Newburgh Personal Injury Attorney

Finkelstein & Partners, LLP

1279 NY-300,
Newburgh, NY 12550

845-420-1779

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Finkelstein & Partners, LLP – Winning Serious Injury Lawsuits Since 1959

Newburgh is a town with a long history, starting as one of the earliest landing places of Henry Hudson on his expedition up what would later be known as the Hudson River and eventually growing into a small city and industrial center at the height of the Industrial Revolution.

Newburgh has remained small, nestled in at the nexus of some of the largest metropolitan areas in the country. It has been home to many notables, such as politicians like Geraldine Ferraro and Mary Bonauto to creatives like James Patterson, Ellsworth Kelly, and even Paul Teutul Sr. from Orange County Choppers.

The list of notables is varied and long-running throughout the city’s history. Bishops, professional athletes, musicians, and railroad tycoons have all hailed from Newburgh. Though it is a small city compared to others in the area, it is a crossroads for two Interstates and three major New York State Routes. It has also seen its share of change and conflict over the centuries.

Newburgh is an established community with much of its economy coming from healthcare, such as the Hudson Valley Healthcare System, the VA, and Montefiore St. Luke’s Cornwall Hospital. Among the other industries you see as a result of suburbanization are service industries such as retail, communications, banks, and public services.

As people go about their daily lives, they encounter the hazards of personal injury, jobs with high accident rates, and due to someone else’s negligence, they might find themselves in a position none of us expect: looking for a personal injury attorney. Finkelstein & Partners, LLC is here for you.

Personal Injury Law: What It Is

If you have suffered wrong-doing at the hands of another, you might wonder who to contact. The answer is: a personal injury lawyer. Lawyers are not one-size-fits-all. If you are involved in a divorce or child custody case, for example, you need a divorce or family law attorney. But for a range of cases in which either an organization or a person has harmed you, you need a personal injury attorney.

If an organization or person harms you, they are arguably negligent. In law, if you are harmed by a negligent action, you are owed restitution by the negligent party. Restitution takes the form of financial payment for the damages the harm caused.

Negligent parties can be a company that manufacturers defective products, a landlord who does not repair their properties, a store owner who does not shovel snow from the sidewalk in front of the store, a reckless car driver, a doctor who fails to treat an illness properly, or nursing home staff who do not adequately look after a senior citizen entrusted to their care.

What are some different types of personal injury?

Personal injury is a broad field of the law, incorporating many different ways a person is hurt and needs to recover compensation for their injuries due to the negligence of others. Here is a list of some potential personal injury cases. The list of personal injuries is by no means exhaustive.

These are some of the types of cases handled by Finkelstein & Partners.

What kinds of injuries can you expect?

Personal injury law covers many different types of trauma to your body, with much of it being debilitating, acute, and in many cases, permanent. Here is a list of different injuries you might have experienced.

Consulting an attorney will help you deal with the financial difficulties and get fair compensation as you deal with the physical trauma.

  • Traumatic Brain Injury: A TBI is a serious condition caused by blunt force trauma. The brain is often bruised against the inside of the skull, and/or blood vessels are sometimes sheared off in an impact. Anything from a concussion to a subdural hematoma can create pressure inside the brain, which causes extensive—and often permanent—damage. These types of accidents can happen just about anywhere: car accidents, sports injuries, slip and falls, and workplace injuries.
  • Whiplash: The area of the neck that supports the skull is a weak point in your nervous system. Only seven vertebrae protect the spinal cord from trauma, along with muscle, connective tissue, and whatever safety equipment you might be wearing. Whiplash happens when the head is violently snapped in one direction and then again in the other. It is common to slip and fall injuries as well as motor vehicle accidents.
  • Broken bones: Many accidents with lots of force can snap bones in your body, leaving you with several weeks of recovery time and surgery and rehabilitation.
  • Amputations and lacerations: Serious injuries, especially in the workplace or car accidents, can result in serious cuts and even amputation of limbs.
  • Disfigurement: Car accidents, physical attacks, workplace injuries, and many others can scar you permanently. Disfigurement can result in a lifetime of pain and suffering that affects your identity or how others perceive you.
  • Permanent disability: One hopes that surviving an accident will allow one to recover completely, but this is not always the case. Sometimes we are left with permanent reminders of one moment that forever changed our lives. From brain injuries that affect our cognition and senses to dealing with pain management for the rest of our lives, permanent disability removes our ability to maintain employment and provide a livelihood for ourselves or our families.
  • Pain and suffering: The psychological aspects of an injury often outlast the physical recovery time. Post-traumatic stress is a very real and often debilitating aspect of an injury, limiting someone’s ability to function as they once did. Physical pain might also be a permanent part of their lives, as some wounds never heal completely. This chronic pain can result in problems with addiction, chronic pain, and other factors which must be accounted for and compensated for with the help of an attorney.
  • Financial problems: Though not physical, this is a stressful and detrimental factor in your life after an injury. You might miss time at work, need to recover losses from the destroyed property, and pay medical bills that rehabilitation insurance won’t cover.

Obtaining Damage Compensation

If a person or organization is negligent, injured and harmed individuals can seek compensation in several ways. The first is approaching the at-fault party’s insurance carrier. The second is filing a personal injury lawsuit in civil court.

Personal injury lawyers can help in both cases. Insurance carriers have a vested interest in paying out the lowest claim possible—or, indeed, in not paying at all. We can help in negotiating with the insurance companies. If necessary, we can take unfair insurance companies to court.

Injured and harmed individuals can seek compensation in several areas.

