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Far Rockaway is a neighborhood on the eastern part of the Rockaway peninsula in the New York City borough of Queens. It is the easternmost section of the Rockaways. The neighborhood extends from Beach 32nd Street east to the Nassau County line. Its southern boundary is the Atlantic Ocean; it is one of the neighborhoods along Rockaway Beach. Zip codes are 11691, 11693
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In the wake of a car accident and personal injury, you deserve a champion who will fight by your side with compassion and skill. Our team of accessible Far Rockaway car accident attorneys will take on the insurance companies and legal system to get you the outcome you deserve.
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Car accidents are one of the most common hazards we all face in daily life. From minor fender-benders to catastrophic, multi-car pileups, getting into an accident in a motor vehicle can end a life or change it forever.
At Michael J. Redenburg, Esq. PC, one of our principal areas of focus is the representation of Queens residents and visitors who have suffered injuries in car accidents. The Department of Transportation’s annual traffic report illustrates the constant challenge to our city posed by car accidents.
If you suffered serious injuries or lost a loved one in a Far Rockaway Queens-area car accident, you may have the right to recover compensation from those whose actions caused your loss.
Contact an Experienced Queens Car Accident Lawyer Today – Call 212-240-9465
Your insurance company will not give you everything. Know what you’re entitled to with a free consultation. Rest assured that we will never charge any fees unless we win. Call us to schedule a free review of your case. We will meet with you and answer your questions, so that you can review your legal options. There is never under any obligation to hire us – we are just here to help!
What Sets the Car Accident Attorney at Michael J. Redenburg, Esq. PC Apart From the Rest?
Attorney Redenburg brings over a decade of experience to the task of representing victims of car accidents in Far Rockaway and surrounding areas.
Founded more than a decade ago, Attorney Redenburg’s mission is to serve the City’s residents and visitors victimized by personal injury with skill, determination, and a commitment to personalized client service.
You owe it to yourself to explore all your legal options with an experienced auto accident attorney. Call us today to learn more!
Understanding Queens Car Accidents
You don’t need us to tell you that car accidents can cause serious harm. Because cars are the number one form of transportation in the U.S., every one of us has pretty good odds of getting into a car accident at some point in our lives. For most of us, it’s a scary but survivable experience.
Some of us, however, are less lucky. People die in car accidents every day in our country, and many of those who survive face lives completely altered by the injuries they suffered.
Common Causes of Car Accidents in Queens
Auto accidents happen for a host of reasons, including behavioral, environmental, and situational. A small number of car accidents are inevitable and can’t be prevented. Most of them, however, could at least be prevented, and many result from poor decisions by someone who should have done better.
Among the most common human-related causes of car accidents are:
Alcohol & Drug Impairment: Driver impairment due to alcohol and/or drugs is a significant contributing factor in fatal crashes and is involved in nearly half of all traffic fatalities.” Increasingly, drivers involved in fatal crashes have been found to have both drugs (typically marijuana) and alcohol in their systems.
Driver Distraction: Distraction ranks only behind impairment as a prevalent risky behavior in traffic fatalities and serious injuries.
Speeding: Although driver distraction overtook speeding in 2015 as the second-most common factor in fatal car accidents in the state, speeding remains a significant cause of car accidents in the state, playing a role in more than 1 in 5 accidents resulting in a fatality or serious injury.
Driver fatigue. Fatigue can have the same effects on driver performance as drug or alcohol impairment.
Vehicle malfunctions. Sometimes, a crash happens because something went wrong with a vehicle. Some of these are typical, such as a blown tire or broken tail lights that fail to warn of a slowdown. Others are more unusual, and may signal that some part of the vehicle had a dangerous defect.
Road conditions. Drivers have an obligation to operate their vehicles in a manner appropriate for road conditions. That is not always an easy task. Wet roads, in particular, contribute to a significant number of car accidents in Queens. These are just a few of the more common ways car accidents occur on Queens-area roadways. There are lots more.
