Car Accidents

Some car accidents can be handled by insurance companies, provided that the parties that crash are cooperative and no one was seriously hurt. You may just want to pretend nothing ever happened. However, there are circumstances under which you need to hire an attorney. If you have sustained serious physical or financial harm, you will need an attorney to help you recover what you are owed. You will also need an attorney if government vehicles were involved, or you think someone may allege you were at fault in the incident....

Since 1979, high-speed police chases have claimed more than 5,000 lives in the United States. That’s more victims than hurricanes, tornadoes, fires, and all other types of natural disasters put together. Many chases occur after traffic stops and other minor offenses. Publically, police officers justify these reckless pursuits with rhetoric like “we cannot pick and choose the laws to enforce, and when we enforce them.” Off the record, however, police officers often admit that the high-speed chase is a huge adrenaline rush. So, despite the fact that shootable GPS...

Every day, distracted drivers cause thousands of serious injury crashes. Most people agree that using a cell phone while driving, along with other forms of distracted driving, is dangerous. Yet most drivers also admit that they regularly, or at least occasionally, multitask while driving. Behind an office desk, multitasking is usually a good thing. But when behind the wheel of a car, multitasking is a bad thing, because safe driving requires concentration. New York personal injury attorneys have several legal options when it comes to obtaining compensation in these...

Nationwide, about one driver in eight has no auto insurance at all. This problem may be even worse in New York. The Empire State also has one of the lowest auto insurance minimum requirements in the country. So, many drivers are either uninsured or dangerously underinsured. If the wreck caused catastrophic injuries, the tortfeasor (negligent driver) may not have enough insurance coverage to provide fair compensation. Fortunately, New York also has very broad vicarious liability (third-party liability) rules. These doctrines give victim/plaintiffs an additional source of recovery in these...

In order to establish negligence by a preponderance of the evidence (more likely than not), the victim/plaintiff must have evidence in a car crash claim. Until very recently, New York personal injury attorneys had to rely almost entirely on witness testimony and the police accident report. These sources are still very useful, but they also have significant problems. Witnesses are sometimes biased or unqualified. Maybe they were in a car crash themselves or maybe they were not wearing their glasses. Similarly, the police accident report is sometimes incomplete. If...

The fully-loaded semi-trucks that crisscross the New York metro area weigh at least 80,000 pounds. Furthermore, bureaucrats routinely grant waivers which allow shipping companies to pile even more weight onto these trucks. There’s more: these vehicles normally carry hundreds of gallons of diesel fuel. This concoction burns at a different temperature from gasoline. So, many large truck crashes involve huge fireballs. Because of these hazards, New York truck drivers have a higher duty of care than non-commercial drivers. For example, non-commercial drivers must be more alert at night. But...