  • Medical bills – For a wide variety of medical treatment, including emergency services, diagnostic tests, doctor’s visits, hospitalization, surgery, prescription medication, assistive devices, retrofitting homes for injuries, and more.
  • Wages lost from work – Injuries, harm, and recuperation periods frequently cause victims to lose time from work. The wages forfeited are compensable.
  • Lifetime value of earnings – If injuries or other wrongdoing render you unable to work at a former job.
  • Personal property – For personal property damaged or lost.
  • Pain and suffering – For physical, mental, and emotional duress.

New York State Laws Regarding Vehicle Accidents

While the above explanation of personal injury compensation and the process for obtaining it is generally true, an important exception exists regarding vehicle accidents in New York State.

As most residents of Newburgh and Orange County know, New York is a no-fault state for vehicle accidents. “No-fault” means that everyone involved in a vehicle accident approaches their own insurance company for compensation, regardless of who or what is at fault for the accident. It differs from the “fault” system used in some states, where the at-fault party is responsible for injury compensation.

No-fault insurance is the primary reason that all registered drivers must have personal injury protection (PIP) coverage in New York State. PIP compensates you for medical bills and some part of wages lost from work if you are injured in a vehicle accident.

But if you are severely injured, the law allows you to bypass the no-fault system. If you meet the state criteria for severe injury, you may approach the at-fault party’s insurance carrier or bring a personal injury suit.

The state regards an individual with.

  • Fractured bone(s)
  • Significant disfigurement
  • Permanent limitation of use of a body organ or member
  • Significant limitation of use of a body function or system
  • Substantially full disability for 90 days

What Is the Average Compensation an Injured Person Receives?

It is very natural to wonder about the potential compensation you can receive if you have been injured. After all, you may face a mountain of bills for medical treatment, or your injuries may have affected your ability to earn a living.

It is important to understand, however, that “average compensation” for an injury does not exist. Compensation can depend on how much an injury or other harm costs you. It also very much depends on the overall effect on your life.

Specific economic damages, for example, are compensable in the amount you paid for them (or in the amount of money you lost, in the case of wages lost from work).

For medical bill compensation, then, you can seek compensation in the amount of the bills incurred for treatment.

If you need medical treatment for these injuries in the future, you could also seek the amount that treatment is forecasted to cost. In most cases, two forms of expert testimony are sought. Doctors testify to your need for the treatment and describe the standard treatment for your injuries. Then, they estimate the cost of that treatment over time.

Compensation for wages lost from work is determined by multiplying the time lost by your current wages.

If you can no longer work at a previous job, you could seek compensation for the lifetime value of earnings you could have expected to receive. Here, too, expert testimony is sought on your likely earnings. These awards vary not only in income, but the age of the injured individual. Younger people have lost more prospective earnings than older people.

Personal property is compensated at the current market value of the property.

Pain and suffering damages are non-economic. In other words, there is no specific bill or wage rate that determines the damage compensation. Pain and suffering is subjective and the amount you should pursue can be determined by a personal injury attorney.

The current occupation or expectations of a victim can also affect compensation. If a victim must use certain parts of their body in their occupation, and those parts are injured, insurance adjusters may assign a higher value. A ballet dancer with injured legs may receive more than a computer engineer with the same injury, because the engineer may not use their legs to perform their job.

andrew finkelstein
Newburgh Personal Injury Attorney, Andrew Finkelstein

Contact Finkelstein & Partners to help determine the amount of compensation you should pursue.

Compensation if a Victim Dies

Many discussions of personal injury law focus on injuries and other harm. But what if, tragically, a victim dies?

While we realize that no amount of money can compensate family members for a death, the law does recognize that family members likely need financial compensation to tide them over in the aftermath of a death, especially if the deceased is a principal breadwinner.

Family members or the estate may also have paid for medical care and related expenses, such as funerals and burials.

When someone dies due to the negligent actions of another party, New York law allows the personal representative of the estate to bring a suit called wrongful death. In other words, wrongful death is the suit brought by the deceased estate if the deceased could have pursued a personal injury claim had they lived.

In some states, family members themselves can bring the suit. That is not the case in New York, however—the personal representative must bring it on behalf of certain family members.

Family members can recover these in damages if they paid them, while the estate can cover these costs if it paid them.

  • Funeral expenses
  • Burial expenses
  • Medical costs related to the final injury or illness, nursing, and other health care expenses related to the deceased person’s final injury or illness

In addition, family members may seek compensation for:

  • Wages and benefits lost due to the final illness or injury
  • The value of support and services the deceased provided to family members
  • The value of parental care, nurturing, and guidance to surviving children
  • Surviving children’s lost inheritance
  • Conscious pain and suffering of the deceased due to the final injury or illness

In some states, family members can sue for their own pain and suffering related to the death. New York State law, however, does not compensate for this.

How Much Does a Newburgh Personal Injury Lawyer Cost?

Personal injury lawyers are compensated differently than other lawyers. We do not require payment upfront. We work on a contingency basis, meaning that a percentage of what we win for our clients pays us.

In other words, injured folks and their families in Newburgh do not pay out of pocket to retain our legal services upfront.

Clients do pay some incidental charges, but these are comparatively less burdensome. The bulk of our work is paid for by contingency fees.

If you are concerned about the cost of hiring a lawyer to represent you, speak to a personal injury attorney first. The contingency fee structure can help alleviate those fears.

Get in Touch With Us

Finkelstein & Partners has worked on behalf of injured clients since 1959. We are proud of the difference we have made in the lives of many injured people over the years.

Our case evaluation is always free. Call us today at (845) 420-1779 or contact us through our website.