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In recent years, distracted driving has become the main cause of car accidents in New York. When someone is paying attention to their phone instead of the road, they make mistakes, and these mistakes can injure others.
Dealing with the aftermath of an accident involving a driver who was texting can be overwhelming. You might face high medical bills, pain and suffering, emotional trauma, and injuries that stop you from working, or even doing normal daily tasks. Fortunately, a personal injury lawyer can help get you the compensation you need.
HOW DO YOU GET COMPENSATED IF INJURED BY A DRIVER WHO WAS TEXTING?
New York has a no-fault insurance system. That means every car insurance policy must contain at least fifty thousand dollars in Personal Injury Protection, or PIP benefits. These benefits are available to cover your car accident injuries no matter who is at fault. For minor accidents, your PIP benefits may be all you need.
However, PIP benefits have limits. The most obvious limit is the policy limit, which is fifty thousand dollars for most policies. This usually isn’t enough to cover severe injuries. Also, PIP only covers medical bills, time off work, and physical therapy bills. It does not cover pain and suffering, trauma, or disabilities, which are common after major car accidents.
For more serious injuries, you may have to file a lawsuit against the driver who caused the accident.
SUING THE DRIVER WHO WAS TEXTING
The main issue in most personal injury cases is whether the person who caused the injury was negligent. In other words, was that person acting with a reasonable level of care? Driving while texting or calling is generally considered to be negligent.
There are several ways to show a driver was distracted by a cell phone. It’s possible to get the driver’s phone records to prove they were texting or calling at the time of the accident. Eyewitnesses may be able to testify that they saw the other driver looking at their phone instead of the road. Street or store surveillance cameras may have captured the driver texting when the accident occurred. Or, the driver may admit at the scene of the accident that they were texting. Every case is different, and a good lawyer can sift through all the evidence and find the best way to prove the case.
Most cases settle rather than going to trial, but having a stronger case usually makes the other driver, or their insurer, willing to pay more in the settlement.
It’s important to note that New York usually doesn’t allow lawsuits against someone who texted or called the other driver. So, your main sources of compensation for a texting-while-driving accident will be your own PIP policy and a lawsuit against the other driver.
WHO SHOULD YOU CONTACT IF YOU’VE BEEN INJURED BY A TEXTING DRIVER
If you or a loved one have been injured by a driver who was texting, contact Rosenblum Law for a free consultation today. Our experienced personal injury lawyers will assess your case and find the best strategy to get you all the compensation you deserve.
When you take a seat on a bus, you are trusting your safety to the driver and company that have put the bus into service. The last thing you imagine will happen is that you will be involved in an accident, let alone be seriously injured. But if you are involved in a bus accident, you need to recover compensation from the responsible parties, including the driver and bus company.
Thankfully, you often won’t need to worry over suing another person or a faceless company. Your own personal auto insurance policy and your health insurance may provide coverage for medical expenses in the event of a bus accident. However, there are times where your insurance will be unable to cover the expenses of a serious injury you’ve suffered. You’ll need to file a lawsuit against the bus driver, bus company, or both.
WHAT WILL INSURANCE COVER?
Under New Jersey law, bus companies are required to carry Medical Expenses Benefits coverage in order to cover injuries to passengers for which the company is liable. This coverage is at least $250,000 per person, which will cover most if not all of the reasonable medical costs relating to the accident. However, it will not cover loss of wages, pain and suffering, and similar non-medical costs, unless an injury is of a serious nature such as a displaced fracture or death.
Be aware that school bus companies do not have to carry an equal amount of coverage. Instead, school busses only have to carry coverage of at least $10,000 per injured child in an accident.
Finally, there are cases where only a driver is liable for an accident, not the company. If this is the case, then you will need to sue them for coverage. As they are only a single driver, such individuals are legally required to only carry an equal amount of minimum coverage as any other driver might.
WHAT IS CONSIDERED A “BUS”?
Under New Jersey law, there are many vehicles similar in concept to a bus which are not legally considered busses. School busses, limos, hotel shuttles, cabs, and similar vehicles are not considered “busses” under the law, and they have different requirements in regards to insurance coverage.
For example, in Nebinger versus Maryland Casualty Company, a nursing home’s residents were injured in a crash while riding on the home’s minibus. They sued the minibus’s insurer for Medical Expense Benefits, and the insurer argued that the policy on the minibus did not include the benefits and was not required under New Jersey to do so. The court agreed, reasoning that the minibus was a service provided to nursing home residents free of charge, and was not considered a bus under New Jersey law.
