Manhattan car accident lawyer- auto injury accident lawyer New York.
According to New York car accident statistics, more than 1,000 new yorkers die in car accidents, a figure that is 1.6 times higher than the general USA average car accident deaths.
According to the same data source, New York City is the deadliest city for drivers. It is estimated that New York City alone has experienced 2,449 car accidents and more than 2,347 people have lost their lives over the last 10 years.
According to Silberstein, Awad & Miklos, P.C. accident and medical malpractice attorneys, in the year 2020, over 5,000 motorists were injured in car accidents, and more than 3,306 passengers in Manhattan also sustained car accident injuries. In the same year, Manhattan saw 2,206 pedestrians and 715 cyclists sustain personal injuries due to road traffic accidents.
According to car accident laws, a driver who recklessly or negligently causes an accident should be held liable for all the personal injuries and financial losses incurred by the innocent driver/person.
The injured person is entitled to a list of damages from the at-fault driver, that he/she must pay from his/her pockets or through his/her insurance company. According to statistics, 7 out 10 people admit problems dealing with the car insurance company, a reason you may consider hiring a Manhattan car accident lawyer, or any other personal injury attorney from New York.
This post is a bit lengthy and covers many questions our viewers ask concerning hiring car accident attorneys, possible car accident settlement amounts, best personal injury lawyers in Manhattan and New York at large. Please go through the contents of this article first!
Page Contents
Do I need an attorney to get a car accident settlement?
Well, the best answer to do you need an attorney to get a car accident settlement is that, it depends on the circumstances of your personal injuries and other financial losses.
Statistics have shown that hiring a car accident lawyer in New York and Manhattan increases your settlement amount by 3-5 times higher. But, this is not a guarantee! Every case is different and the party to the accident to varies.
I have a friend (not from New York) who refused a $10,000 settlement from his car insurance on the advice of his car accident lawyer. His attorney took the case to trial only to be awarded $8,000 by the jurors. The client here lost money!
Having said so, if you sustained major injuries and huge financial losses or you expect large sums of settlement, definitely hiring an auto injury accident lawyer in New York will be a wise decision. You definitely won’t win a $1 million settlement on your own or without an experienced Manhattan car accident lawyer
More to that, you will agree with me that for any car accident, determining who is at fault for the car crash is not straightforward. There are instances where it is clear one driver was at-fault, but in some cases, both drivers could be sharing the blame.
If you think the other driver is partly to blame, or you are falsely being labeled the at-fault driver, go on and hire an experienced New York car accident attorney. Your car insurance company could deny you a settlement in states where partially at-fault drivers are barred from getting compensation.
Also, car accident laws or car insurance laws differ from state to state. For instance, New York follows a no-fault negligence system, whereas states like Texas is an at-fault state.
In no-fault states, the drivers involved in the car accident only claim through their own insurance companies unless their policy limits are too small to cover their damages.
In fault-system states, the driver that is responsible for causing an accident pays from his pockets, or through his insurance company. If you do not understand all these laws and many others, I highly recommend hiring a Manhattan car accident lawyer.
Should I get a lawyer for an accident that was my fault?
Just like I said, determining the liable driver in any crash is not easy, a reason hiring an auto injury accident lawyer in New York could save you lots of problems.
If it’s very clear you are the at-fault driver, you may need to hire a defense attorney, or your car insurance should provide you with a lawyer. You may need a lawyer to defend your rights, and other false accusations, fines, and penalties.
If you think the other driver is also partly to blame, hiring an auto accident defense lawyer should help you prove this to the insurance company or the jurors. This could help you reduce the number of damages you are paying for instance in states that follow a comparative negligence system.
What is a comparative negligence-based system? Assume drivers T and B are involved in an accident where driver T is found to be 90% at fault, while driver B is 10% to blame. In some states, only driver T pays.
In states which follow a comparative negligence system, driver T pays but what he pays driver B will be reduced by the degree of blame shared by driver B.
