ROCHESTER PERSONAL INJURY ATTORNEY

Have you been injured by a negligent individual or party? Then you may be entitled to personal injury compensation for your losses and your suffering. King Law has a consistent record of legal victories driven by our commitment to our clients, innovative case strategies, and staying on the offensive. With King Law, you can strike back. No matter how complicated your case may seem, the team is prepared to protect you from start to finish.

King Law provides best-in-class legal counsel to Rochester and the surrounding areas. An impeccable record of wins can’t be achieved through one-size-fits-all legal strategy. As a former prosecutor with extensive trial experience, Robert King knows exactly how to tailor a plan of action for your case and go on the offensive. One call is all it takes for us to take charge of your case.

In personal injury cases, negligence must be proven. If the accident or injuries could have been prevented had the liable party exercised greater care or caution, then you may have a valid personal injury claim on your hands. The firm can review the details of your case to determine its merits and inform you on what you should do next.

In order to get a fair, accurate, and complete idea of how much your recoveries will end up costing you, the firm can work with financial and medical experts. Only when the full value of your claim is known can a settlement be bargained or accepted.

Cats and dogs, oil and water, insurance company representatives and personal injury lawyers – some things naturally oppose one another. Insurance companies are in the business of saving themselves money at whatever junction they can find. To accomplish this goal, they try to put as much blame as possible on the individual to minimize how much they need to give them.

Your Rochester personal injury attorney should do just the opposite: using careful analysis, extensive evidence, and legal statutes to win you as much as possible. They should also be the one talking to the insurance provider to ensure they do not try to use persuasive language to get you to say or do the wrong thing. Between you and the rest of the world that just wants your money, King Law can stand.

In the state of New York, victims of accidents caused by another party’s negligence are entitled to file a personal injury claim against the responsible party in pursuit of compensation for their suffering. These claims, however, must be filed within a certain amount of time in order to be heard by the courts. This is because nearly all types of lawsuits are subject to a statute of limitations, or a window of time in which a person is permitted to pursue legal action. These time limits will vary on a state-by-state basis depending on the certain type of lawsuit.

In the case of personal injury lawsuits, the statute of limitations allows accident victims to file a claim within three years of their accident. If a claim involves New York City authorities or a government agency, a notice of claim must be filed within 90 days and a lawsuit must be filed within one year and ninety days. Wrongful death and medical malpractice claims must be filed within two years and six months.

If this time period expires and a person has not yet filed a claim, they will no longer be able to seek legal action and will lose their right to compensation. For this reason, it is imperative that injured parties contact an attorney as soon as possible to ensure they meet all relevant deadlines.

Does this mean you should file a lawsuit at the drop of a hat? Not exactly. Allow Rochester personal injury lawyer Robert King to review your case and determine if more needs to be done before you file, and who you should file against.

Our past experiences help us protect your future. Hear from our previous clients and how we were able to help them with get compensation they deserved.

Determining how much money or compensation is required to fully recover from an accident requires much more than a cursory glance. Unfortunately, most insurance companies do not want to put in more than that effort. If you are offered a settlement at all, it is almost-guaranteed going to be the smallest amount they can legally state, and it will not be enough for everything you need now and later. After all, not all injuries are going to be cured with one visit to the doctor’s office.

In order to get a fair, accurate, and complete idea of how much your recoveries will end up costing you, the firm can work with financial and medical experts. Only when the full value of your claim is known can a settlement be bargained or accepted.

When you can prove that the other party was to blame for your injuries, you maintain the right to file a personal injury case. However, merely filing a personal injury case is not enough to recover damages, or monetary compensation; instead, you will need to produce evidence to satisfy the four elements of a personal injury case in New York.

Our Rochester, NY personal injury attorney at King Law has decades of experience working on personal injury claims and can help you to prove each element and recover the settlement you deserve.

1. Existence of Duty of Care

The first element that must be established in a personal injury claim or lawsuit is the existence of a duty of care—that is, that the defendant in the case owed some duty of care to the plaintiff in the case. In many case types, duty of care is implied. For example, all drivers on the road owe a duty to others on the road to operate their vehicles legally and reasonably. In other cases, though, duty of care may need to be established. For example, in a premises liability case, the plaintiff may need to prove that they were lawfully upon the property, and therefore the property owner owed them a duty of care—the duty to maintain the property in a reasonably safe condition.

