A Car Accident Checklist: Keep This in Your Glovebox
Posted on | September 14, 2010 | No Comments
If you have been involved in a motor vehicle accident, you may be uncertain what steps to take to best protect your rights. Simply being in an accident can cause stress, anxiety or panic, causing you to lose focus on what you need to do to safeguard your interests. This article provides a resource to help you ensure that you have followed the procedures necessary to help you get full and fair compensation for your injuries.
Step One: Assess the extent of any injuries to you or your passengers. Determine if everyone in your car is conscious and able to move under their own power. If someone is unconscious, leave them where they are until medical assistance arrives. If anyone has an injury that has rendered them unconscious or unable to move, call 911 immediately.
Step Two: Move your vehicle out of the way of traffic, if possible. Leaving your vehicle in traffic can expose you to the risk of further injury. Your safety is paramount—the accident can be reconstructed later. If you cannot move your vehicle, turn on emergency lights, set up road flares and take action to warn oncoming vehicles.
Step Three: Contact the police and file a report. Call 911 to report the accident. Wait until the police officers arrive and provide them with an accurate account of what happened. Before they leave, obtain their names, badge numbers and the jurisdiction in which they work.
Step Four: Gather information from other drivers. Ask any other drivers involved in the accident to provide you with the following information
• name
• address
• telephone number
• auto insurance provider
• auto insurance policy number
Also note the following information:
• the date and time of the accident
• the make, model, year and color of the other vehicle
• the license plate number for any other vehicle involved
Step Five: Take Pictures of the Accident Scene. If you have a camera on your phone, use it to take pictures of all vehicles involved in the accident. Also take pictures of the scene of the accident, making certain to include traffic signs or signals, skid marks and any property damage.
Step 6: Keep a Tight Lip. Often, in the aftermath of an accident, you can have a lot of nervous energy and find yourself wanting to tell your story to anyone who will listen. Don’t do that. Answer the questions asked by police officers clearly and succinctly, but don’t volunteer any information. Anything you say may be brought into evidence and could be damaging to your case.
Step 7: Get the Medical Care You Need. When you leave the scene of the accident, you may want to go immediately to the hospital or to a clinic to have your injuries evaluated. If your injuries don’t appear to be serious, you may want to schedule an appointment with your doctor. You should do so immediately, so that you have documented evidence of all injuries.
Step 8: Contact an Experienced Personal Injury Attorney. Even before you talk with your insurance company, you should contact a lawyer, if at all possible. Insurance companies have a vested interest in paying as little as possible to settle your claim. An attorney will work directly with insurers to help you get all the benefits you paid for and deserve.
Step 9: Contact Your Insurance Provider. Notify your automobile insurance provider of the accident.
If you sustain serious or catastrophic injuries, or someone you love dies in a personal injury accident, you may have grounds for a lawsuit, provided you can prove the party who caused the accident was negligent.
Retaining an experienced Long Island Personal Injury Lawyer at the outset is vitally important. An attorney can provide legal guidance, evaluate the circumstances surrounding your accident and determine liability. At Reynolds, Caronia, Gianelli, Hagney & La Pinta, LLP, located in Hauppauge, New York, our attorneys have expertise, derived from decades of experience to deal with the complexities of plaintiff’s personal injury law and resulting civil litigation.
Broad Personal Injury Claim Representation
Our Long Island law firm handles a wide range of serious and catastrophic personal injury / fatal accident cases involving:
* Fractures, Back and Neck Injuries
* Paralysis
* Paraplegia and Quadriplegia
* Brain Injury
* Spinal Cord Injury
* Birth Injury
* Scarring & Disfigurement
* Burn Injuries
* Loss of Eyesight and Hearing
* No-Fault Benefits
* Fatal Accident
Our Long Island Law Firm assists clients who are injured in accidents of every type, including car truck, motorcycle and boating accidents, construction site and other workplace accidents, as well as those who are injured as a result of medical malpractice, product defects or premises liability.
Legal Help When You Need It Most
When you turn to Reynolds, Caronia, Gianelli, Hagney & La Pinta, LLP for legal help, we ensure that you get the medical care you need. And, while you concentrate on regaining your health, we will investigate the circumstances surrounding your accident, preserve evidence to substantiate your case, document details and deal with insurance company representatives.
Families who have lost a loved one as a result of another’s negligence or wrongful act have the right to file a wrongful death lawsuit to recover economic and non-economic damages. Economic damages include out-of-pocket costs such as lost future income along with medical, estate administration and funeral expenses. Emotional sorrow, loss of consortium and other suffering that the surviving family experiences, all fall under non-economic damages. A personal injury lawyer at our firm can guide you through the legal steps required in filing a New York Wrongful Death Claim.
Whether you have been injured or have lost a family member in a personal injury accident, our Long Island Attorneys work diligently to protect your rights, hold liable parties responsible and maximize the monetary award you receive.
Learn how our personal injury lawyers can help you recover compensation to cover medical expenses, pain, suffering and lost wages. Our Long Island Law Firm takes personal injury cases on a contingency basis. You will not owe a fee until we win a settlement for you.
Call our Hauppauge, New York Office at (631) 231-1199 or (800) 842-3380 to arrange a no cost, no obligation case review.
Home & Hospital Visits are available
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Our skilled Long Island Personal Injury Attorneys and Suffolk County Accident Lawyers serve the local communities of Hauppauge, Islandia, Melville, Smithtown, Riverhead, Babylon, Lake Ronkonkoma, Central Islip, Oakdale and Bohemia, NY in Suffolk County, as well as Nassau County and throughout the Long Island, New York Area.
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State DWI Loophole to be Closed
Posted on | June 25, 2010 | No Comments
Previously, if you were arrested for a DWI in New York and your blood was withdrawn by an EMT without physician supervision, your case could have been thrown out. A new law will be removing this loophole.
The bill, spearheaded by New York State Senators Charles J. Fuschillo, Jr. (R-Merrick) and Betty Little (R-Queensbury), is named after former Olympian Jack Shea. Shea was killed in 2002 by a drunk driver. The drunk driver that killed Shea used this loophole to avoid prosecution for the death although he had a blood alcohol content of .15.
The loophole comes from a current state criminal law that forbids trained medical personnel, like EMTs, from withdrawing blood during a DWI arrest without having a physician present. Many drunk drivers have escaped prosecution by having their blood evidence thrown out because of the loophole. Right now, only physicians, registered professional nurses, and registered physician assistants are permitted to withdraw blood from an intoxicated driver without supervision.
The new law would allow other medical personnel like clinical laboratory technicians/technologists, phlebotomists, and medical laboratory technicians/technologists, who are trained to withdraw blood to do so when requested by law enforcement. They would need to be under the supervision & direction of a physician, registered physician assistant or certified nurse practitioner or receive the consent of the adult from whom the blood is being drawn.
If you’ve been arrested for a DWI, contact Long Island Criminal Lawyers Reynolds, Caronia, Gianelli, Hagney, La Pinta, LLP at 1-800-842-3380. You can visit their website at http://www.rcghl.com/
Contact Us
Posted on | April 12, 2010 | No Comments
Contact Reynolds, Caronia, Gianelli, Hagney & La Pinta, LLP
Long Island Divorce, Personal Injury, Criminal Defense & Family Law Attorneys
When you are faced with a difficult legal problem or concern, you need a trusted, experienced lawyer who will take your case as seriously as you do. At Reynolds, Caronia, Gianelli, Hagney & La Pinta, LLP, in Hauppauge, NY, we have a reputation for providing clients with personalized attention and committed advocacy for their personal injury, criminal defense, and family law needs.