compensation:
Dependable Legal Assistance
It is never a good plan to assume anything especially when it comes to the tedious details and complexity of legal affairs. It is a better idea to bring on intelligent and experienced professionals to provide insights and direction. The attorney working for you will know exactly how to protect your interests in the short and long term and this will prove invaluable to you as you set about making your claim.
Organized Legal Help
In the aftermath of an accident, the victims will be dealing with the devastating consequences. It is only natural to feel confused and unsure of what to do next to make a full recovery and this is where a legal professional can help you plan the best course of action. The personal injury lawyer will know what needs to be done to prove negligence caused the accident and subsequent injury.
Management of Claim Filings
There are special rules and regulations that govern the way claims can be filed and handled in the state of New York. If these are not followed to the letter the results could be very damaging to your case and possibly void your compensation. The right lawyer will help you keep important deadlines and properly file the claim on your behalf.
Handle the Legal Details
The average client does not have the experience of extensive insights necessary to make judicious decisions in a personal injury case. This means they will not be able to collect the evidence, interview witnesses, and perform the investigation that will lead to a successful case. Having a trusted legal professional handling these important tasks can give you peace of mind and greatly increase the chances of obtaining full compensation.
Reaching Out to Insurance Companies
Insurance adjusters make a living by looking for every way they can to deny your claim. They will also employ some pretty questionable tactics to lower the amount of compensation they will pay you so their company can make a larger profit. It takes special skills of negotiation to convince these tight-pursued professionals to payout what the law entitles you to as a resident of Buffalo.
Relevant Trial Experience and Knowledge
It takes years of dedicated practice to properly handle a Buffalo personal injury claim and there is a lot to understand about specific regulations that apply to these cases. It will be of utmost importance that you have these advantages in your corner if your case should be taken to court. Our law firm has many years of experience and we have become very good at what we do.
Extensive Legal Network
Being able to rely on the knowledge and experience of a qualified Buffalo Personal Injury Lawyer brings a great wealth of connections and valuable resources to you as a claimant. You will have a law firm that is lending its support every step of the way and there to provide assistance to ensure everything goes in your favor. This includes the capacity to retain and use key witnesses to testify on your behalf. But, the capacity to use resources and choose the best strategies only comes with a top-notch law firm.
These advantages are available when you take your case to a qualified and professional personal injury lawyer in Buffalo, New York. While each case is unique and will require a specific set of tasks, a knowledgeable personal injury lawyer will know exactly what to do at each corner.
We have been in the business of helping out people suffering from damages and injuries that were caused by negligence for many years and know how to avoid the hurdles thrown our way. Our many years of experience make it easier for us to anticipate what the opposition will do at each corner and this makes it easier to plan an effective and successful strategy. It is our pledge to get you the representation you need to arrive at the ruling that makes a difference for you.
Defining a Personal Injury Lawsuit
While many people will need one at some point in their life, not everyone is sure exactly what a personal injury lawsuit is or what they entail. A personal injury lawsuit begins with an accident caused by another person’s or parties’ negligence and results in injuries and damages. It is then the duty of the insurance company to provide liability coverage to compensate the injured victim of the accident.
This compensation must cover the pain, emotional suffering, medicals, and other damages that may have been sustained or caused by the accident. In the case of a medical malpractice lawsuit, your personal injury will have to work closely with medical experts and with the lawyers representing the insurance companies and hospital.
A personal injury lawsuit becomes a formal claim after the lawyer or legal professionals representing you take the case to the court of law. Many times the cases can be settled through negotiations, this is often preferred because taking the case to court is a long and costly affair. But, any personal injury lawyer worth their salt will begin by preparing a case to be taken to courts if needs be.
Some of the most common outcomes to a personal injury lawsuit include:
Informal Settlement
This is widely considered the most common way a settlement is reached. In this case, both parties will take the time to sit down and work on resolving their conflicts. They will negotiate the finer details until both sides are completely happy. Then, they will write down a written legal document, called a resolution that outlines the terms of the settlement. Once this document has been completed and signed, both parties waive the right to take the matter to courts in the future. The victim will typically receive compensation for the damages according to the agreement reached by both parties.
A Formal Suit
This will often involve the victim who suffers the damages filing a civil suit against the parties, persons, organizations, etc. that caused the damages. This civil suit must illustrate how the actions taken by the defendant were reckless and negligent and resulted in the victim’s injuries and losses.
Personal Injury Law Basics
Personal injury is an especially complex issue and there are many intricacies and rules involved with working out these legal matters. As a branch of tort law, personal injury aims to provide proper financial compensation for those who have suffered damages and injury at the fault of another party. Specifically, personal injury helps to decide the proper amounts of compensation and ensure that the injured parties are compensated for the injuries or damages they have suffered as a result of the accident.
The lawsuit then will have to be tailored to the exact needs of the case in question. But there will be some aspects of personal injury law that are present in all cases. This includes:
Components of an Accident Claim
The components of the accident claim. The accident claim is going to have several specific components. These are causation, damages, duty, and breach of duty. The underlying tenet of personal injury law is that for a person or individual to be sued, they would have had a burden of responsibility or duty to the injured party at the time of the accident.
