Personal Injury Resources
Understand Your Claim Before You Sign Anything
Deadlines, damages, no-fault rules, and injury types explained in plain English for New York and New Jersey claims.
Recognized & Awarded
What a Claim Is Worth
Economic and Non-Economic Damages
Every injury claim is built from two categories of loss. Economic damages are the ones with receipts. Non-economic damages are the human cost, and they are usually the larger share of a serious case — which is exactly why insurers try to ignore them.
Economic Damages
Documented, calculable financial loss.
- Emergency, hospital, surgical, and follow-up medical bills
- Physical therapy, injections, and future surgical care
- Lost wages and lost overtime while you were out of work
- Diminished future earning capacity when you cannot return to the same job
- Assistive devices, home modifications, and in-home care
- Out-of-pocket travel to treatment and prescription costs
Non-Economic Damages
The losses no invoice captures.
- Physical pain and the ongoing limits on what your body can do
- Emotional distress, anxiety, and sleep disruption after the incident
- Loss of enjoyment of hobbies, sports, and time with your family
- Permanent scarring, disfigurement, or visible injury
- Loss of consortium claimed by a spouse
- In a death case, the family's loss of guidance and services
Types of Injuries
How the Injury Shapes the Case
Traumatic Brain Injury
Concussions and worse are frequently missed at the emergency room. Memory gaps, light sensitivity, and personality changes need neurological documentation to be compensated.
Spinal Cord & Disc Injuries
Herniations, radiculopathy, and cord damage. Insurers argue degeneration; we use imaging comparisons and treating-physician opinions to tie the injury to the incident.
Fractures & Orthopedic Trauma
Surgically repaired fractures usually satisfy New York's serious-injury threshold, but the value depends on documented hardware, range-of-motion loss, and recovery time.
Burn & Scarring Injuries
Treatment often runs for years across grafting and revision surgery. The claim must account for future procedures, not just what has already been billed.
Catastrophic & Permanent Injury
Amputation, paralysis, and injuries requiring lifetime care call for a life-care plan and economist testimony to price decades of need.
Soft Tissue Injuries
Real and often disabling, but the most aggressively denied. Consistent treatment and objective findings are what separate a paid claim from a denied one.
FAQs
Questions We Answer Every Day
- How long do I have to file an injury claim in New York or New Jersey?
- New York generally allows three years from the date of a negligence injury; New Jersey generally allows two. Claims against a city, transit authority, or other public entity are far shorter — often a 90-day notice of claim in New York. Wrongful death and medical malpractice run on their own clocks. Because these deadlines are absolute, have the dates confirmed early.
- What does no-fault actually cover after a New York car accident?
- New York no-fault benefits pay medical treatment and a portion of lost earnings regardless of who caused the crash, up to your policy's basic limit. It does not pay for pain and suffering. To recover that, you must show a serious injury under Insurance Law 5102(d). The no-fault application generally must be submitted within 30 days of the crash.
- What does it cost to hire your firm?
- Nothing up front. Consultations are free, and we work on contingency — our fee comes as a percentage of the recovery, and only if there is a recovery. Case expenses are advanced by the firm and accounted for at the end.
- Can I still recover if I was partly at fault?
- Usually yes. New York follows pure comparative negligence, so a recovery is reduced by your share of fault but not eliminated. New Jersey bars recovery only if you were more than 50 percent responsible. Insurers routinely overstate a claimant's fault, which is one of the main things we fight about.
- Should I give the other driver's insurance company a statement?
- Not before speaking with a lawyer. Recorded statements taken in the first days are used later to minimize injuries you had not yet been diagnosed with and to lock you into a version of events you gave while in pain.
- How long does an injury case take?
- A straightforward claim with clear liability can resolve in several months once treatment stabilizes. A litigated case with disputed fault or serious injuries commonly runs one to three years. Settling before your medical picture is clear is the most expensive mistake a claimant can make.
This page is general information, not legal advice, and does not create an attorney-client relationship. Deadlines and rules vary by the facts of your case.
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Areas We Serve
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