Every car accident has its own unique facts and circumstances, which is why it is critical for accident victims to retain the services of an experienced Queens personal injury lawyer with the know-how to investigate and litigate a car accident injury.
Frequently Asked Questions About Far Rockaway Queens Car Accidents
After a car accident in Queens, you may find yourself with a wide range of questions. What happens next? What should you expect from the legal process?
Most people suffer through the aftermath of a car accident at some point in their lives, but not everyone knows what they should do about it. If you have questions about your Queens car accident, these answers can help you moving forward.
What Information Should I Collect at the Scene of My Car Accident?
As soon as you get into a car accident, you need to start working to protect yourself. If you need medical attention, seek it first.
If you can move safely around the scene of the auto accident you can collect several pieces of vital information from the scene of your accident, such as:
- A copy of the police report.
- Contact information for the other driver, including the driver’s name, their insurance information, and their license plate number. You may also copy down their driver’s license number.
- Contact information for any witnesses at the scene of the accident.
- Photos of the accident scene. Snapping a photo on your phone of relevant information, including the other party’s driver’s license, can help ensure that you have a record of relevant information in a place you can easily access it later.
Don’t worry if you are unable to collect evidence yourself. Many car crash victims are too hurt to do this. If you contact our law firm immediately after your accident, we can go to work gathering this evidence for you!
Do I Need a Lawyer After My Car Accident?
After a car crash, many people decide to try to handle their insurance claims on their own. If you suffered severe injuries or significant property damage in your accident, however, calling a Queens car accident lawyer can help prevent you from missing out on the funds you need after your accident.
Our auto accident attorneys can help you in several different ways:
- Providing a better understanding of exactly what funds you deserve for your car accident, based on your injuries, your pain and suffering, and your losses due to the accident.
- Helping to prove that you did not cause or help cause the car accident. The insurance company’s lawyer may attempt to prove that you contributed to the car accident, which will reduce the funds the company owes you for your injuries.
- Offering valuable legal advice throughout the process, from what you can post on your social media accounts about the accident and your injuries to when you should accept the settlement offered by the insurance company.
What Compensation Can I Expect from My Far Rockaway Car Accident?
After a car accident, many people wonder how much compensation they should expect. Should you expect the maximum payout allowed by the other driver’s insurance policy? Will the insurance company pay for all of your medical bills?
Your claim has a number of unique elements. Several factors can influence the compensation you receive.
The limits of the insurance policy. Some drivers carry much higher-value insurance policies than others. If your injuries and financial damages exceed the amount of the other driver’s policy, you may need to turn to your underinsured motorist policy to help get the funds you need.
The severity of your injuries. Some injuries carry much more significant costs than others. How much your injuries limit you. Often, insurance companies calculate pain and suffering based on the limitations caused by your injuries. If you return to work soon after your accident, for example, you may receive less compensation for pain and suffering than if your injuries prevent you from going back to your everyday activities.
The financial damages you suffered as a result of the accident. Financial damages can include property damage, lost time at work, and lost earning potential due to an inability to return to your previous job. Whether or not you contributed to the accident.
If you contributed to the accident, it may reduce the compensation you receive by a corresponding percentage. For example, if you contributed 10 percent to the accident, your compensation may drop by 10 percent.
How Much Does It Cost to Hire a Lawyer After a Car Accident?
Many people worry that hiring a car accident lawyer will leave them struggling even more financially than they were before the accident.
At Michael J. Redenburg, Esq. PC, we start with a free consultation to discuss the terms of your accident, better understand your injury, and provide valuable legal advice. Often, working with a lawyer actually increases the funds you receive as part of your settlement. Instead of asking whether you can afford to hire a lawyer, carefully consider whether you can afford not to hire a lawyer to help with your claim.
If the Insurance Company Offers Me a Check Shortly After the Accident, Should I Take It?
