New York Car Accident Litigation Strategy: Identifying a Viable Defendant
Sometimes when you are involved in a car accident in New York, there can be challenges in terms of identifying a viable responsible party to compensate you for your injuries. If another careless driver causes an accident with you, the drive may lack insurance and have no viable assets from which to pay a personal injury judgment. Alternatively, the at-fault driver may even flee the scene, and despite careful investigation, it may be impossible to identify the responsible driver. Sadly, some people simply give up when they learn that the other driver cannot be identified or does not have insurance. Our experienced New York auto accident lawyers at Cohen & Jaffe have successfully assisted many car accident victims facing this difficult situation. There are a number of effective strategies to deal with the situation where the most obvious at-fault party (i.e. the other driver) is not a viable defendant. We have provided an overview of strategies that we may successfully employ to identify a viable defendant to facilitate recovery of fair compensation in these situations.
Liability of Other Parties
Many times there is a third-party that may also have contributed to your car accident. Depending on the facts and circumstances of your case, a wide range of third parties may be liable for your injuries. If the person who was at fault in your accident was performing a work-related function, the company that employed the driver may be responsible for your injuries. These cases can be complex because many times the employer will dispute whether the particular tasks that the driver was engaged in were within the scope of employment. It is not necessarily dispositive that the task occurred after hours or even that the employee voluntarily decided to undertake the errand.
Even if the driver of a vehicle does not have insurance, the owner of the vehicle who entrusted the driver with the vehicle may be liable for your injuries. When someone entrusts their vehicle to someone who lacks the maturity, competence or responsibility to drive safely, he or she may be liable for negligently entrusting a vehicle to a third-party. For example, someone who lends one’s vehicle to a friend that he or she knows has a history of driving under the influence of alcohol or a pattern of past traffic accidents may be liable for your injuries.
Other parties that may be liable for your injuries include public entities, which may have designed or maintained a defective roadway and vehicle manufacturers that may have produced a defective automobile. Our experienced New York car accident attorneys always explore the possibility of liability of a public entity or vehicle manufacturer, but this is especially important when the at-fault driver is not a viable defendant. Public entities that know or should know of dangerous roadway conditions may be liable for failure to make a roadway safe or failure to provide adequate warnings of potential hazards. An automaker that produces a defective automobile may also be liable for your injuries if the defective component contributed to your car accident.
Uninsured Motorist (UM)/Underinsured Motorists (UIM)
If there is no other viable party against whom you may recover for your injuries, our New York car accident attorneys may be able to help you file a claim against your own uninsured motorist UM or underinsured motorist UIM coverage. Uninsured motorist coverage is optional supplemental insurance coverage that may provide compensation for the same types of damages you might recover from a negligent driver if you are involved in a hit-and-run accident or an accident with an uninsured driver. Uninsured motorist coverage is typically available for a relatively modest additional premium and can be invaluable if you find yourself involved in a serious car accident in New York with no viable defendant to compensate your for your injuries.
Underinsured motorist coverage is slightly different in that it provides additional compensation when there may be a viable defendant in your case, but the defendant does not carry enough insurance coverage to compensate you for all of your loss. If you are faced with this situation, underinsured motorist coverage can provide additional compensation on top of the insurance coverage of a negligent driver.
Anytime you are involved in a serious car accident in New York you may face challenges in identifying a viable defendant with sufficient insurance to compensate you for all of your loss. A New York auto accident attorney at Cohen & Jaffe may carefully investigate the circumstances of your auto accident so that we identify all potential defendants and assess the best possible litigation strategy.
If you or someone you love has been injured in a serious car accident, the Law Office of Cohen & Jaffe can help you identify all potentially responsible parties and represent you anywhere throughout Nassau, Queens, the Bronx, Brooklyn, Manhattan and Suffolk. We have collected millions for our clients and we can do the same for you. We invite you to contact us at (516) 358-6900 so that we can advise you of your rights and options.
