A personal injury can occur in the blink of an eye. Suddenly, you may find yourself facing steep medical bills, lost time from work, and intense pain and suffering. With your physical and financial well-being threatened, who can you turn to for the justice you deserve?

Syracuse personal injury victims have a trusted advocate in Carden Dotzler Hammond, PLLC. When you retain us, we get to work fighting for the compensation that you need to recover. From the mediation room to the courtroom, we’re ready to fight for you.

Personal Injury Cases We Handle

Our firm represents clients who have suffered various types of personal injury. When someone’s negligent conduct causes you harm, we can help. We handle personal injury matters that involve:

Car accidents

Every driver owes everyone else on the road a duty of care, which means avoiding illegal and unsafe driving. Car accidents occur for different reasons, including:

  • Speeding: Driving over the posted speed limit in Syracuse is illegal, but driving too fast for the prevailing weather and traffic conditions can also cause a crash.
  • Disobeying traffic laws: Drivers must also be mindful of other traffic laws, with running red lights and traffic signals being among the more dangerous violations.
  • Distracted driving: Anything that takes a driver’s focus away from safely operating their vehicle is a distraction, with cell phone use, disruptive passengers, and eating and drinking being prime examples.
  • Driving under the influence: New York law limits how much alcohol a person can drink before getting behind the wheel, but drug use (legal or not) can also lead to a wreck.
  • Reckless driving: This is a broad category of driving behaviors that unnecessarily puts others at risk of a severe accident.

Motorcycle accidents

Motorcyclists have the right to use New York roads and highways, but they face unique risks due to the lack of protective steel frames that come with vehicles. They may also deal with prejudice from insurance companies and juries who view their riding with suspicion.

We advocate for Syracuse motorcycle accident victims by not only building a personal injury case, but countering discriminatory attitudes from courts and insurers. It’s part of our work to hold at-fault drivers accountable and win the legal damages riders need to recover.

Truck accidents

Trucks tend to cause more catastrophic accidents due to their size and weight. These accidents happen due to various reasons such as unsecured cargo, overloaded trucks, and inexperienced drivers. Different parties may be liable for an accident, including:

  • The driver
  • The driver’s employer (trucking company)
  • Cargo loaders
  • The manufacturer of a defective truck part
  • Inspection, maintenance, and repair companies

Pedestrian accidents

When a pedestrian is struck crossing the street or walking down the sidewalk in Syracuse, their injuries could be life-threatening and permanent. These, in turn, translate to significant future losses from medical bills, lost income, and decreased earning ability.

Victims deserve a compassionate law firm dedicated to fighting for them, and that’s where we come in. We can help you claim not only past damages but those you are reasonably expected to incur in the future. You may also have compensation options if the driver flees the scene.

Catastrophic injuries

Some injuries are so severe that they will affect the victim for years to come, perhaps even for the rest of their lives. These tend to involve major health problems like traumatic brain injury (TBI), spinal cord injury, and paralysis. Ongoing medical care and decreased future earnings are almost guaranteed for these victims.

Cases such as these require consideration of future damages such as bills for in-home medical care. We routinely consult expert witnesses who can project and assign a dollar value to these losses.

Construction accidents

Although Syracuse construction accident victims can file a workers’ compensation claim with their employers, they may be able to seek additional compensation by filing a third-party claim against these and other parties:

The property owner

Contractors and subcontractors

Manufacturers of defective construction equipment

Retailers of equipment parts

Motorists and others who cause accidents on construction sites

Product liability

A company that makes, sells, or distributes consumer products has a duty to take reasonable steps to ensure dangerous and defective items are kept off the market. Product liability usually arises due to one of the following problems with the item in question:

  • Manufacturing defect: A manufacturing defect occurs when the product is built or assembled incorrectly, or using unsafe or defective parts and components.
  • Design defect: On the other hand, the product may be inherently unsafe due to a flaw in its design, regardless of its assembly.
  • Inadequate safety features: Some products lack safety features that can prevent an accident at little expense to the manufacturer.
  • Inadequate instructions or warnings: Consumer products should come with instructions and warnings that can help avoid accidents and injuries.

Premises liability

Syracuse property owners, managers, and other responsible parties have a duty to remedy dangers on their properties and keep guests and visitors safe. A premises liability claim may arise in such situations as:

  • Slip and fall accidents: Slipping on ice, snow, water, grease, and other substances can result in major and irreversible injuries.
  • Uneven surfaces: Tripping over an uneven surface, such as a raised slab of sidewalk concrete, can cause injury as well.
  • Unsafe stairs: Owners should ensure that broken stairs are fixed and that they have appropriate railings.
  • Swimming pool accidents: Failure to secure a swimming pool area, especially where a child is injured, can lead to a lawsuit.
  • Negligent security: Areas in which criminal activity can occur, especially if there’s a history of incidents, should prompt the responsible party to enact reasonable safety measures.

Sexual assault

Syracuse criminal courts are set up to punish sexual assailants, while the civil court system exists to help victims recover monetary compensation. They may have the right to sue a business, organization, property owner, or some other party for allowing the assault to take place.

Compensation varies, but victims often seek damages such as medical bills, therapy and counseling, and emotional distress. If you or a loved one were sexually assaulted, explore your legal options with us.

Pesticide exposure

Farms in and around Syracuse still use toxic pesticides that have been known for decades to cause cancer and other health problems. Agricultural workers, nearby residents, and others can suffer long-term medical complications due to pesticide exposure.

