Car Accidents

New York Traffic: Accidents Waiting To Happen

Car accidents are much more likely to occur in New York City than other rural areas in the state given the amount of traffic on each street. If you are involved in a car crash and have suffered injuries, you need to be represented by a personal injury attorney who knows what steps to take in making a claim. Caesar & Napoli, is an established law firm serving Manhattan, Brooklyn and Queens that acts on behalf of car accident victims. We have been handling personal injury cases for more than 30 years and are known for the level of quality legal representation we provide.

Examining The Facts Of The Case

No two car wreck accident claims are the same, and the New York car accident lawyers at Caesar & Napoli, recognize this. We are highly familiar with the legal procedures involved in car accident cases, as well as the documentation and timelines involved in car accident claims. We look at photographs of the accident, diagrams of accident reconstruction, police reports and all other related materials. You can count on us to take the necessary steps to help you obtain the benefits and compensation you deserve.

Representation For Car Accident Victims

The Brooklyn vehicle accident attorneys at Caesar & Napoli, handle all types of car accident cases, including:

• Multi-car accidents
• Taxicab accidents
• Rear-end collisions
• T-bone accidents
• Brake and engine failure cases
• Accidents resulting from defective car parts
• Passenger injury claims

New York’s No-Fault System And When You Can Sue

New York is a no-fault state. After a car accident, your own insurance policy pays your medical treatment and a portion of your lost earnings regardless of who caused the crash. These are called first-party benefits, and they are the reason most people can begin treatment without waiting for anyone to accept blame.

No-fault has a deadline that catches people out. Under 11 NYCRR 65-1.1, written notice of the claim must reach the insurer within 30 days of the accident. Miss it without a clear and reasonable justification for the delay and the insurer can deny the benefits outright. Thirty days passes quickly when you are in treatment, which is why this is one of the first things we handle.

No-fault also limits what you can recover. Insurance Law section 5104(a) bars a lawsuit for pain and suffering against the other driver unless your injury meets the statutory definition of a serious injury. Insurance Law section 5102(d) sets out nine categories:

• Death
• Dismemberment
• Significant disfigurement
• A fracture
• Loss of a fetus
• Permanent loss of use of a body organ, member, function or system
• Permanent consequential limitation of use of a body organ or member
• Significant limitation of use of a body function or system
• A medically determined injury of a non-permanent nature that prevents you from performing substantially all of your usual and customary daily activities for at least 90 of the 180 days immediately following the accident

That last category is known as the 90/180 rule, and it is where many genuine claims are won or lost. It turns on what your treating doctors recorded at the time, not on how you describe the injury later. Insurers contest this threshold routinely, and the medical record built in the first six months usually decides the argument.

The Deadlines That Run Against A Car Accident Claim

Several clocks start on the day of the crash, and they run at different speeds.

• Thirty days to give written notice of the no-fault claim to the insurer, under 11 NYCRR 65-1.1.
• Ninety days to serve a notice of claim if a city vehicle, a public bus, or another public corporation’s vehicle was involved, under General Municipal Law section 50-e. This is the shortest and least forgiving deadline in New York injury law, and it applies before any lawsuit can be filed.
• Three years to file a personal injury lawsuit, under CPLR 214(5).
• Two years to bring a wrongful death claim, under EPTL 5-4.1, measured from the date of death rather than the date of the accident.

The ninety day deadline surprises people most often, because a collision with a city bus or a sanitation truck does not feel legally different from any other collision at the roadside. It is.

The Evidence A Car Accident Claim Depends On

Fault in a car accident case is rarely settled by argument. It is settled by what can be documented, and some of that documentation disappears on its own.

• The police accident report. Form MV-104A records the officer’s observations, any summons issued, and the position of the vehicles.
• Photographs of the scene and the vehicles. Damage patterns show the angle and force of impact, which often contradicts a driver’s later account.
• Event data recorder information. Most vehicles store speed, braking and throttle data in the seconds before a collision. It has to be preserved before the vehicle is repaired or salvaged.
• Traffic and business security footage. Many systems overwrite within days. A preservation letter sent early is often the only reason this footage still exists.
• Medical records from the first weeks. These establish the connection between the crash and the injury, and they are what the serious injury threshold is measured against.
• Witness statements. Memory fades and people move.

Caesar & Napoli examines photographs of the accident, diagrams of accident reconstruction, police reports and all other related materials, and we move early on the evidence that does not wait.

When More Than One Driver Is At Fault

New York applies pure comparative fault. Under CPLR 1411, being partly responsible for a crash reduces what you recover in proportion to your share of the fault, but it does not bar the claim. A driver found 30 percent at fault can still recover 70 percent of the damages awarded.

This matters because insurers often assign blame to the injured driver early, in the expectation that the claim will be abandoned. Partial fault is a reduction, not a defense.

Questions People Ask After A Car Accident In New York

Do I have a case if I was not taken to hospital from the scene?
Possibly. Soft tissue injuries and concussions often present hours or days later. What matters is that you are examined and that the examination is documented. A delay in treatment is something an insurer will raise, so the sooner the record begins, the better.

The other driver was uninsured. What happens now?
Your own policy’s uninsured motorist coverage may respond. These claims run on their own notice requirements and are handled separately from a claim against an at-fault driver.

Should I give a recorded statement to the other driver’s insurer?
You are not obliged to. Those statements are taken to establish fault and to fix your description of your injuries early, before the full extent is known.

What does it cost to bring a claim?
Caesar & Napoli handles most personal injury cases on a no-win, no-fee basis. We are not paid attorney’s fees unless we win a recovery for your case.

How long does a car accident case take?
It depends on the injury and on whether liability is contested. A case rarely resolves sensibly before the medical picture is clear, because the value of a claim cannot be assessed while treatment is still ongoing.

Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome.

Related Practice Areas

• Distracted Driving Accidents
• Rollover Accidents
• Uninsured and Underinsured Motorists
• Auto Insurance Litigation
• Auto Accident Fatalities

See If We’re The Right Fit For Free

At Caesar & Napoli, we do not charge for initial consultations. To schedule a meeting with one of our attorneys to discuss your injury case, please contact us at (888) 235-6766. Most personal injury cases are handled on a no-win, no-fee basis. We are not paid attorney’s fees unless we win a recovery for your case.