Can I use a Maryland lawyer for an accident that happened in New York?

Yes. If you live in Maryland but were in an accident while you were New York, The Law Office of Marc Atas and Associates will represent you for your personal injury, car accident, truck accident, automobile accident, and property damage claims. While we are only licensed to practice law in the State of Maryland, we can do the following legal activities on your behalf. The Law Office of Marc Atas and Associates can resolve your car damage claim, diminished value of car claim, make sure you receive timely medical treatment, aid the insurance company in accepting liability, take statements from witnesses, obtain police reports and finally attempt to settle your claim. If we are unable to settle your claim, we will locate counsel in the appropriate state to file suit and go to court on your behalf. The attorney fee arrangement will remain the same even if additional counsel is necessary and will not result in any additional fee. The personal injury, car accident, truck accident, and automobile accident laws in New York are complicated. I have outlined the basic laws that apply when involved in personal injury, car accident, truck accident, or automobile accident in New York.

NEW YORK

Negligence / Personal Injury

3 Years

with Discovery Rule for exposure to toxic substances

Wrongful Death

2 Years from date of death.

Medical Malpractice

2 1/2 years (3 years for other professional malpractice [legal, etc.]). Tolled for foreign object or continuous treatment. Statute runs from end of continuous treatment or discovery of foreign object [1 year]. *If the malpractice is fraudulently concealed, SOL is 6 years from when fraud is, or should have been, discovered. Infants: tolled, but not to exceed 10 years.

Malpractice (Other Professions)

Products Liability

3 Years

Intentional Torts

1 Year

Fraud

If defendant conceals negligence or injury, SOL of 6 years runs from discovery of the fraud.

Municipal Liability/Sovereign Immunity

Require notice of claim within 90 days of occurrence and commencement of suit within 1 year and 90 days of occurrence. Other Notice of Claim provisions apply to different political subdivisions and actions against the State may only be brought in the Court of Claims where a judge alone (no jury).

Discovery Rule

See specific rules for medical malpractice, toxic exposure (varies by substance as per different statutes), products liability.

Comparative Negligence-Applies and diminishes plaintiff’s recovery by degree of plaintiff’s degree of fault. In shared fault injury cases, New York follows a “pure comparative negligence rule.” To put this rule in the simplest of terms, it means that the amount of compensation you’re entitled to receive will be reduced by an amount that is equal to your percentage of fault for the accident.

How does it work? Let’s say you’re in a car accident where the other driver made a left turn in front of you, but you also happened to be driving a few miles an hour above the posted speed limit. In that case, you might share 10 percent of the blame for the accident, while the other driver is 90 percent at fault. Your damages add up to $10,000. How does your share of the fault affect your compensation? Under New York’s pure comparative negligence rule, your compensation will be reduced to $9,000 (or the $10,000 total minus the $1,000 that represents your share of fault for the accident.)

Charitable Immunity

Abolished

Disabilities

For infancy (18th birthday), incompetence, and insanity, statute runs from end of disability. Toll of 3 years, if SOL is 3 years or more. If SOL is less than 3 years, than it is extended by period of disability. For medical and dental malpractice, the maximum toll for an infant is 10 years.

Punitive Damages

Punitive damages may be awarded in cases of actual malice, or such wanton or reckless action as to infer malice or in personal injury actions based on negligence if such negligence amounts to flagrant misconduct. Separate trial held on the issue after a finding of liability and compensatory damages. Defendant’s assets are placed in issue.

Attorneys’ Fees

In cases involving medical, dental, or podiatric malpractice, New York has enacted statutory limits on attorneys’ fees that are far less than in all other types of cases. Normally, contingent attorneys’ fees in New York are equal to 33 1/3% of the net recovery after the deduction of disbursements. Thus, in a typical case, if the net recovery is $3 million, the attorneys’ fees would be $1 million (infant’s cases may be different since the court sets the fee in such cases). In a medical malpractice case, however, the attorneys’ fees would only be $450,000 since they are calculated on the following schedule: 30% of the first $250,000; 25% of the next $250,000; 20% of the next $500,000; 15% of the next $250,000; and only 10% of any amount over $1,250,000.

No-Fault Insurance

Applies- If your personal injury case arose from a car accident, you may be limited in your options to recover compensation due to the State’s “no-fault” law. This rule forces you to collect first from your own insurance policy, no matter who caused the accident (unless you meet the “serious injury” threshold). If you’re a New York driver who carries car insurance in the state, you’ll need to turn to your own car insurance coverage for any injury claim you make after a car accident. It’s irrelevant who was at fault for the accident (which is why they call it “no-fault”). Many, but not all, car accident injury claims will start and end with the injured person receiving a settlement from his or her own car insurance company.

But some injury claimants are allowed to shed the confines of the no-fault system (where compensation for things like pain and suffering is not an option) and file a claim against the driver who caused the car accident, in the form of a liability insurance claim or a personal injury lawsuit. In New York, this is an option if the claimant’s injuries include:

  • significant disfigurement
  • bone fracture
  • permanent limitation of use of a body organ or limb
  • significant limitation of a body function or system, or
  • substantially full disability for 90 days.

Injury claims involving government

The first step is usually to file a formal claim with the proper government agency, and give them time to respond.

  • You have 90 days to file a formal claim against a city in New York, and one year to file a lawsuit against a city. (N.Y. Gen. Mun. Laws § 50-e.)
  • You also have 90 days to file a formal claim against a county in New York, and one year to file a lawsuit. (N.Y. County Law § 52.)
  • You have 90 days to file a claim against the state of New York (or notice of intent to file claim if, within the 90 days, you are unable to arrive at a final claim figure, such as if medical treatment is incomplete). (N.Y. Court of Claims Act § 10.)
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