2. Breach of Duty of Care

Once the existence of a duty of care is established, the second responsibility of the plaintiff is to prove that the defendant breached the duty of care. Typically, this is referred to as negligence—the failure to exercise the reasonable degree of care for a given situation. Breaching the duty of care can look different depending on the case. In a car accident claim, it might include things like speeding, driving while distracted, or performing an illegal maneuver. In a slip and fall case, it might mean the property owner’s failure to remedy a hazardous condition, such as an uneven walking surface or a spilled substance.

3. Causation

Next, the claimant will need to prove that the breach of duty of care was the proximate cause of their injuries; that their injuries would not have occurred but for the defendant’s negligence/breach. The claimant must produce evidence that proves this by preponderance of the evidence, meaning that it is “more likely than not.” This differs from the burden of proof in a criminal case, which is beyond a reasonable doubt.

4. Damages

Finally, the claimant must prove that they have suffered actual damages as a result. This could include economic and noneconomic harm, such as lost wages, medical expenses, and pain and suffering. At the law office of King Law, our personal injury lawyer in New York empathizes with what you’re going through and is here to advocate for you. When you call our personal injury attorney, we’ll start working on your case immediately and can provide you with a free case consultation. Please call directly or send us a message online telling us more about your case to get started.

Should I Settle My Personal Injury Case?

After you have sustained personal injuries in an accident, it can be difficult to think about the long-term financial consequences and to focus on the present. To be sure, when you are facing the immediate effects of lost wages and increasing medical bills, you might assume that it is in your best interest to obtain compensation for your case as quickly as possible. However, if you settle your case too early, or if you accept a settlement offer without speaking with a Rochester personal injury lawyer, you can end up closing your case without getting the type of compensation you might have been eligible to receive if you had entered into additional negotiations or if you had taken your case to court. 

Many personal injury lawsuits do end in settlements. Indeed, according to the Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS), almost 75 percent of all personal injury cases end in an acceptance of a settlement offer, and only about 3 percent of all personal injury cases actually go to a judge or jury verdict. Yet of the approximately three-quarters of personal injury lawsuits that end in a settlement, it is important to keep in mind that the parties may have been involved in lengthy settlement negotiations before an agreement was reached. So, should you settle your personal injury case? It depends upon the particular details of the case, and our personal injury attorneys want to say more about some of the factors involved.  

Never Accept a First Settlement Offer

Whether you have filed an auto insurance claim or a personal injury lawsuit against the liable party, you should never accept a first settlement offer. Insurance companies, especially, tend to make a first settlement offer under the assumption that you will work to negotiate a better offer. You should also remember that the insurance company is not on your side and is not necessarily offering a settlement that is in your best interests. Similarly, if you file a lawsuit and receive a settlement offer, you should receive the offer with the assumption that you may be able to negotiate a better offer. And if the initial settlement or any subsequent offer is not fair, you should not accept it.

Consider How the Settlement Offer Compares with a Potential Damages Award

In deciding whether to accept a settlement offer, you should work with your attorney to consider how that settlement offer compares with a potential damages award you might expect to receive if you win your personal injury lawsuit. Typically, settlements are for amounts less than what a plaintiff would receive if she or he took the case to trial and won, but the numbers should not be drastically different, particularly to the point that the plaintiff would not be receiving fair compensation in accepting the settlement.

 Consider Your Long-Terms Needs

If another party is responsible for causing your injuries, it can be tempting to accept a settlement offer simply because you need the money now to pay bills and to make up for your lost wages. If you can, it is critical to think about your long-term needs, and whether you can wait to receive a fair amount of compensation.

The common personal injury claim mistakes that victims make:

Our lead Rochester personal injury attorney is a former prosecutor and veteran litigator who has been featured in the prestigious 2016, 2017, and 2018 Super Lawyers Rising Stars lists – an honor reserved for less than 2.5% of lawyers in the state. When insurance companies are unwilling to offer a fair settlement, he is not afraid to take your case to court. The veteran litigator has extensive experience preparing, trying, and winning cases in front of a jury trial. You can benefit from his in-depth courtroom experience and impressive litigation talents.

Speak with an experienced Rochester personal injury lawyer at the firm to get started and learn why you should hire us. The attorney makes it a priority to get to know you, your goals, and the difficulties you are facing during this time. You can always expect nothing but the most attentive and personalized counsel here at the firm.