If your or your loved one was injured in a motorcycle accident, you may be able to collect damages to cover your medical bills, lost wages, and pain and suffering. A motorcycle accident lawyer from the Law Office of Cohen & Jaffe, LLP can guide you through the process of pursuing compensation for your injuries while protecting your rights and advocating for your best interests.
How Our Motorcycle Accident Lawyers Will Fight for You
In order to determine what happened, a lawyer with our firm will investigate your motorcycle accident. Evidence may indicate that multiple parties are responsible for your accident. Our Levittown lawyer may advise that you sue an individual, multiple individuals, a private business or company, or even the government or one of its agencies or employees.
If you fear that the investigation may show that you played a part in causing the accident, you may still be able to collect damages. This is because of something called “contributory negligence.”
According to CVP §1411, as long as you can show that the other parties were more at fault than you, you can still recover compensation for your injuries. Our lawyer will be able to give you a better idea of how the contributory negligence law may impact your case.
Our Lawyer Can Negotiate With Insurance Companies for You
Insurance companies may try to pay injured victims of negligence less than the amount they are owed. The fight for compensation can be filled with paperwork, red tape, and bureaucracy—the last thing you need when you are trying to focus on recovering from your injuries.
Let a Levittown lawyer from our firm take on the fight for you. Our motorcycle accident lawyer will negotiate on your behalf. We can calculate what fair compensation would look like in your case and negotiate for it.
Our Lawyer Can Represent You in a Trial
Finally, if the insurance companies still refuse to pay you a fair settlement, your lawyer will take your case to court to advocate for your rights before a judge or jury. Sometimes, the insurance company will come back to the negotiating table. Other times, the case will go through to a verdict.
No matter what, our accident lawyers from the Law Office of Cohen & Jaffe LLP will be by your side every step of the way to support and advise you. We will make sure we account for all of your losses, including those that extend into the future, such as rehabilitative care. Our goal is for you to suffer no further harm as a result of a Levittown motorcycle accident.
Forms of Compensation That May Be Available
After a motorcycle accident in Levittown, a lawyer from our firm can calculate your damages and seek a fair settlement or court-awarded offer. Potential forms of compensation in your case may include:
- Medical expenses, including hospital stays, doctor’s appointments, medication, rehabilitative treatment, and modifications to your home
- Pain and suffering, which accounts for both your physical and emotional suffering due to the motorcycle accident
- Lost wages, which may apply if you had to miss work due to your injuries
- Reduced earning capacity, which applies if your injuries left you temporarily or permanently disabled and unable to work in the same capacity as you had before your motorcycle accident
- Wrongful death, including funeral expenses and loss of consortium if your loved one passed away due to their motorcycle accident injuries
How Long You Have to File a Lawsuit
You do not have an unlimited amount of time to file a personal injury lawsuit or a wrongful death lawsuit in New York. According to CPLR §214(5), you have three years from the date of the accident to file a personal injury lawsuit. Per EPTL §5-4.1, you only have two years to file a wrongful death lawsuit.
Two or three years may seem like a long time, but when you are building a case and dealing with insurance companies, you will want to give your lawyer as much time as possible. We can help you abide by the statutes of limitations when working on your case but do not delay in taking legal action.
How “No-Fault” Applies to Motorcycle Accidents
According to the New York Department of Financial Services (DFS), New York is a “no-fault” state. This means that injured victims of traffic accidents can receive compensation through their own insurance policy for their injuries, regardless of who is to blame for causing the accident.
However, this excludes riders or passengers on motorcycles. This means that in order to recover compensation for your medical bills, lost wages, and pain and suffering, you may need to sue instead of applying for no-fault benefits from your insurance.
A lawyer with our firm can handle your motorcycle accident case by seeking a settlement with the at-fault party’s insurer or by filing a personal injury lawsuit against the liable party.
Proving Negligence in Motorcycle Accidents
In order to recover compensation through a lawsuit, you will need to show that you were owed a duty of care to be safe while on the road, that someone else breached that duty, and that their negligence caused your accident and injuries. There are many causes of motorcycle accidents.
Your lawyer may find that the following forms of negligent behavior caused your injuries:
- Drunk or drug-impaired driving
- Drowsy driving
- Distracted driving
- Aggressive driving
If your accident was caused by a negligent act or omission, then you may be able to recover both economic and non-economic damages to compensate you for your losses. This includes money for your medical bills, lost wages, lost earning potential, out-of-pocket expenses, property repair costs, and pain and suffering.
Call Us Today for Your Free Consultation
Call the Law Office of Cohen & Jaffe, LLP today at (516) 358-6900 to receive your free consultation. Learn more about what our motorcycle accident lawyer can do for you and your loved ones after you have been injured. The sooner you call, the sooner we can get started protecting your rights.
For a free legal consultation with a motorcycle accidents lawyer serving Levittown, call 516-358-6900
The information provided on this website does not, and is not intended to, constitute legal advice; instead, all information, content, and materials available on this site are for general informational purposes only. Information on this website may not constitute the most up-to-date legal or other information and may not be applicable in your jurisdiction.