For instance, if driver B wins $200,000 in the settlement, he will only walk home with $180,000. 10% or $20,000 will be deducted just because driver B was partly to blame for the car accident.
What does a car accident lawyer do?
Car accident laws are very complex and interpreting the law does not come naturally to some of us who are not lawyers. Because car insurance adjusters are aware that the common person knows no laws, they usually take advantage and cheat clients.
7 out of 10 car insurance companies do not care about their clients or personal injury victims. These companies have expertise and money and to be frank, you are already at a disadvantage side the day you file your car accident claim.
A Manhattan car accident or any auto accident lawyer from New York already knows this. They have probably dealt with so many car insurance companies and know all the tricks these insurance adjusters use to cheat you.
Lawyers also know how best to build their case and know the rightful pieces of evidence they need to parade before the Jury. They are also experts at poking holes in the witness statements and other pieces of evidence from the defending side.
Car accident lawyer free consultation
All Manhattan car accident attorneys provide free consultations and free case evaluations with no obligation to be hired. Law firms like Law Offices of Ira M. Perlman, P.C. & Robert D. Rosen, P.C. or The Rothenberg Law Firm LLP, and Manhattan Car Accident Lawyers like the Barnes law firm all offer free consultations.
Car accident lawyer new york city
If you are looking for auto accident lawyers in New York, we have you covered. Below is a list of the 5 most popular personal injury or car accident lawyers in New York.
1. The Rothenberg Law Firm LLP. This law firm handles car, motorcycle, and truck accident victims. They have been practicing law for the last 50 years and have a google rating of 4.8/5 and an Avvo rating of 5/5. The charging fee is 33% contingency basis and consultations are free of charge. Contact The Rothenberg law firm LLP at (315) 873-3817.
2. Seiden & Kaufman Attorneys at Law. With an Avvo rating of 5/5 and a Yelp rating of 5/5, this law firm has been in practice since 1988 and handles many kinds of personal injuries like car accidents, slip and fall personal injuries, workplace injuries, and so many others. Contact – 800-287-2433.
3. The Law Offices of Darren T. Moore P.C. This law firm has a google rating of 5/5, an Avvo rating of 5/5, and a Yelp rating of 4/5. Founded in 2019, they have been handling all personal injury cases like car accident injury cases and others. For a free consultation, contact The Law Offices of Darren T. Moore P.C at (510) 876-9762.
4. Redmond Law, address at 80 Broad St., Suite 1202, New York, NY 10004. Redmond law firm has been representing cases of personal injury cases for more than 20 years ago. With a google rating of 4.3/5, they also offer 33% contingency fee-based services and their consultations are free of charge. Contact Redmond law at (646) 285-7115.
5. Block O’Toole & Murphy Located at 1 Penn Plaza Suite 5315, New York, NY 10119, their facebook rating is 4.5/7. The law firm has a team of dedicated Manhattan car accident lawyers dedicated to serving victims who are negligently injured by reckless drivers. You can contact the law firm at (718) 841-0663.
Car accident lawyer Brooklyn
The five boroughs of New York are Manhattan, Bronx, Brooklyn, Queens, and Staten Island. If you are looking for the best Brooklyn Car accident lawyer, below is a list of 3.
1. Rosenbaum & Rosenbaum, P.C. With a dedicated team of personal injury attorneys, Rosenbaum & Rosenbaum, P.C. have over 40 years of experience helping clients get fair car accident settlements either from car insurance companies or through litigation of the cases.
2. The Barnes personal injury law firm. Contact them at (800) 800-0000 for free consultations and case evaluation.
3. Mirman, Markovits & Landau, P.C. If you are negligently injured by another driver, contact them at call 212-227-4000, or write to them at casecalls@mirmanlawyers.com
What are most lawyer fees for car accident?
Hiring a New York auto accident lawyer is of course expensive. The good thing with personal injury cases is that most New Yor car accident attorneys do not charge a dime unless they won you a settlement.
