Personal Injury

In New York, drivers are required to have no-fault insurance which may cover your lost wages and medical bills, but not always. In certain circumstances, you may be entitled to seek additional compensation by commencing a legal action.

One instance in which accident victims may file suit is when they have suffered a “serious injury.” “Serious injuries,” as defined by New York law, include fractures, significant disfigurement or death. Another example of a serious injury is significant limitation of a bodily function, such as your ability to rotate your neck. Victims may also show that they have suffered a serious injury where they have suffered a non-permanent impairment which prevents them from performing their daily activities for at least 90 of the 180 days following an injury.

Injury victims can also file suit if their economic loss exceeds $50,000. Economic loss includes medical expenses, 80% of lost wages up to $2,000 per month for three years, household expenses up to $25 per day, and a $2,000 death benefit. Although pain and suffering are not considered economic loss, they are recoverable if you suffer a serious injury.

Health care providers must provide their patients with medical services that meet the accepted standard of care. The accepted standard of care is based on what other providers would have done in similar circumstances. Health care providers who fail to provide services that comply with the accepted standard of care and who injure patients because they deviated from the standard of care may be liable for medical malpractice. Liability for malpractice may extend to nurses and hospitals in certain cases, and specialists may be held to a higher standard of care than a general practitioner.

Medical malpractice can occur when a health care provider improperly performs a procedure, performs an unnecessary procedure, negligently prescribes medication, does not perform necessary diagnostic tests, or fails to properly diagnose a patient.

Additionally, in New York, doctors are required to provide informed consent. To provide informed consent, doctors must disclose the risks or a particular procedure and any possible alternatives. If a doctor fails to disclose this information, a patient injured during such a procedure may have a claim against the doctor.

One important step in any medical malpractice action is obtaining a certificate of merit. A certificate of merit is a document, signed by an attorney, stating that she has reviewed your case with a medical expert who has found that a reasonable basis exists to bring an action.  Plaintiffs must obtain a certificate of merit before they can commence an action. As the case progresses, expert opinions remain critical in establishing that the health care provider failed to comply with the standard of care and that the provider’s failure to provide proper care resulted in an injury to the plaintiff.  Melvin & Melvin has the resources required to provide qualified experts for all types of medical malpractice actions.

Even if an injury victim does not have a claim for medical malpractice, it is important to remember that hospitals and other medical institutions may be liable for general acts of negligence as well.

In New York, property owners, including commercial and residential landlords, restaurant owners and store owners, have a duty to exercise reasonable care in the maintenance of their property to assure that it is in a safe condition for all persons who could foreseeably be at risk of injury. Property owners breach this duty by failing to adequately maintain staircases and sidewalks, by failing to keep floors dry and free of debris, or by allowing any other dangerous condition to exist on their property.  If a property owner fails to maintain their premises in a safe condition, they may be liable to persons injured by dangerous conditions existing on their property.

Strict liability may be enforced against manufacturers, retailers, and distributors of products in New York for the sale of a defective product. A product may be defective if it contains a manufacturing or design defect, or if the manufacturer failed to provide adequate warnings regarding the risks associated with using the product.

A manufacturing defect occurs where the product is not produced according to the manufacturer’s specifications.  Design defects arise when products are designed in such a way that they are inherently defective. To prove the existence of a design defect a plaintiff must show that the benefits of the product’s design are outweighed by the risks posed by using the product. Manufacturers can also be liable for failing to warn consumers of foreseeable risks associated with use of the product which would not be obvious to ordinary users.

Plaintiffs injured by defective products may recover from manufacturers, retailers and distributors by showing (1) that the product was defective, i.e. that a manufacturing or design defect existed, or that a product lacked adequate warnings; (2) that the defect was present when the product was sold by the defendant; and (3) that they were injured when using the product as intended.

New York’s Wrongful Death Statute allows the representative of a deceased individual’s estate to bring an action against a defendant whose negligent or wrongful actions were the cause of death. Damages that plaintiffs in wrongful death actions may be entitled to recover include compensation for medical expenses, funeral costs, loss of financial support, loss of companionship, and loss of inheritance.

New York’s Workers’ Compensation Law requires employers to provide for the payment of medical expenses and lost wages to workers who suffer an injury as a result of a workplace accident. Workers may also be entitled to Workers’Compensation if they contract an illness related to their workplace conditions.  Generally, the Workers’ Compensation Law prevents an employee from suing an employer for negligence; however, in some cases the Workers’Compensation Law does not apply.

While employers may generally be protected from liability under the Workers’ Compensation Law, third parties who cause an injury to an employee are not protected and can be held liable in negligence, products liability, and other actions. The attorneys at Melvin & Melvin understand the interplay between Workers’ Compensation and personal injury, and will pursue every available avenue of recovery to ensure that you receive all the compensation to which you are entitled if you are injured on the job.