In many cases, the other driver’s insurance company will offer to send you a settlement check soon after the accident. Often, however, this check reflects only a percentage of the funds you deserve for your injuries.
Insurance companies often hurry to issue a settlement offer after an accident with significant injuries. Before accepting the check, especially if that acceptance includes signing paperwork relieving the insurance company of future responsibility, consult with a lawyer.
A lawyer can help evaluate your injuries and the financial damages associated with your accident to determine whether the check offered by the insurance company will adequately cover your financial needs after the accident.
How Can I Protect Myself After an Accident?
After a car accident, you may need to take a number of important steps to protect your rights. Some of these steps begin at the scene of the accident. Seek medical attention as soon as possible after your accident.
Many victims suffer serious injuries that do not show symptoms immediately. Even if you believe yourself uninjured, visit a doctor for evaluation as soon as possible. If you can, gather evidence at the scene of the accident.
Photograph the vehicles, especially any damage to them, and the accident scene.
Collect contact information for witnesses. All of this information can help prove who caused the accident and get you the compensation you deserve.
Report the accident to the police and receive a police report. If you do not need to leave the scene of the accident to seek medical attention, wait for the police to arrive and issue a statement about the accident.
Do everything your doctor requires throughout your recovery process. If you ignore doctors’ orders and make your injuries worse, it can decrease the compensation you can receive.
Consult a lawyer as soon as possible after your accident. Working with a lawyer can more effectively protect your rights throughout the legal process after your accident. Keep track of all of your records. Start a file immediately after the accident. Put all of your medical information, photos from the accident scene, and witness statements in that file.
The more information you have, the better you can protect your rights after an accident. Avoid discussing the accident unnecessarily. Do not allow other people’s versions of events to color your perceptions or make accusations against anyone involved in the accident. Issue a statement to the police at the accident scene if requested, then wait to discuss the accident until you can talk to your lawyer.
Do I Have to Give the Insurance Company a Statement About the Accident?
Legally, you may need to issue a statement to the other party’s insurance company about the accident. That does not, however, mean that you have to issue a statement immediately. To protect yourself, contact an auto accident attorney before you issue your statement about the accident.
Your lawyer can help you more carefully word your statement, avoid admissions of fault, and provide all relevant information about the accident to the insurance company. If possible, you should write down your own statement of events as soon as possible after the accident. The longer you wait, the more events will fade in your mind. You may find your version of events influenced by other witnesses, statements made by your doctor, and even the questions asked by the insurance company.
Write down your statement as soon as possible, then go over it with your lawyer to ensure that you have an accurate version of what occurred during the accident.
Do I Have to Admit Fault?
If you aren’t sure if you contributed to your car accident, or believe that you may have contributed to the accident, you should still avoid immediately admitting fault if at all possible. In the wake of an accident, it is often unclear exactly who or what caused or contributed to the accident.
An admission of fault can work against you as you attempt to claim compensation for your injuries and property damage. You should also avoid any statements about your injuries or your physical status after the accident. If you believe that you contributed to the accident, talk to a lawyer as soon as possible.
An auto accident lawyer can help you decide how to phrase any statements you make about the accident as well as helping you determine what you should and shouldn’t say.
How Long Do I Have to File an Accident Claim?
In Queens and throughout the state of NY, you generally have three years after your accident to file a claim. Ideally, however, you want to file your accident claim as soon as possible. The longer you wait to file an accident claim, the harder you will find it to locate evidence.
Not only that, events may fade in your mind and the minds of your witnesses. If you discovered injuries well after an accident, including traumatic brain injury or another injury that took weeks or months to show up after the accident, you may have three years after identifying that injury to file your claim.
Common Queens Car Accident Injuries
Car accidents result in fatalities far too often, as the statistics cited above bear out. But, even survivors of car accidents can face severe injuries and health complications, and a lifetime of medical and financial needs.
