Car, Truck, and Motorcycle Accidents
Whether it involves a car, truck, or motorcycle, a motor vehicle accident can be a traumatic and confusing ordeal—especially when personal injury is involved. You not only have the property damage and the details and deadlines of filing insurance claims to deal with, you need to get medical care for your injury and focus on recovering.
We want to help.
The experienced car accident attorneys of Segar & Sciortino are available to guide you through the insurance maze when you need help the most. Acting as your agent, Segar & Sciortino will deal with the insurance companies for you.
Just be sure you don’t offer a statement over the phone or in writing, or sign any documents without talking to us first.
If a fair settlement cannot be negotiated with the responsible insurance company, we will bring legal action in a court of law against the person who caused your injuries, and, if applicable, their employer or the owner of the vehicle they were operating.
Looking Into All Your Compensation Options
Our first order of business is the evaluation of liability or who was at fault for causing the collision. We are familiar and experienced with the New York Vehicle and Traffic Law, Insurance Law and the United States Department of Transportation laws and regulations so to best determine who was responsible for causing your injury.
Next, we evaluate all the applicable insurance coverages which will help you recover for items of damage including:
- Past and future pain and suffering
- Medical expenses
- Lost wages
- Loss of employment and fringe benefits
- Loss of marital love and services
- Loss of support in wrongful death cases
We explore all bodily injury insurance coverages from every possible source:
- Workers’ Compensation in work-related motor vehicle accidents
- No-fault coverages including personal injury protection
- Optional basic economic loss and additional personal injury protection
- Additional sources of coverage from the supplementary uninsured motorist coverage in your own policy when the motorist who caused the collision has no coverage or not enough coverage to compensate you for your injuries
Motorcycle and Truck Accidents
We look at a motorcycle and truck accident case from every angle. While the rules of the road are the same for all registered vehicles authorized to be operated on New York State highways, insurance coverage for motorcycle and trucks is much different than for automobiles—especially if that vehicle is owned by a commercial or government entity.
If we are not able to reach a fair settlement through direct negotiations with the insurance companies responsible to pay for your damages, we will take your case to a trial before a jury. Although the great majority of cases fairly settle without trial, our experienced car accident attorneys are always ready. Call or text Segar & Sciortino today for a free consultation.
For more information on car insurance and motor vehicle accidents in general, visit our blog.
Common Motor Vehicle Accident Questions
Your own insurance company. They will pay for all of your medical bills up to a mandatory limit. Every automobile insurance policy will cover up to at least $50,000 for medical bills, lost wages, and other incidental losses, regardless of who is at fault.
If you have collision coverage, you may choose to have your insurance company pay for the damage, minus your deductible. If the car accident was not your fault, your insurance company should collect the deductible from the responsible party’s insurance company. If the car accident was not your fault and you do not have collision coverage, you must look to the wrongdoer’s insurance company.
Your automobile insurance company will pay a portion of your lost wages. Your insurance company will also pay for other economic losses (such as transportation to a doctor’s office) associated with your injuries.
You only have a viable claim for pain and suffering if your injuries are “serious” as defined in Section 5102 of the New York State Insurance Law. This section defines a “serious injury” as:
- Death
- Dismemberment
- Significant disfigurement
- A fracture
- Loss of a fetus
- Permanent loss of use of a body organ, member, function, or system
- Permanent consequential limitation of use of a body organ or member
- Significant limitation of use of a body function or system
- Medically determined injury or impairment of a nonpermanent nature, which prevents the injured person from performing substantially all of the material acts which constitute such person’s usual and customary daily activities, for not less than 90 days during the 180 days immediately following the occurrence of the injury or impairment.