We can help you win compensation by investigating the source of the pesticide and determining who was responsible for your injuries. Liability often points back to the manufacturer of the pesticide, so we explore all possible avenues for legal damages.

Representing Medical Malpractice Victims

Medical malpractice is more complicated than a doctor or other healthcare professional making a mistake. The mistake must be unreasonable in light of the circumstances, and a departure from accepted standards of professional care. Put simply, the error must amount to negligence.

Our firm is well-versed in the intricacies of medical malpractice, and we assist injured patients with cases that involve:

  • Surgical errors
  • Anesthesia errors
  • Prescription medication errors
  • Delayed, failed, and missed diagnoses
  • Birth injuries
  • Failure to treat
  • Failure to monitor the patient

These cases are complicated and require the input of expert witnesses who can explain the applicable standard of care and how the medical professional departed from it. We have a reliable network of expert witnesses we can call upon to make the strongest possible case.

Compassionate Advocacy in Wrongful Death Cases

A wrongful death claim arises when someone’s negligence causes not just an injury but a death. In that sense, it is like an extension of personal injury and therefore involves many of the same types of claims. To win a wrongful death case in Syracuse, the plaintiff (personal representative of the deceased victim) must prove:

  • The defendant owed a duty of care to the decedent
  • The defendant acted negligently, for instance by speeding
  • This negligence caused the decedent’s death
  • Surviving dependents, such as the spouse and children, suffered financial harm

Damages in wrongful death cases are different from personal injury damages, and may include:

  • Funeral and burial expenses
  • Medical and nursing expenses prior to death
  • Lost future income
  • Lost household services
  • Loss of parental guidance for children

New York survival actions

New York also has a similar claim known as a survival action. Whereas a wrongful death lawsuit is focused on compensation for the decedent’s family members, a survival action is focused on the suffering and losses that the victim experienced prior to their death.

A survival action, for example, may seek compensation for the victim’s pain and suffering or the income they lost between the time of their injury and death. Due to the similarity between wrongful death lawsuits and survival actions, they are often filed together.

Why Hire CDH Law?

You have your pick of personal injury law firms. But what sets our practice apart from others is our willingness to invest the necessary time and resources to present the most compelling case possible. When you hire our Syracuse firm to represent you, we get to work by:

  • Investigating how the personal injury, medical malpractice, or wrongful death occurred
  • Identifying all parties who may be held liable for your injuries and losses
  • Acquiring evidence of fault, both informally and through the discovery process
  • Determining a fair dollar value for your losses
  • Consulting expert witnesses and other specialists who provide valuable testimony
  • Handling all communications with the at-fault parties’ insurance companies
  • Representing you in mediation and negotiations with the insurers
  • Filing a lawsuit and serving it on all defendants in accordance with applicable rules
  • Applying our extensive knowledge of New York laws, rules of evidence, and rules of civil procedure
  • Trying your case in court if the defendants refuse to fairly settle

Contact Our Syracuse Personal Injury Attorneys

We are committed to serving our clients with the dedication and professionalism they deserve. If you were the victim of a personal injury or medical malpractice, or you lost a loved one to wrongful death, connect with CDH Law to schedule your consultation today.

Frequently Asked Questions About New York Personal Injury Law

Which damages are available in a New York personal injury case?

Most victims can claim economic damages (e.g. medical bills, lost wages, and property loss)  and non-economic damages (e.g. pain and suffering and emotional distress). In rare cases, victims can seek punitive damages, designed to punish extreme misconduct.

Will my case settle out of court?

Most cases – upwards of 95% – settle before trial. Whether yours will settle depends on factors like when you reach maximum medical improvement (which is based on the severity of your injuries), how strong your evidence is, how complex your case is, and insurance tactics.

Settlements can take anywhere from several months to up to a year. We work for the quickest possible settlement, but without sacrificing fairness to our clients or consideration of the full value of all of their damages.

Is there a deadline to file my lawsuit?

There is a deadline, known as a statute of limitations, of three years from the date of injury to file a personal injury lawsuit. For medical malpractice, the deadline is two years and six months. For wrongful death, the deadline is two years (three years for survival actions).

Sometimes special factors affect these timelines. For example, if a victim is a minor when they are injured, or didn’t discover medical malpractice until later, they may have more time to file. Your best course of action is to speak with a lawyer as early as possible to preserve your rights.

What if I was partially to blame for my injury?

If you were partially at fault for the accident that caused your injury, the court will assign a percentage of fault to you. Your damages are then reduced by this percentage. Even if you were mostly at fault you could theoretically recover some amount of compensation.

For instance, if a speeding vehicle strikes another car, but the victim also turned left illegally at a stop light, the jury may decide the victim was 30% at fault. If their damages would have been $100,000, they are instead lowered by 30% ($30,000), netting $70,000 to the victim.

Will my automobile accident insurance policy pay for my injuries?

Under New York’s no-fault insurance program, Syracuse automobile accident victims first file a claim with their insurers. The insurance company will pay up to $50,000 for basic economic losses for things like medical bills and lost income.

If the victim incurs what the law considers to be a serious injury, they can step outside of the no-fault system and file a personal injury lawsuit. The no-fault system is designed to provide a quick remedy to victims while allowing more serious victims to sue for more compensation.