Negotiating Strong Settlements After Brooklyn Car Crashes

Our New York City motor vehicle accident law firm always makes sure to obtain complete copies of all plaintiff medical records and bills — as well as lost wage records — while preparing to present our first settlement demand to each new client’s insurance adjustors.

We also ask our Brooklyn car accident plaintiffs to keep accurate and detailed records of all their transportation fees, prescribed home medical equipment costs and other out-of-pocket expenses incurred while obtaining medical treatment. This data helps us more readily obtain a fair Brooklyn crash settlement or jury verdict. Stated differently, the less we can document, the harder it is to counter low-ball offers and recover proper compensation for all our client’s losses.

When specific medical conditions, unique wage losses and expensive vehicles are involved

Our lawyers must also be prepared to present detailed medical and wage records when pre-existing medical conditions have been worsened by a new Brooklyn car accident — or when our newly injured client is self-employed. Likewise, when a client was driving a very expensive car with special luxury additions, we must document all the car’s added features — if the car was not “totaled” by the adjustors — so an accurate property damage offer can be made to our client.

Pre-existing medical conditions allegedly worsened by car accidents are often challenged

While insurance adjustors usually recognize the term “an eggshell plaintiff” (a person who had already suffered many physical injuries before being hurt in a new accident) – they do realize that they can still be held fully accountable for any serious worsening of all past conditions.

• Neck injuries. These may include whiplash or cervical strains or sprains. Either muscles,

ligaments or tendons can be badly injured – often causing bad headaches, pain, stiffness

or even cognitive difficulties due to new focus or concentration issues.

• Herniated discs. These are often bulging or ruptured discs. They can be very painful as they press on nerves – especially when re-injured after a car accident. A plaintiff may suddenly experience numbness, pain – or even tingling sensations — in their arms, neck region or hands after a new car collision – long after prior pains had ended.
• Facet joint injuries. These can prove very painful since these are the joints that make neck movement possible, and they help keep the spine stabilized. Someone who had this type of past injury that healed can suddenly start experiencing piercing pain, ongoing stiffness (making it hard to move the neck), and other symptoms after new car injuries.
• All other joint issues. Many other joints can be reinjured after a new car accident that places too much pressure on already frail ligaments or cartilage.
• Nerve compression. If the newly injured Brooklyn car accident survivor also has bone spurs or a herniated disc – she may soon start experiencing numbness or tingling in her extremities.
• New bone fractures. When neck bones are broken, the plaintiff may suffer severe or intense pain, requiring several types of diagnostic tests such as X-rays, an MRI or other screenings – as well as surgery and physical therapy.
• Acceleration of some types of degenerative neck disk diseases. New car accident injuries can increase a plaintiff’s neck damage and pain that had previously been healed.
• Chronic back pain that had finally become manageable can greatly worsen. This can lead to much more pain and make it far harder for the newly injured person to maintain their recent level of mobility – and ability to keep performing their most recent job.

Since most back surgeries can be a bit dangerous – some patients may pass on this risk.

• TBIs (traumatic brain injuries) or concussions. If new head injuries occur, they can make it very hard for the plaintiff to return to work – or manage even simple tasks.
• Mental health problems can increase or return. Patients who have already suffered from post-traumatic stress syndrome (PTSD), anxiety or depression can experience a serious worsening (or return) of those conditions. As these new problems develop (or return), extensive psychotherapy and psychiatric drug treatment may be required.
• Prior difficulties with osteoporosis. Any plaintiff who has battled a brittle bone disease may suddenly find themselves enduring much more pain – or new physical limitations.
• Pulmonary and heart conditions. Clients who have battled these types of conditions in the past may soon discover that their new Brooklyn car accident trauma has increased their most serious problems with these issues.

As your Brooklyn car accident law firm, we want you to feel confident that we’ll carefully review all of your medical records – possibly with the help of a hired medical expert – so we can fully refute all the defendant’s arguments that everything you’re now suffering is due solely to past injuries. We’ll also point out recently performed job tasks (and regular physical workouts we can document) that help prove that the defendant is fully liable for all you’re currently suffering.

