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Overview : Recovering For Your Pain And Suffering

Topics Covered

Your Rights
Categories of Injuries

At Trolman, Glaser and Lichtman, we let our clients recuperate from their accidents while we work hard to get them the money they need and deserve.

We help car crash victims file their "No-Fault" insurance claims - the money everyone on New York is entitled to receive to cover medical bills and lost wages even if the car owners had no insurance or the injured person was somehow responsible for the accident.

"No-Fault" benefits are rarely sufficient to cover expenses when the injuries are severe, resulting in broken bones, lost limbs, organs, scarring or a miscarriage. And too many victims find their benefits delayed or denied. If this is the case, we bring a lawsuit against the driver who caused the accident. We have an outstanding record of successful settlement and verdicts in automobile accident lawsuits. See some of the awards we've won for clients.

Questions? Please call us at:
1-888-4-TGLLAW^TM
1-888-484-5529

Your Rights

Under the New York No-Fault law, any person injured as the result of an auto accident is entitled to be compensated by the appropriate Insurance Company for their economic loss.

"Economic loss" refers to such losses as hospital bills, medical bills and loss of earnings. However, the right to sue for further compensation for pain and suffering resulting from a injury has been curtailed and is now limited by law to those cases when a person has sustained a "serious injury."

In other words, a person injured in an auto accident cannot sue and recover any further money damages unless it can be demonstrated that a "serious injury" has been sustained.

In order to determine what constitutes a "serious injury," we must look to Section 5102 of the Insurance Law of the State of New York. Unless the injured persons injury falls within this definition of "serious injury," the courts will not permit any further recovery. Any case brought which does not meet this serious injury test of this law will be dismissed.

Categories of Injuries

The Insurance law defines a "serious injury" as any one of the following:

Death.

Significant disfigurement: Generally, this refers to a scar. It can't be any scar which will permit the bringing of a law suit. It must be visible and of a serious consequence. In one recent case, the Court held that a scar located on the scalp which was obscured by the hair line was not a "significant disfigurement" within the meaning of the No-fault law and dismissed the case.

Dismemberment

Fracture: This refers to the breaking or separating of a bone. In a reported case, it was claimed that a "chipped tooth" was a fracture within this definition. The court disagreed and held that it was not a fracture and dismissed the case.

Loss of a fetus: Proof that a fetus has been lost by reason of a auto accident is sufficient to demonstrate a "serious injury."

Permanent loss of use of a body organ, member, function or system: This has been defined to include a condition caused by the auto accident which causes such persistent pain that the person is limited in the use of the organ, member, function or system. Proof of this requires expert medical testimony. The court will not accept the mere complaints of the injured person to prove this.

Permanent consequential limitation of use of a body organ or member: There must be strong medical proof and evidence that the condition is permanent. However, a partial loss has been held to satisfy this requirement.

Significant limitation of use of a body function or system

A medically determined injury or impairment of a non-permanent nature which prevents the injured person from performing substantially all of the material acts which constitute such person's usual and customary daily activities for not less than 90 days during the one hundred and eighty days immediately following the occurrence of the injury or impairment.

The courts have insisted that there be proof by medical experts of this condition. Unsubstantiated complaints by a injured person without medical proof as to significance of the condition will not be acceptable. The courts look for evidence of persistent pain and limitation of motion. A temporary pain or minor limitation will not be sufficient to overcome this requirement.

The courts require medical evidence that a person is so disabled that he or she cannot perform daily activities for a period of 90 days. In a recent case, where a housewife testified that she resumed cleaning her home five weeks after a accident, the court dismissed her case, holding that she had not demonstrated that she was disabled for the 90 day period.

The right to sue and recover a money award for pain and suffering remains to those who have been seriously injured. These people and any one else who have been injured in an auto accident are entitled to No-fault benefits. It is important that you retain a competent Attorney to represent you as soon as possible following an auto accident to protect your rights.

One word of caution: Stay away from any person who solicits you on behalf of a lawyer while you are a patient in a hospital. These people are usually on the payroll of unscrupulous and incompetent lawyers. As you can see, the law has many complications and pitfalls. You deserve the best representation available.