LeBlang Law

Areas of Expertise

Frequently Asked Questions (and Answers)

I’ve Been Involved in an Accident and I am Seriously Injured,
What Should I Do?

Start by Getting Well Again! From the moment you’re injured, you should be focused upon getting better. That starts with quality medical care. Even if you have no health or medical insurance, your access to the best surgeons, physicians, hospitals and rehab centers is greater than you think. If you've been injured in a motor vehicle accident [as a pedestrian, passenger or operator], No-fault insurance applies. That will pay for almost every medical professional and facility in the State. If you have been injured on the job, that triggers Worker's Compensation insurance and - again - it will pay for treatment by the very best and brightest. Med Pay coverage contained in homeowner's insurance, and in policies covering almost all commercial premises, provides medical coverage to anyone who is injured on the premises. So, even if you have no medical insurance at all, these systems and many others are often available to provide you with access to the very best medical treatment available. That is how you get better!

Preserve the Evidence! Your right to sue depends completely upon proof that your injuries were caused by the wrongful or negligent actions of others. Nothing is more compelling than showing the circumstances immediately surrounding the accident. Whether it is the position and damage to cars in a motor vehicle collision, a dangerous condition that has caused the incident, or how a product or a device has failed, these and other injury causing circumstances are critical and cannot be duplicated later on. If you [or the people you're with] can preserve that evidence, you have taken the first major step in winning your case. So how do you do this? Well the best way to do it is to photograph it. Use your cell phone, or that of a friend, or have someone grab a disposable camera while you are waiting for the police or the ambulance. If it's a smaller item that caused your injury - such as a piece of glass in your food - take control of it and save it. If you can't do any of the above, at least show the police or the ambulance attendant the exact thing that caused your injury. One thing is certain: if you don't preserve it, the item will disappear and the best proof of your claim will disappear with it!

Make a Clear Record of the Event! Yes you've been seriously injured, but short of being unconscious you will be poked and prodded to describe how the accident happened by everyone from the police to the doctors and nurses who render your emergency care. GET IT RIGHT! There is no way to rewrite the ambulance report, the hospital record, or the police report. And if those statements are not accurate, they will be used against you throughout the rest of your case. If there is nobody to report the incident to, then get someone. Grab anyone who was a witness [and their address while you're at it]. Get a store manager, or a nurse at the hospital, a police officer, ambulance attendant, a supervisor who responds to the scene, the union shop steward - even a stranger who might be right there. And always preface your emergency medical care with a concise but accurate statement of just how the incident happened. The absence of a record will not only jeopardize available insurance coverages, but it will raise significant questions about the credibility of your claim.

How do I Choose the Right Lawyer?

Personal injury practice is a sophisticated specialty which demands extensive knowledge of medicine, trauma, insurance coverages, liability [tort] law, social services, civil litigation, evidence and trial practice. Those who specialize in personal injuries don't do wills, or real estate transactions, or family or corporate law. CHOOSE A LAWYER WHO IS A PERSONAL INJURY SPECIALIST. Select one with extensive experience in representing persons with serious injuries, who has proven litigation and trial experience, and proven results! And choose one who you think you can live with for the 3 years that these cases often take. Yes, some cases can settle early. But in my 37 years of experience I have learned that you get the best recovery for an injured client only right at the time of trial, when the insurance company can no longer delay and can no longer hide. Only a proven trial lawyer can take you there. So take some time in selecting your attorney. I don't mean weeks, because there are many important things to be done. But if you take the steps mentioned above, you will have the time to make a disciplined choice of a personal injury specialist who will provide you with the zealous and effective representation that you need and deserve!

How Do I pay for My Personal Injury Lawyer?

Every attorney who specializes on personal injury cases works on a 1/3 contingent fee basis. Some advertise this as a no fee promise, or some other similar words. But the truth is that if an attorney accepts your case on a contingent fee basis, they are not entitled to a fee unless they recover money for you. At LeBlang Law that is the only way we work. We will pay all of the costs and expenses to prosecute your case to its conclusion and will charge you no fee unless we are successful in resolving the claim on terms that you find acceptable. Upon the successful resolution of the case, the costs and expenses that we have laid out of our pocket will then be fully detailed and subtracted from the total of the amount recovered. Then, the remainder will be divided 1/3 to us as your attorney, and 2/3 to you as the client. While some attorneys retain the right to charge you the costs they have spent even if they are unsuccessful - at LeBlang Law we do not. Should we fail, we will charge you nothing. No fee, no costs!

In instances where a child is injured and is the client, or where we represent the estate or administration in a wrongful death matter, we work off the same contingent fee arrangement but subject to the Court's final approval of the attorney's fee.

Does my Current Auto Insurance Properly Protect me and my Family?

