Michaels & Smolak, P.C.

We are dedicated almost exclusively to personal injury, wrongful death, medical malpractice and legal malpractice cases in all of Upstate New York, with most of our cases being in Central New York, the Finger Lakes Region and Western New York. We also accept general civil litigation cases, and we do take some select cases from all areas of New York State.

Website:https://www.michaels-smolak.com/
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Michaels & Smolak, P.C. Blogs

Central New York Injury Lawyer Blog

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Michael Bersani

Latest from Michaels & Smolak, P.C.

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I sue for a living. I say that with pride.  I help injured folks get compensation from wrongdoers.  But when the wrongdoer is the Government, it gets tricky. And when I say “the government”, I mean not just “THE” Government, but all the cities, towns, counties, school districts legally deemed subdivisions of the State of New York. On the road to victory against such defendants lies a minefield of bombs. The procedural requirements for suing…
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I sue for a living. I say that with pride.  I help injured folks get compensation from wrongdoers.  But when the wrongdoer is the Government, it gets tricky. And when I say “the government”, I mean not just “THE” Government, but all the cities, towns, counties, school districts legally deemed subdivisions of the State of New York. On the road to victory against such defendants lies a minefield of bombs. The procedural requirements for suing…
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That’s a photo of me on my bike above. Yes, I am an avid cyclist (150 road miles a week in the good weather) and a Central New York bicycle accident lawyer representing injured cyclists all over Upstate New York. So a New York Times article about a recent horrific car-on-bike crash, caught on camera, also caught my attention. Before you read on, you might – or might not – want to take a…
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We are proud to announce that once again all four lawyers in the Michaels & Smolak team have been selected by other New York lawyers and New York judges for inclusion in “Best Lawyers in America”. The 2020 edition of the publication names all four partners, Lee Michaels, Jan Smolak, Mike Bersani, and Dave Kalabanka “Best Lawyers” in the Syracuse metropolitan area for representing injured plaintiffs in three categories:  Personal injury, professional malpractice…
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After decades of dealing with insurance adjusters in personal injury cases, this Syracuse personal injury attorney has come up with his personal list of do’s and don’ts in his dealings with them.  I published my first two rules yesterday here.  Below are the last three rules for dealing with a personal injury insurance adjuster: Rule # 3:  Know the Medical Records Better than the Adjuster When adjusters calls me, I often put them into…
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After decades of dealing with insurance adjusters in personal injury cases, this Syracuse personal injury attorney has come up with his personal list of do’s and don’ts in his dealings with them.  Check my five hard-and-fast rules here: Rule #1:  Do Not Allow Your Client to Give a Recorded Statement This is rule number 1.  It’s hard for me to figure out why insurance adjusters keep asking for this.  I can only assume it’s because…
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As a New York personal injury lawyer, I know that words are weapons.  When I prepare to try a personal injury lawsuit, I arm myself with word-weapons I will parade before the jury.  They may be just words to you, but to me they are friends.  They are weapons.  They are arrows in my quiver.  I carefully pick them, and fine tune them.  I am the general, the commander, and they are my infantry, my…
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As a New York personal injury lawyer, I know that words are weapons.  When I prepare to try a personal injury lawsuit, I arm myself with word-weapons I will parade before the jury.  They may be just words to you, but to me they are friends.  They are weapons.  They are arrows in my quiver.  I carefully pick them, and fine tune them.  I am the general, the commander, and they are my infantry, my…
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This Syracuse New York personal injury lawyer loves to travel all over the world.  I find other cultures and places fascinating.  Last year I went to Japan.  And this year it was Egypt, Jordan and Israel.  (Just got back last week).  See some pics I took above. When I travel, because of what I do for a living, I can’t help noticing how other societies organize and structure their safety rules. I’m always on the…
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At Michaels & Smolak, we all wear our seatbelts, everywhere, every time we are in a car, whether we ride in the back or the front. Hey, as Syracuse car accident lawyers, what would you expect?  We’ve handled many cases where we believe even backseat belts have saved lives or reduced injuries.   We’ve also represented families of several unrestrained backseat passengers who were killed or seriously injury and who we believe would have survived or…