Most lawyer fees for car accidents are somewhere between 30-40% of the settlement you are awarded by the jury or settlement given to you by the car insurance company. You will pay no fees if you lose the case.
However, there are costs like stationery, air time, travel costs, etc which you will need to meet even if your case is lost. Make sure you get clarifications from your lawyer about paying these costs.
Common kinds of Personal Injury Cases (Car accident attorney)
An injured person from New York is entitled to a list of numerous damages like:
- medical bills or expenses
- Pain and suffering
- emotional distress damages
- lost wages
- lost income
- lost potential to earn etc.
If you caused an accident, in most states, you will be asked to compensate the victim by paying him/her the monetary damages listed above.
New York is a no-fault state. Every driver is required to carry personal injury protection (PIP) insurance coverage which covers medical expenses irrespective of being at fault or not. Every driver involved in a car crash is compensated by their own PIP before they go after the at-fault party.
In New York, the car accident victim will go after the insurance of the other party if his/her own PIP coverage wasn’t adequate enough to cover all his/her damages.
If you have been negligently injured in New York, your average car accident settlement is expected to be around $287,000. Of course, the circumstances of car accidents differ from each other and so is a settlement.
In New York, there is a cap on the number of damages you will get for your economic damages. Economic damages include medical bills, lost wages, lost income, and all other damages you can assign a dollar value. The insurance company pays up to $50,000 as your medical bills and up to 80% of your lost wages/income.
When should you get a lawyer for a car accident in New York?
For any car accident, there is a likelihood of finding yourself a defendant or a plaintiff/claimant. Irrespective of the side you are, you may need to hire a lawyer for a car accident in New York.
If you are the defendant (the at-fault driver), you may choose to hire a lawyer to defend your rights and to fight to prevent you from paying over the odds in a settlement. Your lawyer could also help to prove that the other driver is also to blame for the car accident.
Is it worth getting an attorney for a car accident?
If you are the plaintiff (car accident victim), hiring a personal injury lawyer increases your chances of getting a fair settlement. Your Manhattan car accident lawyer should help in gathering all pieces of evidence required to build your case.
Negotiating with any car insurance is tough. A New York auto accident lawyer knows all the tricks and has the expertise necessary to squeeze the last dollar from tough negotiating auto insurance companies.
How to negotiate auto accident injury settlement?
There are some specific steps you need to follow right after the accident to kick-start your claim settlement process. For instance, after the accident, each driver is supposed to do the following.
- Stay calm to avoid further injuries.
- If injured do not move or drive your car away. Otherwise, drive your car to the roadside where it does not affect traffic.
- Before moving your car, take pictures of the car accident scene, cars still in contact, car damages, and injuries sustained by all people involved including yourself.
- Get statements from witnesses and with their consent, get their contacts and addresses.
- Exchange information with the other driver. Get his name, insurance information, address, car registration, and license plate number.
- Call the police and if possible wait and get a copy of the police report.
- Call and inform your car insurance company.
- call and inform your Manhattan car accident attorney.
Thereafter, you may need to upload all those pictures or any footage to your car insurance company to kick-start your claim settlement. Your car insurance will assign you a claims adjuster who will investigate the accident and determine how much you are entitled to as a settlement.
Manhattan accident today
There are a significant number of car accident injuries that occur in Manhattan and New York at large. If you need to report a car accident, you can download a collision report online through Collision Report Retrieval Portal.
If you need a car accident report after 30 days after a car accident in New York, you will need to contact the New York State Department of Motor Vehicles.
Conclusion.
Hundreds of car accidents occur on daily basis around Manhattan and New York at large. According to car accident laws, a person who is negligently injured is entitled to damages like medical bills, pain and suffering, lost income, and others.
If you need to hold liable the person who negligently injured you in Manhattan, contact an auto car accident lawyer in New York or Manhattan today.
