NY AUTOMOBILE
ACCIDENTS LAW
By
Christopher L. Sallay
Accidents involving automobiles are among
the most common causes of serious injury and
death in the
United States
each year.
Despite the advancements in
technology and significant safety improvements in automobiles
and in the design of roads, motor vehicle accidents
remain quite common.
In
fact, car accident claims and lawsuits are probably the most
common type of civil tort case filed by attorneys today.
It is important to note that not
every car accident will result in litigation. Where nobody is
injured or the injuries are not considered serious, the No-Fault
laws of the jurisdiction will generally govern any bodily injury
claims and restrict recovery.
Conversely, the more serious the
injury that results from a car accident, the more likely it is
that a successful recovery can be obtained.
Automobile accidents
are a class of tort cases which derive, for the most part, from
the basic tort principles of negligence.
Negligence is generally defined as
the lack of ordinary care.
It is a failure to use that degree
of care that a reasonably prudent person would have used under
the same circumstances.
It may arise from doing an act that
a reasonably prudent person would not have done under the same
circumstances, or, from failing to do an act that a reasonably
prudent person would have done under the same circumstances.
The most common
types of automobiles accidents are:
COMPARATIVE NEGLIGENCE IN AUTOMOBILE
ACCIDENTS
Very often, the
responsibility for a motor vehicle accident does not rest with
one single party.
In fact, there can be multiple
factors which caused or contributed to a automobile accident.
Among the most common contributing
factor to a motor vehicle accident is the conduct of the injured
person himself/herself- the plaintiff.
In those situations,
rather than deny the plaintiff in a
car accident case any recovery, a jury is permitted to compare
and apportion the negligence of the plaintiff against that of
the defendant and adjust its damage award to the plaintiff
according to the degree of comparative negligence of the
plaintiff.
Thus, if a jury finds the plaintiff
25%
responsible for an accident, the
jury can reduce the plaintiff=s
recovery by 25%.
Under some situations, a jury can
find that an injured party is 100% responsible for a motor
vehicle accident.
If that is the case, the injured
party will not be entitled to a recovery, no matter how badly
injured he/she is.
It is also important to note that,
in some jurisdictions (i.e.
New Jersey), a plaintiff who is found to
be more than 50% responsible for the accident is not entitled to
recovery at all.
This is not the law in
New York, however.
INSURANCE COVERAGE
It is an unfortunate
reality in the world today that the negligent operator of a
motor vehicle may not have sufficient insurance coverage to
compensate the victim of his negligence.
Under certain circumstances, the
victim of an automobile accident may be entitled to make a claim
under his/her own automobile insurance policy.
This is often known as UM/SUM
coverage.
It typically arises under two
circumstances:
-
The
negligent driver has no insurance
-
The negligent driver has minimal insurance
Unique, technical laws
exist which govern the ability of an injured person to recover under
these situations where a negligent driver has either no insurance or
minimal insurance.
Where the negligent driver is uninsured,
it is often difficult for a person who is injured in a car accident
to obtain appropriate compensation.
If the injured party carries what is
known as "uninsured motorist coverage" through their own
automobile
insurance policy, they may have a source of compensation in the
event that the other driver fails to carry insurance or cannot be
identified (i.e. a
Ahit
and run@
accident).
More commonly, the offending driver is
Aunderinsured@
and carries inadequate insurance coverage, often at the minimum
level required by state law.
Many states have very low insurance
requirements, which unfortunately means that some of the worst
drivers on the road carry inadequate coverage due to the high cost
of insurance which results from their bad driving records. Under the
laws of certain states, a person
may be able to protect themselves in the
event that they are in an accident caused by somebody who carries
inadequate coverage by purchasing additional coverage through their
own insurance company.
If they are injured through the fault of
an
Aunderinsured motorist,@
they may be able to obtain recovery through their own insurance
policy.
STATUTE OF LIMITATIONS
There are laws which
proscribe the time limits within which a person injured in a
automobile accident must take certain steps to protect
their legal rights or forever be prevented from proper and adequate
compensation.
For example, a person may be entitled to
have their medical expenses resulting from a motor vehicle accident
paid for by the applicable No-Fault Insurance policy.
In order to obtain insurance coverage
through the No-Fault system, certain information and forms must be
provided to the proper No-Fault Insurance provider within a limited
time-period following a motor vehicle accident (typically 30 days).
The failure to provide all the required
information within the specific time limits may cause the denial of
an injured person=s
right to payment of necessary medical expenses.
Furthermore, states have
passed laws which mandate that a lawsuit based upon injuries
sustained in a motor vehicle accident must be brought within a
certain time frame.
The failure to bring a lawsuit within
such a time frame is considered fatal.
In other words, a failure to bring a
lawsuit within the Statute of Limitations will prevent any recovery
regardless of the merits of the case.
EXPERIENCED NEW YORK AUTOMOBILES ACCIDENT LAWYERS
Automobile accident
litigation, although common, is among the most complicated areas of
tort litigation given the myriad types of motor vehicle accidents
and the various laws governing this area.
Thus, it is critical that an injured
person receive experienced representation in a timely manner to
insure that their medical bills are paid, their right protected and
that they receive just compensation for their injuries.
The
New York automobile accident lawyers at Gair,
Gair, Conason, Steigman & Mackauf have more than
40 years of experience and represented thousands of victims injured
in automobile accidents.
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