Insurance Claims Versus Lawsuits After a Personal Injury
by King Law
After you have suffered an injury in an accident or as a result of another party’s negligence or intentional wrongdoing, you are likely thinking about how to seek financial compensation for your losses. From car accidents to slips and falls to medical malpractice, injuries can arise in many different kinds of cases. As a result, knowing precisely how to move forward with a claim for compensation, and what steps are best for you based on the specific facts of your case, can be confusing. We often speak with injury victims who want to know if they should file an insurance claim (or otherwise engage with an insurance company) or immediately move forward with filing a personal injury lawsuit. The answer to this inquiry will depend upon a few key facts, and an experienced Rochester personal injury lawyer at our firm can help.
Auto Accident Claims Will Typically Need to Begin with an Insurance Claim
Since New York is a no-fault state when it comes to auto accidents and insurance law, anyone who has been injured in a collision typically needs to start the process of seeking financial compensation by filing an auto insurance claim through their personal injury protection (PIP) coverage. This is the way the claims process works under New York law. Then, if you need to file a lawsuit against an at-fault party and can prove that you meet the required “serious injury threshold” under New York law, you may be able to move forward with a lawsuit.
Many Other Types of Claims Involve Insurance Companies, But You Can File a Lawsuit
For many other types of personal injury cases, such as premises liability cases involving slip and fall injuries or medical malpractice cases involving a patient injury, insurance companies might get involved in the case. In some scenarios, you might want to see if your personal injury attorney in Rochester can help you to negotiate a reasonable settlement offer from the insurer before you move forward with a lawsuit. For instance, the commercial property insurer of a business where you slipped and fell might enter into the case in an attempt to resolve a claim before you file a lawsuit. Or a healthcare provider’s malpractice insurer might do the same after a medical mistake that causes a serious injury.
In these types of situations, you can certainly speak with your attorney about negotiating with the insurance company first, but in most cases, you can also move forward with a lawsuit. To be sure, in most types of personal injury cases outside auto accident claims, you do not need to go through an insurance claims process first. Rather, you can file a lawsuit at any point in most cases as long as the clock on the statute of limitations has not run out.
Contact a Personal Injury Lawyer in Rochester
It can be difficult to know how to move forward in your case if you have the option of attempting to negotiate a settlement with an insurer or filing a lawsuit against the liable party. Our experienced Rochester personal injury attorneys can evaluate your case with you and discuss the pros and cons of each option. Our goal is to get you the financial compensation you need as quickly as possible while ensuring that you are paid a fair amount for your losses. Contact King Law to learn more about how we can assist you.
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