Strict Liability Laws and Absolute Liability Laws
Strict liability laws refer to those cases when a person or party is responsible for the damages caused regardless of any proof of negligence or recklessness. The laws of New York state that product liability claims because of errors in the production of products can fall under these regulations.
In a similar way, absolute liability is also included under these regulations. In these cases, the party or person responsible for the damages can be found negligent regardless of any proof. This is widely the case in injuries caused by dog bites or those that occur at a construction site.
Intentional Torts
There are cases when the injury was also carried out by a purpose with the intent to damage or injure the victim. In such a case the plaintiff will be able to pursue not only a civil lawsuit but also criminal charges against the perpetrator. This will mean the defendant will be responsible for compensation for damages and will also face punitive action for criminal intent.
There will be a whole list of rules, regulations, and time frames surrounding the various personal injury lawsuits. It will be imperative to have an experienced personal injury lawyer at your side when facing this intricate and confusing system. Only making sure all the various regulations are properly observed can you hope for a positive outcome to an otherwise very egregious situation.
What Are The Three General New York Negligence Laws?
New York law defines three important aspects of negligence:
Definition of Negligence
The definition of negligence according to the laws of New York refers to any instance where the individual fails to act as any reasonable person would have done in the same situation, and this lapse of logic results in bodily injury or property damage. The person or entity can also be found negligent if they did not take the appropriate precautions to avoid an accident.
Pure Comparative Negligence
Under New York Law, the behavior of the victim doesn’t change the compensation due after an injury has taken place. Nevertheless, the compensation can be lessened or increased depending on the involvement of the plaintiff in the events that led to the accident. The lawyer representing your case will be a pivotal part of determining the amount of responsibility you had in the accident and how much compensation you will be due.
Assumption of Risk
The plaintiff can also accept the compensation if the risk involved with a certain action was made clear to them and they chose to act anyway. An example of this would be getting injured in a skydiving or base jumping accident after the plaintiff was told about the risks of these dangerous sports.
How Is Negligence Determined In Injury Claims?
Negligence is an important point that must be established in many personal injury cases. To prove negligence it will be important to prove that:
- The Defendant Had and Breached Their Duty of Care
- The Defendant Had A Responsibility to Keep the Plaintiff Safe
- The Nature of the Pain, Suffering, and/or Damage the Victim Sustained
- The Breach of Duty of Care Resulted directly in the Victim’s Injuries
What Types Of Compensation Can I Get In A Personal Injury Suit?
Each lawsuit will be a very different case and have a different set of elements that determine the types of compensation you are entitled to. These details can be very different depending on the type of injury that was sustained, the underlying circumstances, and who was responsible. Nevertheless, there are some common types of compensation that most victims are entitled to, including:
Medical Bills
There is a good chance that the injuries inflicted in the accident will require treatment and there will be many fees and bills for hospitalization and the services of medical professionals. Surgery, medication, physical therapy, and emergency treatment can amount to a hefty bill and it is not the responsibility of the injured victim to pay for this. Compensation for medical bills will cover all current and future medical treatments until a full recovery is made.
Lost Wages
An injured victim will probably not have the strength and wellness to continue work as they always have. The wages lost while they are seeking treatment and recovering from injuries are also damages that must be compensated for. There may also be permanent disabilities that affect the professional function of the individual, these can also result in compensation for lost future wages.
Pain and Suffering
There is always some amount of pain and suffering involved with sustaining and recovering an injury. This pain and suffering can continue until the recovery is complete and sometimes for the rest of the victim’s life. Compensation can be recovered for this as well.
Property Damage
An accident may have other effects beyond physical damage. It could be that your property was also affected and will need to be properly repaired or restored. This compensation can help to cover the repairs needed to restore a motorcycle or vehicle after an accident.
Punitive Damages
In some cases, the courts may find the actions of the defendant to be especially illegal, reckless, or life-threatening. The courts may choose to apply punitive damages for the sole purpose of punishing this behavior.
What Kind Of Cases Do Our Buffalo Personal Injury Lawyers Handle?
Our experienced law firm has covered a wide range of personal injury cases and is eager and waiting to help lend our experience to you when injured by the recklessness or carelessness of another person or party. We have many years of experience in handling these cases and have seen great success in:
- Construction Accidents
- Birth Injuries
- Motorcycle Collisions
- Nursing Home Neglect and Abuse
- Slip and Fall Accidents
- Dog Bites
- Truck Collisions
- Medical Malpractice
- Bicycle Accidents
- Uber and Lyft Accidents
- Vehicle Accidents
We are also fully prepared to take your case to justice when dealing with wrongful death. A personal injury case can quickly be transformed into a wrongful death case if the need arises.
Contact Cellino Law – The Award-Winning Buffalo Personal Injury Attorneys
Cellino law is proud of its many years of service to the people of New York as one of the leading personal injury law offices in the area. We feel the experience we have acquired over the years makes us the premier choice for those serious about getting full compensation for their injuries. If your life has become impacted by a personal injury call our elite team of lawyers right away. We will perform a full review of your case and apply our superior skills to advise you on your best plan to move forward. Schedule your free consultation by calling Cellino Law at (888) 888-8888 today