Some of the more common severe injuries car accident victims sustain include:
- Traumatic Brain Injuries that leave victims with cognitive impairments or minimally conscious;
- Spinal cord injuries resulting in partial or total paralysis;
- Crushed or traumatically-amputated limbs, particularly the legs of drivers and passengers in a front-end collision;
- Burns from explosions and disfiguring scarring from lacerations caused by sharp metal and glass;
- Broken bones and orthopedic injuries; and
Severe internal and soft tissue damage, which can include chronic neck pain from severe whiplash. Severe injuries from car accidents can heal, but unfortunately full recovery from some injuries leaves accident victims badly impaired or disabled, and in need of a lifetime of care and medical support.
An experienced car accident attorney takes the time to understand the severity of a car accident victim client’s injuries, and to make sure she seeks an appropriate amount of damages to cover the client’s long-term medical needs.
Who Is Liable for the Car Accident?
Determining the causes of a Far Rockaway car accident and the severity of a client’s injuries are just two of the many tasks an experienced Queens car accident attorney will typically perform on a client’s behalf. Another important step in most car accident cases is the process of identifying each and every party who may have legal liability to the lawyer’s client.
In some cases, that is a simple inquiry. But it’s frequently less straightforward than you’d think. Here are some of the parties commonly held to account under the law for a car accident victim’s injuries:
Other drivers. Every driver has a duty to share the road responsibly. Unfortunately, many drivers do not. Distracted driving, impaired driving, aggressive driving, and just-plain careless driving can all cause an accident, and leave the driver with legal liability for the injuries those behaviors caused.
Commercial entities. Not all accidents involve personal vehicles. Many instead involve cars and trucks operated by a business or some other corporate entity. Businesses and other entities that own or operate vehicles that end up in a crash may face liability for the accident.
Government entities and contractors. Our taxes go, in part, toward paying for our state and local governments to design, build, and maintain safe and secure roadways. Sometimes, however, our governments fail to do an adequate job.
A poorly-designed road with dangerous curves, a poorly-built road with inappropriate road material, or a poorly-maintained road with gaping potholes or visual obstructions, all can lead to a government entity having legal liability for injuries those conditions cause.
Car and car part manufacturers. Cars represent a significant purchase for most Queens residents. If the manufacturer of a car or its component parts puts a defective product on the road, New York law may hold that manufacturer legally liable an accident the defects cause.
Of course, we mentioned earlier, every car accident is unique. Who has legal liability to a car accident victim may differ substantially from case-to-case. That is why it is so important to have an experienced NY car accident attorney on your side to make sure you find every party with potential legal liability for your injuries.
Common Damages for Car Accident Injuries in Queens
As a general matter, Queens car accident victims and the representatives of those tragically killed in car accidents have legal rights to pursue damages as compensation for their injuries and losses.
The law broadly categorizes these damages as economic (or special) damages and non-economic damages. Economic damages compensate a car accident victim for the fixed, out-of-pocket expenses directly connected to the accident and resulting injuries.
Typically, they include:
- Unreimbursed medical bills – Injuries often require medical treatment, and we all know how costly medical treatment in the United States can be. Even if you have insurance, a few stitches in the emergency room can result in thousands of dollars in bills. More serious injuries can result in bills for hospitalization, surgery, rehabilitative therapy, and much more.
- Chronic or long-term care costs – Not all injuries heal in a few weeks or months with proper treatment. Some have chronic effects that you need to manage with the help of long-term medical care. Long-term costs include ongoing therapies, medications, and future surgeries, among others. It is important to consider future medical costs when seeking compensation for your injuries.
- Assistive medical devices and home modifications – Car accidents can result in injuries that cause permanent impairments and disabilities, and this will change your life in many ways. You might need a technologically advanced wheelchair, modifications to your vehicle, ramps installed in your home, and other adaptations to help you live your everyday life with your disabilities. These can also be expensive.
