Buffalo Personal Injury Attorney: Tiveron Law Firm

Turn to a Buffalo Personal Injury Lawyer After an Accident or Injury

Accidents happen every day and many of them result in serious injuries that can change your life forever. Whether they result in temporary or permanent disability, your accident could leave you unable to work or take care of your family, in addition to the staggering medical bills you may now be facing. And without an experienced injury lawyer, that means you are at the mercy of insurance companies that unfortunately place their profits over your recovery.

At Tiveron Law, we understand the challenges you face after an accident, and more importantly, know how to get results. When you work with a Buffalo personal injury lawyer from our firm, you have a powerful advocate on your side that will help you get the compensation you need to get back on your feet.

A Buffalo Personal Injury Attorney Team Handling All Types of Personal Injury Claims

At Tiveron Law, we handle more than motor vehicle accident cases. We have the knowledge and experience needed to help accident victims injured by someone else’s negligence get fair compensation in almost any type of case. This includes the following types of personal injury claims:

Premises liability claims such as those involving negligent security, injuries caused by a hazardous environment, drownings, or dog or animal attacks.
Slip and fall cases where you are injured in a fall caused by the property owner’s negligent maintenance of the property.
Product liability claims arising from dangerous or defective products.
Construction accidents such as those arising from scaffolding collapses or other injuries sustained while on a construction site.

We also represent clients in wrongful death actions where the victim dies as a result of their accident. No matter what type of accident you have been injured in, a Buffalo personal injury lawyer from our firm can determine whether you have a claim and help you get fair compensation.

About The Personal Injury Claim Process in New York

If you have been injured due to someone else’s negligence, you essentially have two options:

Settle your claim with the responsible party; or
File a lawsuit and seek compensation through the courts.

The personal injury claim process begins with attempting to settle your claim, typically through the responsible party’s insurance company. This may sound simple, but insurance companies will require compelling proof that their insured is at fault and that you are entitled to the compensation you are seeking. Many insurance companies will try to settle your claim for as little as possible, typically for far less than what it is worth.

If you are unable to settle your claim for a reasonable amount, your only option is to go to court. The legal process can be extremely difficult for non-lawyers to navigate and even a minor mistake can seriously jeopardize your claim.

At Tiveron Law, we believe in aggressively pursuing the compensation you deserve. When you work with a Buffalo personal injury attorney from our firm, they are fully prepared to go to court from the outset. This helps us settle claims quickly and fairly, as well as helps us build the strongest possible case should the responsible party be unwilling to settle.

Injured? Talk to a Buffalo Personal Injury Lawyer at Tiveron Law Today

If you have been injured due to someone else’s negligence, you need to take immediate action to protect your rights. The sooner you contact us the sooner we can help – call us today at 716-636-7600.

What Should I Do If I’m Involved in a Traffic Accident?

The most important thing you can do is document the entire situation by taking careful notes soon after your accident. While this step is often overlooked, it can help make the claim process as a whole easier on you — and increases your chances of receiving all the compensation to which you are entitled. In addition, having notes to remind you of all the details of what happened and what you went through is far easier and more accurate than relying on your memory.

Things to write down as soon as possible: begin with what you were doing and where you were going, the people you were with, the time, and the weather. Then, include every detail of what you saw, heard, and felt. Be sure to add anything you remember hearing anyone — a person involved in the accident or a witness — say about the accident.

Finally, make daily notes of the effects of your injuries. For example, you may suffer pain, discomfort, anxiety, loss of sleep, or other problems which are not as visible or profound as another injury but for which you should demand additional compensation. These notes can be beneficial months later when you put together all the important facts into a final demand for compensation.

Reporting to the Department of Motor Vehicles

Many states have laws requiring that people involved in a vehicle accident resulting in physical injury or a certain amount of property damage report that accident in writing to the state’s department of motor vehicles. Check with your insurance agent or your local department of motor vehicles to find out the time limits for filing this report; you often have just a few days. Also, be sure to ask whether you’ll need any specific form for the report.

If you must file an accident report, and the report asks for a statement about how the accident occurred, give only a very brief statement — and admit no responsibility for the accident. Similarly, if the official form asks what your injuries are, list every injury, not just the most serious or obvious. An insurance company could later have access to the report, and if you have admitted some fault in it or failed to mention an injury, you might have trouble explaining yourself.

What Determines Who Is Responsible For a Traffic Accident?

Figuring out who is at fault in a traffic accident is a matter of deciding who was careless. And for vehicle accidents, there is a set of official written rules telling people how they are supposed to drive and providing guidelines by which liability may be measured. These rules of the road are the traffic laws everyone must learn to pass the driver’s license test. Complete rules are contained in each state’s Vehicle Code, and they apply not only to automobiles but also to motorcycles, bicycles, and pedestrians.

