Car accident attorneys, serious injury, and Personal Injury Law in New York State

Car accident lawyers in New York State know that something special car accidents. Article 51 of the Insurance Law Law says show car accident victims, they have a serious injury before they too get money for pain and suffering. What does it all mean?

It means little when it comes to medical bills, lost wages, and a few other minor items. New York No-Fault Law guarantees that the victim be compensated inthese areas. The insurance for the car you should have to pay for your medical expenses and lost wages. In almost all cases, you do not need a lawyer. As we begin to see insurance unreasonably refuse to pay, in some cases, it is still rare. Even for most of these denials is the amount of money is insufficient to justify the legal costs. We advise our customers when it comes to a no-fault denials, and in cases where the problem is significant, we dothey represent. Normally we have to fight the rejection in an arbitration.

The auto accident, serious injury threshold is a compromise, at least in theory. Given current spending by the personal injury protection line was covered under the number of insurance, liability expenses errors were to be reduced to the bodily injury liability line. It could be a vigorous debate about whether this was wise and fair compromise, but can someone else to write articles.

The standard for what is a seriousInjury is fairly complicated. There are several categories of cause serious injury. The most common thing we see include fractures, other injuries, to a significant reduction or a considerable period without work.

One might think that the fracture category would be fairly simple. In most cases, automobile accident is. But there are some types of fractures, where it is not so clear. Court decisions show that a fracture of a bone meets the criteria. Fractured cartilage usuallynot qualify, and the same holds true for a broken body. We had a case with a "liver failure." Sounds strange, but that's what the doctors called it. The case settled, so that we never tested in the courts. The other question is, if a fracture is a fracture? A hairline fracture of one, but a "green wood" is not broken.

The severe restriction category contains hundreds of cases led to discuss, if there is a limit of significance, and what the victim must prove to show too. TheDefendant lawyer will often move for summary judgment, to dismiss the case. After the injured person to their own physician in an independent medical examination (also known as the IME, and many of us deny the use of the word "independent"), the defense contends that the report that shows more generally to the injured person fully recovers. Then the applicant responds car accident lawyer, usually with a report of the attending physician, describing theDetails of the injury and why it is or was substantial. If the applicant's reply is unsatisfactory, often the case is dismissed. To avoid this, have the evidence to show that the injury was more than slight, small, light, and that this is linked to objective findings (such as an abnormality on an X-ray or MRI, or in many cases, a determination of spasm.

The category of the lack of jobs is one well known to lawyers as the 90/180 category. This refers to the law, which requires that the personessentially all of their daily work for 90 or more days during the 180 days after the accident affected. Most of the time, this means three months without work during the six months after the accident has happened. In response to a complaint, the plaintiffs lawyer had to show, through medical evidence that the person from work for three months, and this was not related to objective medical findings.

For both, the latter two categories, which we often win the motionby pointing out an important gap in the IME. In most cases, the IME doctor will not discuss much about the problems of the past and the treatment. We argue that these resources are not met its burden on the defense of their movement. They have not the court that the restriction was significant, or that the time outside of work was not suitable, not because the IME physician to discuss these issues. It is our experience that most judges maintain it and on the case life.

There are other categories and a number ofother complex problems that may arise in automobile accident cases where serious injury threshold, but that's a good start.