- Physical therapy – A wide range of injuries from car accidents require physical therapy, including neck and back injuries, fractures, soft tissue injuries, dislocations, and more. You might need to attend several sessions in the months following your accident to regain strength, balance, and other movement abilities, as well as to help eliminate pain.
- Property damage – If a car crash caused injuries, it almost certainly also caused damage to your vehicle or other property. The costs of repairing a vehicle can be shocking, as even a simple dent removal can cost more than $1,000. You might need to repair your vehicle or, if the damage was totaling, replace your vehicle altogether. There might also be costs of temporary transportation while the repairs are taking place.
- Lost wages from time off from work while recovering – If your injuries caused restricted movement abilities, your doctor ordered you to rest for a while, or you needed surgery or hospitalization, you will likely miss days, weeks, or months of work while you recover. You might not have paid leave, or you might use up your paid leave relatively quickly, resulting in lost income for your household. You should recover all wages you lost due to your injuries and recovery.
- Lost income or employment opportunity due to injuries – Some disabling injuries might affect your ability to effectively perform your job. For example, if you suffer paralysis, you cannot return to work on a construction site or another physical job. If you sustained a serious brain injury, it could prevent you from engaging in complex research or other intellectual work. You can seek financial recovery for the lost employment opportunities and earnings due to your injuries.
In some Far Rockaway car accident cases, the party with legal liability to the car accident victim may have the right to make periodic payments of economic damages rather than paying those damages as a lump sum.
Non-economic damages pay a car accident victim for subjective injuries that are more difficult to value, such as:
- Pain and suffering – Injuries often result in physical pain, mental trauma, and emotional suffering, both due to the injuries themselves and the changes your injuries might cause in your life.
- Damage to personal relationships – Injuries can often result in changes in your important personal relationships, including loss of consortium or companionship with a spouse, effects on a parent-child relationship, and more.
- Negative impacts on quality of life – In general, severe injuries can change your life for the worse in many ways. You cannot always participate in activities you enjoyed, care for yourself, play with your children, or engage in other hobbies or personal enjoyments.
Non-economic damages do not stem from medical bills or pay statements that clearly delineate the value of your losses. You want the help of an experienced Queens car accident lawyer who knows how to calculate non-economic damages and provide evidence supporting the damages you demand.
Don’t Delay in Contacting a Lawyer
We understand how difficult life can feel after a car accident turns your world upside down. Contending with the pain of recovering from an injury or mourning a lost loved one is only the beginning.
Financial strain can also set in, and you may find new demands on your time from insurance adjusters and police investigators, among others. We get why hiring a lawyer during this difficult time might not seem like a top priority. But, it is. In fact, with every day that passes after you suffer an injury in a car accident, your chances of recovering maximum compensation from those whose actions harmed you will begin to decline.
Here’s why. The general statute of limitations on personal injury claims in Queens is three years. In some car accident cases, that window barely provides enough time for investigating and pursuing a claim. Even if the time is adequate, however, the passage of time can make evidence harder to find and analyze, and can dim the memories of critical witnesses.
If possible, you should have a Queens personal injury lawyer on your side investigating your accident immediately. You can also be sure of one thing: Insurance companies for the parties who have legal liability to you aren’t wasting any time. You may have already received a phone call from an insurance adjuster asking you to sit for an interview, or dangling what might seem like a tempting settlement offer.
Before you act, speak with an experienced car accident attorney. Insurance companies do not have your best interests at heart. Their mission is to minimize their own financial exposure to you. A lawyer can help protect you against tactics insurers employ to try and reduce the value of your claim.
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Far Rockaway Queens Car Accident Attorney
If you have been injured in a Car Accident in Far Rockaway Queens due to someone else’s negligence, contact the Far Rockaway Car Accident Attorney at Michael J. Redenburg, Esq. PC and get the wheels of justice spinning for you. Call 212-240-9465 now!