Sometimes, a violation of one of these traffic rules is obvious and is clearly the cause of an accident — for example, one driver runs a stop sign and crashes into another. In other situations, whether or not there was a violation will be less obvious — a typical example is a crash that occurs when drivers merge into a single lane of traffic. And at other times, there may have been a traffic violation that had no part in causing the accident and therefore should not affect who is liable.

What If The Cause Of A Traffic Accident Is Not Clear?

It is sometimes difficult to say that one particular act caused an accident. This is especially true if what you claim the other driver did is vague or seems minor. But suppose you can show that the other driver made several minor driving errors or committed several minor traffic violations. In that case, you can argue that the combination of those actions caused the accident.

Special Rules for No-Fault Policyholders

Almost half the states have some form of no-fault auto insurance, also called personal injury protection. In general, no-fault coverage eliminates injury liability claims and lawsuits in more minor accidents in exchange for direct payment by the injured person’s own insurance company of medical bills and lost wages, up to specific dollar amounts, regardless of who was at fault for the accident. However, no-fault coverage often does not apply to vehicle damage; those claims are still handled by filing a liability claim against the one responsible for the accident or looking to your own collision insurance.

In a Traffic Accident, How Can I Help Prove to An Insurance Company That The Other Driver was at Fault?

One place to look for support for your argument that the other driver was at fault is in the laws that govern driving in your state — usually called the Vehicle Code. A simplified version of these laws, sometimes called “The Rules of the Road” is often available at your local department of motor vehicles office. The complete Vehicle Code is also available at many local departments of motor vehicle offices, most public libraries, and all law libraries; there is a law library at or near every courthouse and at all law schools.

The index at the end of the last volume of the Vehicle Code references many “rules of the road,” one or more of which might apply to your accident. A librarian may be willing to help you with your search, so don’t be afraid to ask. If you believe a rule might apply to your accident, copy its exact wording and the Vehicle Code section number so that you can refer to it when you negotiate a settlement of your claim.

Can I Be Found Liable if My Car is Rear-Ended in a Crash?

If someone hits you from behind, the accident is virtually always that driver’s fault, regardless of why you stopped. A basic rule of the road requires that a driver be able to stop safely if a vehicle stops ahead of the driver. If the driver cannot stop in time, he is not driving as safely as the person in front of him.

The other surefire part of rear-end accident claims is that the vehicle damage proves how the accident happened. If the other car’s front end and your car’s rear end are both damaged, there can be no doubt that you were struck from the rear.

In some situations, both you and the car behind you will be hit when a third car runs into the car behind you and pushes it into the rear of your vehicle. In that case, the third car’s driver is at fault and against whose liability insurance you would file a claim.

Besides, Rear-End Collisions, Are There Any Clear Patterns of Liability In Traffic Accidents?

A car making a left turn is almost always liable to a car coming straight in the other direction. However, exceptions to this near-automatic liability can occur if:

the car going straight was going too fast (this is usually difficult to prove)
the car going straight went through a red light, or
the left-turn car began its turn when it was safe, but something unexpected happened which made it have to slow down or stop its turn

Whatever the contributing factors, the law says the car making the left turn must wait until it can safely complete the turn before moving in front of oncoming traffic. Also, the location of the damage on the cars sometimes makes it difficult for the other driver to argue that the accident happened in some way other than during a left turn. So, if you have had an accident in which you ran into someone who was making a left turn in front of you, almost all other considerations of fault go out the window, and the other driver is nearly always liable.

General Personal Injury

Premises Liability

Vehicle Accidents

Personal Injury

Turn to a Buffalo Personal Injury Lawyer After an Accident or Injury

A Buffalo Personal Injury Attorney Team Handling All Types of Personal Injury Claims

About The Personal Injury Claim Process in New York

Injured? Talk to a Buffalo Personal Injury Lawyer at Tiveron Law Today

Personal Injury

How Can We Help You?

Personal Injury

Turn to a Buffalo Personal Injury Lawyer After an Accident or Injury

A Buffalo Personal Injury Attorney Team Handling All Types of Personal Injury Claims

About The Personal Injury Claim Process in New York

Injured? Talk to a Buffalo Personal Injury Lawyer at Tiveron Law Today

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FAQs

What Should I Do If I’m Involved in a Traffic Accident?

Reporting to the Department of Motor Vehicles

What Determines Who Is Responsible For a Traffic Accident?

What If The Cause Of A Traffic Accident Is Not Clear?

Special Rules for No-Fault Policyholders

In a Traffic Accident, How Can I Help Prove to An Insurance Company That The Other Driver was at Fault?

Can I Be Found Liable if My Car is Rear-Ended in a Crash?

Besides, Rear-End Collisions, Are There Any Clear Patterns of Liability In Traffic Accidents?

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