Pedestrian Accident Injuries

Answer:

Pedestrian injury claims in New York are typically catastrophic because our clients are struck by a motor vehicle and they don’t have the protection of their own motor vehicle. These claims can be very complicated and there are two phases. Initially, when you’re struck by the motor vehicle, the only thing you can really do is worry about your health, and get to the doctor to make sure you’re okay. However, if possible, you should also take pictures of the scene of the accident, get the insurance information of the owner of the vehicle or vehicles that struck you, communicate with any witnesses, and try to talk to the police to get information on the police report.
Sometimes the police will issue an accident exchange information sheet, and this sheet will contain your information and the information of the vehicle that struck you. There’s a section in these forms that list insurance codes. We have a database of what those codes are and we can figure out what insurance company is insuring the car that struck you. It’s very important to get that information because of the first phase of your case, which is no-fault benefits.

No-fault benefits are a provision of insurance policies that are available to everyone in the state of New York. When you’re a pedestrian, you will make a no-fault insurance claim on your car insurance or the car insurance of someone in your household. If you don’t have a car and no one in your household has a car, you can make a no-fault insurance claim against the car that struck you and their insurance company. The no-fault claim is a simple form we can help you fill out that needs to be submitted under a strict deadline to the insurance company. If this form is submitted in a timely manner, you will have up to $50,000 to cover your medical bills, and that’s the minimum in the state of New York. This can also cover lost wages, mileage to and from the doctor, and several other aspects of your damages claim.

The second phase of pedestrian injuries is the liability portion. We can help you make a liability claim against the insurance company of the vehicle that struck you. That involves documenting your medical records, which is why going to the doctor is so important in these claims. It’s important to know you don’t need to make a statement to the insurance company of the other vehicle. That’s something we can help you with, and we can frame your case in such a way that strengthens it. That’s why you need an experienced personal injury attorney to help you navigate through pedestrian claims.

There are also scenarios where a pedestrian is struck by a vehicle without insurance. In such a case, there’s a government entity called the Motor Vehicle Accident Indemnification Corporation, and that entity provides minimum insurance for liability for uninsured motor vehicles when you don’t know who struck you and you’ve been injured in the state of New York.