CAN YOU SUE A PUBLIC ENTITY?
Public entities are subject to specific protections from and limitations on liability under New Jersey law. In our experience, it is best to speak with a legal expert immediately after an injury on public transportation. They will be able to walk you through the various regulations and rules, such as:
-Injured parties must file a Notice of Claim within 90 days of the date of the accident or injury.
-Lawsuits for conditions of public property can only be brought against a public entity if there was a dangerous condition which had a substantial and foreseeable risk of injury.
-If an injury is not permanent, your compensation is limited to costs related to medical expenses.
-An injured party must prove that the public entity knew of the dangerous condition that caused an accident and had reasonable time to correct it.
If you or a loved one was injured in a bus accident, contact Rosenblum Law for a free, no-obligation consultation.
One of the most dangerous habits on the road is texting while driving. Consider this: At fifty-five miles per hour, sending or reading a text is like driving the length of a football field with your eyes closed. The victim of a driver who was texting is entitled to receive compensation from their own car insurance policy’s personal injury protection (or PIP) benefits. These benefits will cover any medical bills up to the policy limit, as well as lost wages if the injured person has to miss work because of the accident.
Although it’s relatively easy to receive compensation from PIP benefits, there are limitations.
If PIP benefits are unavailable or won’t cover the full amount of medical costs, the injured person will have to file a lawsuit against the party responsible for the accident.
SUING THE DISTRACTED DRIVER
Fortunately, a person injured by a driver who was texting can usually win a lawsuit. In any personal injury case, a person can be held liable if they had a duty to exercise reasonable care and their failure to do so injured someone else. New Jersey law makes it illegal to text while driving, so texting is extremely strong evidence that someone was not driving with reasonable care.
A lawyer can analyze the facts of the accident, use the discovery process to find evidence that the other driver was distracted by texting, and develop a persuasive argument that will either convince the driver’s insurance to settle or win a verdict at trial.
In the case of Scianni versus Suriano, a defendant in a car accident case used the other driver’s cell phone records to prove the other driver was on the phone at the time of the accident. Even without an eyewitness to testify someone was texting or calling, a person’s cell phone records can prove that they were distracted and therefore at fault for an accident.
SUING A PERSON WHO TEXTED THE DRIVER
New Jersey also allows a person injured by a distracted driver to sue the person who texted the driver. Although these lawsuits are only possible under a limited set of circumstances, it may still be worth it if the driver and the insurance payouts did not cover the full extent of the injuries.
In 2013, New Jersey became the first state in the country to allow lawsuits against the sender of a text message in a car accident case. In the case of Kubert versus Best, a married couple suffered severe injuries after a teenager crashed his truck into their motorcycle while texting. The couple sued the teenager’s friend for sending the text that distracted him. Ultimately, the court did not find the teenager’s friend liable because she had no way of knowing the teenager was driving, but it ruled that she could have been liable if she had known.
If you or a loved one has been injured by a driver who was texting, contact Rosenblum Law for a free, no-obligation consultation.
With easy access to the Atlantic Ocean and beautiful lakes, it is only natural for residents of New Jersey to take part in recreational boating. However, whether using boats, jet skis, or alternative watercraft, these activities carry unique risks and considerations to operators and riders. In 2019 alone, over one hundred boating accidents occurred in the state according to the United States Coast Guard, with four individuals dying and another sixty-five suffering serious injury.
Fortunately, if you are injured in a boating accident, you have the right to seek compensation for your injuries. At first, you may think that you only need your health insurance policy and a personal boat insurance policy to cover your expenses. However, if your expenses exceed what is covered by your insurance, you have the legal right to pursue a liable party for just compensation after an accident.
WHO SHOULD YOU SUE?
It is important that you understand who you are suing and why they are responsible for your injuries. Before proceeding with legal action, go over the facts of your case with an attorney to determine who might be held responsible for your injuries. The following six questions serve as an excellent starting point for pinpointing who might be liable:
- Was the operator irresponsible in handling their vessel?
- Was the operator boating under the influence?
- Was the accident caused by someone’s human error?
- Was the boat seaworthy and properly equipped with safety gear?
- Was the boat defective in some manner?
- Was the operator trained and licensed?
Any of these details can be invaluable for proving the liability of another party, whether that be an operator, an owner, a manufacturer, or even a public entity. While you might not recall all of these facts from memory, our experienced attorneys can assist you in acquiring police reports and insurance records to understand your case.
