Rochester Injury Lawyers

As a threshold matter, in order to pursue compensation for personal injuries, one must comply with New York’s filing deadlines, known as “statutes of limitation.” Different cases have varying time frames within a party must assert their claim after sustaining their injuries. If the party attempts to assert their claim outside of the statute of limitations for their particular case, New York Courts will refuse to hear their lawsuit, and their case is forever time-barred, meaning they have permanently lost the right to pursue compensation for their losses and injuries.

In cases where the at-fault party is a governmental entity, the timeframe for initiating a claim may be as little as 90 days. In cases involving medical negligence or medical malpractice the filing deadline is typically two and a half years from the date a party suffered their injuries. Most other personal injury and wrongful death cases in New York have a three year statute of limitations. These include injuries suffered from motor vehicle accidents, premises liability, product liability, and toxic exposure. It is important to consult with our skilled and experienced Rochester injury lawyers so that you can be sure you won’t miss a filing deadline for your case.

Assuming a case is timely initiated, in order to prevail in a typical case of negligence, you must prove that the at-fault party breached a duty of care, and also prove that all of your claimed harms and losses were a direct result of the at-fault party’s breach.

Take, for example, the case of a motor vehicle accident where the injured party was harmed when the at-fault party ran a stop sign, striking the injured party’s vehicle. Here, the duty of care to abide by road signs is owed for the safety and protection of other motorists. The at-fault party breached that duty of care when they disregarded the stop sign and struck the vehicle of the injured party causing them to be thrown about the compartment of his vehicle and suffer permanent and disabling bodily injuries. The at-fault party’s disregard for the stop sign was the cause of the collision, and all of the injured party’s harms can be said to be the direct result of the at-fault party’s breach of his duty of care. Under these circumstances, in New York, the injured party would be entitled to collect monetary damages from the at-fault party for his permanent and disabling bodily injuries.

New York State allows an injured party to recover compensation for two main categories of damages: economic damages and non-economic damages. Economic damages refer to all categories of damage that can be quantified with a relatively precise dollar amount. These types of damages include past and future medical expenses, past and future lost wages, loss of household services, the cost of property damage, and out-of-pocket losses caused by the accident. Non-economic damages can be thought of as losses that cannot be quantified or assigned a fair market dollar value. They include past and future pain and suffering, past and future mental anguish, disfigurement and scarring, permanent impairment or disability, and loss of consortium for the lost society and companionship of a spouse or parent.

It is of the utmost importance to retain one of our experienced Rochester injury lawyers as soon as possible so that each category of your economic and non-economic damages can be accurately accounted for from day one. One of the classic errors an unrepresented party typically makes is failing to account for each specific category of losses and harms. In many cases, our office utilizes experts such as economists, life care planners, and vocational experts to ensure that all of our client’s damages and losses are fully taken into account and maximized for settlement negotiations or trial.