For more than 40 years, James Newman, P.C. has had one goal — your recovery. We know that when other drivers fail to pay attention to the road, you may be hurt as a result of their negligence. Accidents involving motor vehicles — whether cars, trucks or motorcycles — are among the most common causes of injury and death in the United States. If you or someone you love has been injured in an auto accident, a Bronx auto accident lawyer from our firm can help you seek compensation from the parties who caused the accident. Contact us today so we can get started working on your case.
Were you injured in an auto accident of any kind due to the negligence of another driver? If so, you can depend on a seasoned New York City personal injury lawyer from James Newnam, P.C. to fight for you. Our firm handles the gamut of auto accident cases on behalf of our wrongfully injured clients, including the following:
There are many factors that can lead to an auto accident. We help victims get compensation when negligence plays a role. Negligence can be claimed in auto accident cases that involve:
In addition to holding drivers accountable for their actions or negligence, our personal injury attorneys work with victims to pursue compensation from manufacturers of defective vehicles and government departments responsible for road defects.
Under New York’s no-fault car accident rules, most injury victims file a claim with their own insurance company to cover their medical expenses after an accident. These claims must be filed within 30 days. In cases where your injury results in severe or permanent damage, you may be able to bring a lawsuit against another driver. These cases must be brought within three years of the accident. When dealing with another driver’s insurance company in settlement talks or in court, your own fault may become an issue.
New York law reduces the damages amount you can recover proportionally to your responsibility, or fault, for the accident. This means that if you were 10 percent at fault for a crash, your damage award would be reduced by 10 percent in court. Our attorneys seek to maximize your recovery by proving that another party was at fault.
First, get yourself and any other passengers to safety. You should immediately call the police and, if possible, exchange insurance and contact information with the other driver. You should also seek medical attention, even if you don’t notice any obvious injuries. Then, if it is safe to do so, document the scene by taking photos if possible. What you should not do, no matter how minor the accident may seem, is speak with an insurance adjuster or accept an offer of compromise before consulting an attorney. Calling an experienced auto accident lawyer as soon as possible is important for preserving evidence and building your case.
Everyone’s seen how even a single moment of distraction can affect a person’s driving capabilities. Another driver is talking on his or her cell phone without a headset and cuts you off, or a driver focuses on reading emails on a smartphone and nearly rear-ends you because of it. Then there are those situations in which an accident happens because another driver was too busy texting or putting on makeup. For more than 40 years, the attorneys of James Newman, P.C. have been advocates for victims injured in all types of distracted driving accidents. Mobile phones and other devices are the newest and fastest-growing distraction among drivers today — and because texting commands the use of a person’s eyes, hands and brain, phones may also be the most dangerous.
In 2001, New York was the first state to pass a law banning drivers from talking on handheld devices while driving. In 2011, the state banned the use of handheld devices to send or receive texts or emails. And in 2014, the law against texting was strengthened further, increasing the penalties that the New York Department of Motor Vehicles applies against those who text and drive.
So what exactly constitutes distracted driving? Any activity that could divert a person’s attention away from his or her primary task of driving is a distraction. All distractions endanger the safety of drivers, passengers and bystanders. The most common types of distractions include the following:
There are at least three different facets of distraction that may affect a driver’s focus and lead him or her to cause a car accident in New York:
Distracted driving is a bad idea, no matter if it’s texting or adjusting the radio. In 2012, there were 3,328 people killed in distraction-related crashes in the United States and an estimated 421,000 injured in motor vehicle accidents involving distracted drivers. But texting is perhaps the most dangerous distraction of all because it engages all three facets of distracted driving.
In any form, distracted driving is negligent driving, and if you or someone you love was hurt in an accident as a result, you may have a right to compensation. When reading a text, a driver takes his or her eyes off the road for, on average, five seconds — that is enough time to travel the length of a football field, enough time to destroy another person’s property, health and happiness, or even enough time to take an innocent life.
At our personal injury law firm, we understand that the last thing you want to deal with after an accident is a complicated and confusing lawsuit. At James Newman, P.C., our goal is to fight for your rightful compensation so that you can heal and move on. We strive to reach a settlement before trial, but we are prepared to go to court to fight for just compensation when we need to. To schedule a free initial consultation, simply contact us today.
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