DOES A HOMEOWNER’S POLICY REPLACE BOAT INSURANCE?
We have often seen homeowner’s policies which include coverage for boating accident expenses. As such, many boat owners think that they do not need a separate boat liability policy to cover personal injury expenses in an accident. However, homeowner’s policies are not required to cover liability for personal injuries, and this can often affect whether a homeowner’s policy or a boat liability policy will provide compensation in a case.
Such a dispute arose in Farmers’ v. Allstate, in which a liable party for a drowning death that occurred while their boat was grounded had both a homeowner’s policy and a boat liability policy. The homeowner’s policy specifically excluded liability coverage for bodily injury caused by use of the owner’s boat. This exclusion was applied to the accident because the liable party reasonably understood that their boat liability policy would cover an accident and because the death only occurred as a result of the boat’s use for swimming.
In our experience, it is best that you collect any and all relevant insurance information from liable parties due to situations like Farmers’ v. Allstate. We can help figure out what insurance policies a boat owner holds and which might apply to your case as a result of the accident.
If you or a loved one was injured by a boating accident, contact Rosenblum Law for a free, no-obligation consultation.
Like most car accidents in general, pedestrians are hit as a result of negligence. In some cases, drivers do not obey rules and regulations of the road. For example, they may not yield to a pedestrian in a crosswalk. Other causes include distracted drivers, who may be texting on cell phones, speeding, driving under the influence, and poor visibility.
WHAT’S EXPECTED OF DRIVERS AND PEDESTRIANS?
Both drivers and pedestrians have responsibilities and New Jersey’s Right-of-Way laws lay out exactly what is expected of both. Generally speaking, drivers must always stop for pedestrians at crosswalks, corners, and any other areas marked for pedestrians. They also need to stop and look both ways before making turns.
Pedestrians are expected to look both ways before crossing a street, use designated crosswalks, and step off the curb only when crosswalk lights indicate that it’s safe for them to do so.
SETTLING CLAIMS FOR PEDESTRIAN ACCIDENTS
In practice, most pedestrian-car accident claims are settled through the driver’s car insurance, typically by way of an out-of-court settlement. New Jersey requires all drivers to carry car insurance to make sure victims can be compensated. Moreover, all car insurance policies must include coverage for Personal Injury Protection (or PIP). But, PIP benefits only cover what the law calls economic damages such as medical bills and wages lost because the injured person can’t work. They do not cover pain and suffering, loss of enjoyment of life, or other, non-economic types of damage. Also, PIP benefits have policy limits with the required minimum being only fifteen thousand dollars.
You will want an experienced personal injury lawyer working on your behalf if:
-the driver’s insurance denies these PIP benefits,
-your medical costs exceed the PIP policy limit, or
-you want to recover the less quantifiable (non-economic) damages from the party at fault.
WHAT IF SOMEONE YOU LOVE IS STRUCK AND KILLED BY A CAR?
Not surprisingly, pedestrian-car accidents can result in death because the pedestrian is largely unprotected from the impact of a several thousand pound vehicle. An at-fault driver who causes the death of a pedestrian after a car accident may face a wrongful death lawsuit. Just as you need to prove your case in non-fatal accidents, this kind of claim will also need to establish the driver’s negligence caused the accident. An attorney will gather the evidence needed to get a settlement for family members of the deceased. Among the things that can be compensated for include funeral expenses, wages the deceased would have earned, and lost companionship.
In 2018, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration recorded 173 pedestrian deaths in New Jersey, which represented 31 percent of all fatalities involving car accidents that year. This map shows the breakdown of pedestrian fatalities by New Jersey county. Most pedestrian fatalities occurred in Bergen and Essex counties, while Warren and Salem counties had no pedestrian deaths that year.
STATISTICS FOR NON-FATAL PEDESTRIAN ACCIDENTS IN NEW JERSEY
Although most pedestrian-car accidents in New Jersey are not fatal, that doesn’t mean the injuries caused by them aren’t serious.
According to a State of New Jersey Highway Safety Plan report, about four thousand people a year were injured in pedestrian-car accidents each year from 2011 to 2015. This table shows that most suffered minor injuries, but over a thousand had moderate injuries, and nearly two hundred or more were injured seriously every year.
If you or someone you love has been injured or killed in a pedestrian accident, contact Rosenblum Law for a free, no-obligation consultation.