Many of our cases involve serious injuries caused by automobile accidents. In those cases, one of the most significant issues is always how much insurance coverage the other car has to compensate our injured client(s). It is an issue that often leads to heartbreak because so many people choose to drive with only minimal insurance or no insurance at all. But you can protect your family and your loved ones with some small and inexpensive adjustments to your own insurance coverage.

The State of New York requires only $25,000 of liability coverage for a driver to register their car. That means that any other driver who may cause catastrophic injury to you or your family could be insured for as little as $25,000. Some people don't even have insurance, perhaps because they have stopped paying their insurance premiums. As a result, we are seeing cases where injured clients should obtain very substantial amounts, but are unable to do so because the other car has only $25,000 of insurance coverage or sometimes none at all! In such circumstances, the seriously injured client will get [at most] the $25,000 of available insurance coverage and then be left holding the bag of an empty judgment against a driver who can easily get rid of any other assets he/she may own.

You can protect yourself and your family against this situation with uninsured motorist coverage (UM). You already have some of this protection in your own policy since N.Y.S. requires a minimal amount of $25,000. If you are injured by a driver who does not have any insurance coverage, you simply make a claim against the UM coverage of your own policy, and they will pay for the responsibility of the other uninsured driver up to the $25,000 limit in your policy. That's not very much you say? Well it was not too long ago when the minimum level of insurance was only $10,000. But read on, because with SUM coverage you can buy similar insurance in much greater amounts.

When you increase the amount of your own uninsured motorist coverage protection from $25,000, the name changes to Supplemental Uninsured Motorist Coverage [SUM] and it gives you a lot more protection! Not only will your insurance company pay you more if the other car has no insurance, but it will also pay you if the other car has only minimal insurance and your injuries are worth more than that. It is among the best coverages you can buy and it is relatively inexpensive. By purchasing this coverage in the highest limits available you can protect yourself against the very real and potentially tragic risk that a driver who injures you will NOT have adequate insurance to compensate you for your injuries. Moreover, SUM coverage will protect you even if you're injured while a pedestrian or a passenger in another vehicle (e.g. a taxi). Remember, this is a coverage which you must ask for, so ask for it NOW! A change that you make today could be worth hundreds of thousands of dollars to you or your family should you be injured by an uninsured or under insured driver.

But let's take a moment and discuss 2 other parts of your current policy which probably should be up-graded. Doing so will provide much greater protection for you and your family and for only a few extra dollars. Those other parts of the policy are the No-Fault and Liability Coverages.

No-Fault: New York demands that every motor vehicle be covered by a No-fault insurance policy which protects anyone injured in or by a motor vehicle. No-fault pays medical bills and wage losses [within certain limits] to all occupants of the car without regard to who caused the accident. So if you're injured in a car accident, you are entitled to No-fault insurance. The question is how much coverage is there to protect you? The minimum amount of No-fault insurance that one can buy is $50,000, but you have the option to purchase greater limits and we urge that you to do just that. No-fault insurance protects you, your family and anyone who rides in your car. For very little extra, you can purchase significantly higher limits of coverage to protect your loved ones in the event they are injured in a motor vehicle accident. The next time your policy comes up for renewal, increase your protection by purchasing Optional Basic Economic Loss (OBEL) and Additional Personal Injury Protection coverage (APIP). You will be shocked at how little it costs and yet how much it provides!

Liability Insurance: This coverage represents how much your insurance company will pay (on your behalf) if you are found to be liable for injuring another in motor vehicle accident. It protects your assets and financial condition from a judgment against you, and should be at a sufficient level to give you piece of mind. We urge that you carry no less than $100,000 of liability insurance.

Another important part of the liability insurance policy that you should be aware of is spousal liability coverage! This is inexpensive coverage which can be a lifesaver to you or your spouse. Should there be a serious accident in which your spouse [as an innocent passenger] is injured while you're driving, he or she would have a claim against all of the drivers who contributed to the accident - including you. But if you don't have spousal liability coverage, your insurance will NOT cover you for a claim made against you by your spouse. And that is so even if you were entirely at fault in the accident. Some insurance companies provide the coverage free of charge in the auto policies they offer. But for others you must ask for it. Insist that it be part of your auto insurance policy. As between spouses, there is no substitute for this protection!

So Many Time Limits in Making a Claim, Which Ones Must I Be Most Concerned With?

A simple answer is to focus upon the Statutes of Limitation, or the rules that set the period within which you must bring your lawsuit. For general negligence cases in New York that period is 3 years; for medical negligence - 2½ years; and for defamation, violation of privacy claims and intentional wrongs like assault, battery, false arrest and the like - 1 year. But there is no simple answer! For example, all of the time limits recited above are different if your claim is against a City, an incorporated Village or Town, a County, the State, a school, fire or library district, or any of the 100's of public benefit corporations that you have never even heard of. For those government entities the statute of limitations can be as short as one year [more often 1 year and 90 days], and there are rigid notice of claim requirements demanding that a formal written claim be filed in a particular office within 60 or 90 days of the happening of the event.