Most personal injury lawsuits in New York hinge on a single legal concept: negligence. But what does “negligence” mean in a New York courtroom? Put simply, it is the legal term for when someone does not use reasonable care and hurts someone else. To win a personal injury case in New York, you must prove four basic elements. If you are hurt in New York, Dreyer Boyajian LLP’s attorneys can help you with your case.
First, you must show the defendant owed you a legal duty to act carefully. We see these obligations in everyday life:
For example:
After establishing that a defendant owed you a duty of care, you must prove the defendant violated that duty. A breach happens when someone acts carelessly, or fails to act when they should have, and falls below the standard of what a “reasonably prudent person” would do in the exact same situation. Examples include a driver running a red light; a landlord ignoring a broken, rotting handrail on a staircase; or a contractor providing a worker the safety equipment needed to prevent injuries on a construction site.
It is not enough that someone was careless; their carelessness must have been a direct cause of your injury. In New York, this refers to a concept known as “proximate causation”. Essentially, you must show that your injuries were a foreseeable result of the defendant’s specific actions or inaction.
Finally, you must have suffered actual harm—physical, emotional, or financial. You cannot sue someone for negligence just because they almost caused an accident. Damages are quantified through tangible losses such as medical bills, lost wages from missed work, property damage, and pain and suffering.
One of the most important aspects of New York personal injury law is that a defendant cannot escape liability even if you were also negligent. New York follows a doctrine known as pure comparative negligence under CPLR Section 1411.
Under this rule, you can still recover compensation even if you are partly responsible for the incident. Your financial recovery is merely reduced by your percentage of fault.
Let’s say your total damages are $500,000 but you are 20% responsible for the incident. In that situation, you would receive $400,000.
Because New York allows recovery even if a plaintiff is 99% at fault, insurance companies will often fight aggressively to shift as much blame onto the injured party as possible.
If you are hurt in New York because of someone else’s negligence, Dreyer Boyajian LLP‘s attorneys will fight to recover what you deserve. Call us today: (518) 463-7784