Unique wage loss issues can be challenging to prove – but our firm knows how to help

Our Bronx car accident law firm knows that while many of our clients are employees paid a set hourly rate (or standard wage with benefits), other clients may have been working as “gig” workers or independent contractors. When this describes a client’s most recent employment before being hurt in a new collision, we’ll be ready to guide him as he gathers up proof of his earnings, as well as his various deductions and expenses. Here’s a general list of this type of

paperwork that must be located and carefully examined.

• 1099s
• Tax returns
• Bank records
• Work contracts that spell out the types of earnings and all related financial arrangements
• Invoices that reveal what the new plaintiff has been charging his clients
• Sales receipts that help document the purchase of work-related equipment and supplies
• Service or repair contracts and/or receipts, indicating what he has had to pay to repair equipment that must be maintained and used by one or more employees.

We can also help our self-employed clients create detailed testimony describing their most recent work and how their new physical limitations are causing them to lose income. If the insurance adjustors have refused to settle early, you may be able to use this testimony during your deposition. Our firm may also be able to use it after we’ve been served with interrogatories (written questions) asking how all your current injuries and pain are affecting your earnings.

Obtaining proper compensation for client cars when they’re not “totaled” by the adjustors

Thankfully, there are published standards that can help us prevent our clients from being offered too little compensation for their badly damaged vehicles once they’ve been “totaled” and no repairs have been authorized. However, we must often be extra vigilant when repair work is approved for any client’s luxury vehicle.

Before discussing the special issues that can come up with luxury cars, here’s a quick list of some of the common repairs that are often authorized for basic vehicles after a new car accident.

• Structural parts. These may include front and rear bumpers – as well as fenders and

doors. Since bumpers are expected to incur some of the worst damage, they must often be replaced. You will also need to still have good fenders that can cover your wheel wells; they should not be bent in any way.

• Safety features. These involve the seatbelts, airbags and braking systems. Once an airbag has been deployed, it must be replaced with the sensors that helped activate it. Always insist on carefully check out your seatbelts if your car was not “totaled.” Whenever possible, also be sure that if your brake system is being repaired, you’re being provided with new calipers, rotors, brake lines, and pads.
• Critical car systems. These can include systems that govern the fuel, steering and electrical systems. Always be sure that the fuel lines and a new fuel pump have been provided if there was any damage to that part of your vehicle.
• Exterior lighting that involves headlights and taillights. Check out all the replacements for your lights, making sure there are proper height settings for the headlights.
• Damaged glasswork. Be sure a glass repairperson properly replaces all broken glass, whether it’s in the front or back windshield, or in a side window.
• All windshield wiper system parts. Be aware that this most often overlooked type of repair work involves multiple parts besides new blades. For example, new wiper fluids must be added, and there must be adequate power reaching the blades to move them.

Repairs often forgotten on higher end damaged vehicles that aren’t totaled by adjustors

• Upgraded sound systems, custom tire rims, special suspension systems and personalized paint jobs often require significant repairs after any new Brooklyn car accident.
• Collision avoidance systems not provided to all vehicle purchasers may need new adjustments or full replacement
• Radar sensors and other popular high-tech tools may have been harmed
• Specialized driver navigation systems may need adjustments
• Heated or cooled seat systems may have been damaged
• Panoramic sunroofs (and numerous upgrades to interior upholstery, and other niceties) may need to be replaced.

Our clients who invest the extra money to have these features added to their cars deserve to receive full quality repairs. If they are dissatisfied, insurance adjustors who decided against “totaling” the vehicle must usually give their written permission before further repair work can be performed.

Conclusion

You can count on our experienced Brooklyn car collision law firm to always make sure each client is treated fairly regarding every legitimate part of their claim as we seek to settle their cases.

 

If you have suffered serious injuries after an accident caused by someone else’s negligence, you need to contact our Brooklyn car accident law firm. We will carefully investigate all the facts of your case, review all your medical records, and then fight hard to win the maximum compensation available to you. We want every client to fully recover for all lost wages, pain and suffering, medical expenses, and other losses.