Whether victims are hurt at home or away from home, they have the same basic rights, such as the right to fair compensation for their serious injuries. Usually, this compensation includes money for economic losses, such as medical bills, and noneconomic losses, such as pain and suffering. A New York personal injury lawyer can obtain additional punitive damages in many cases. Victims need this money to pay accident-related expenses and generally put their lives back together. They deserve it because no one should have to pay for someone else’s mistake.
Vehicle Collisions
Bad winter weather often contributes to many of the accidents discussed in this post, including vehicle collisions. Significantly, bad weather, like snow and ice, doesn’t “cause” car crashes, at least in most cases. Instead, driver error causes almost all car crashes. Other factors, such as bad weather, often contribute to car wrecks.
Occasionally, defective roads or defective products substantially cause car wrecks. Cities have a duty to safely maintain roads, which includes a duty to fill potholes and ensure traffic and other lights are fully operational. Defective products, mostly defective tires, also cause a few vehicle collisions. The issue could be a design defect or a manufacturing defect.
Driver error substantially causes about 98 percent of the vehicle collisions in New York. Driver error can include:
- Operator Impairment: Alcohol is a depressant that slows motor skills and clouds judgment, making it impossible to safely operate a motor vehicle.
- Aggressive Driving: It seems like everyone is in a hurry to get somewhere. This desire increases speeding, the most common, and dangerous, kind of aggressive driving. Excess speed increases the risk of a wreck and the amount of force in a collision.
Generally, a New York personal injury lawyer uses the ordinary negligence doctrine or the negligence per se rule to obtain compensation in these cases. Ordinary negligence is a lack of reasonable care, at least in most cases, and negligence per se is a violation of a safety law that causes injury.
Pedestrian Accidents
Pedestrians should always cross the street in a designated crosswalk, “Look Both Ways” and with the light since distracted drivers may not be paying close attention.
Many older adults shuffle their feet when they walk. As a result, when they stumble, they cannot regain their balance, and they usually fall. Furthermore, older adults often have pre-existing medical conditions, such as arthritis, that increase the severity of fall injuries.
These vulnerable victims are usually entitled to maximum compensation. An insurance company cannot use a gait disorder, pre-existing illness, or other weakness as an excuse to reduce or deny compensation.
Falls
Bad weather often contributes to car crashes, and bad weather often contributes to falls.
When outside, try to wear slip-resistant shoes and take small steps, even if you don’t see an ice patch. Black ice is a constant and invisible hazard. This thin, translucent ice is almost impossible to see, especially at night. Furthermore, black ice is much slippier than other kinds of ice.
Owners should diligently and regularly salt and clear walkways and parking areas to prevent ice buildup, not only because it’s the right thing to do, but because they have a legal responsibility to keep these areas safe.
Physically, when victims fall on pavement, they can sustain permanent physical injuries. The broken bones sustained in a weather-related fall may never completely heal, especially if the victim has a pre-existing condition.
Assaults
Weather and alcohol can also contribute to assaults. The same duty of care that applies to falls also applies to assaults. Owners have a duty to provide safe and secure environments. The extent of that duty depends on the relationship between the owner and victim, as follows:
- Invitee: If the victim has direct or general permission to be on the property (e.g. “come to a party next weekend” or “we’re open for business”), and the owner receives any direct or indirect benefit, including the benefit of social interaction, the owner has a duty of reasonable care. This duty includes a responsibility to proactively address security gaps, such as burned-out lights, that could create an environment for an assault.
- Licensee: A licensee has permission to be on the land but the owner doesn’t benefit. A guest of an apartment tenant is a licensee. Apartment owners don’t care who visits, as long as they follow the rules. Because the relationship isn’t as close, the duty of care is lower. Usually, if the assault victim was a licensee, the owner has a duty to warn the victim about latent (hidden) security hazards.
- Trespasser: Most people aren’t trespassers when they walk through the door. Instead, they become trespassers after they walk through the door. Apartment tenants who don’t timely pay rent or break a rule, like playing music too loud, are no longer invitees. Instead, these individuals are trespassers. Usually, owners have no safety responsibilities toward trespassers.
To learn more or for a free consultation with an experienced personal injury lawyer in New York, contact Napoli Shkolnik. There are no upfront legal fees and we only recover a fee when we win your case.