if someone else may be responsible for what happened to you, a licensed attorney will help you figure out the next move. there's no charge for the call and no obligation to do anything after.
The days right after an injury are confusing on purpose. Insurance adjusters start calling. Settlement forms start showing up. The other side wants you signing things and moving on quickly, before you've had a chance to understand what your options actually are.
What you need first isn't a lawyer trying to sign you up. It's a clear head and an honest answer: do you have a case, what your realistic options are, and what you should do in the next 48 hours.
That's what an initial call to Talk to Counsel is for. A licensed attorney will hear you out, ask the questions that need asking, and give you a straight answer about where you stand. When the situation calls for an experienced personal injury attorney, you'll be connected with one Kevin knows and trusts. When it doesn't, you'll leave the call with practical guidance and a clearer picture of what to do next.
The following is general information, not legal advice for your specific situation. Every case is different. An initial call with a licensed attorney is the only way to get guidance tailored to the facts of what happened to you.
Most personal injury attorneys will tell you to get medical attention right away, even if your injuries seem minor. There are two reasons. First, adrenaline can hide pain, and some serious injuries don't show up for hours or days. Second, your medical records, bills, and treatment notes will end up being some of the most important evidence in any claim you might bring.
Most attorneys will recommend writing down what happened as soon as you can: how it occurred, who was there, what was said, what you remember from the moments before and after. Memory shifts over time. A written account made the same week is almost always more reliable than one pieced together months later.
Most attorneys will tell you not to give a recorded statement to an insurance adjuster before talking to a lawyer. Adjusters are trained to ask questions in ways that minimize claims, and what you say in those calls can come back later to reduce or deny what you're owed. In most cases, you have no obligation to be recorded on the adjuster's timeline.
Most attorneys will tell you to have a lawyer look at any settlement offer, release, or waiver before signing. These documents can be drafted to look like routine paperwork, but signing one usually closes the door on recovering anything later, even if your injuries turn out to be much worse than you thought when you signed.
The initial call to Talk to Counsel costs nothing. A licensed attorney will hear you out, talk through what kind of claim might be there, and, where it makes sense, connect you with a personal injury lawyer who handles your kind of situation. Call (914) 481-3764, any hour, any day.
Hit by a driver who wasn't paying attention. Side-swiped by a commercial truck. Knocked off a motorcycle. The injuries from a vehicle accident often look minor at first and turn out not to be.
Sometimes it's a wet floor at a store. Sometimes it's an icy walkway that should have been salted, or a stairway with a broken handrail. Property owners are required to keep their premises reasonably safe.
On a construction site. In a warehouse. On a delivery route. Workplace injuries often involve both a workers' comp claim and a separate liability claim against a third party.
A diagnosis missed when it shouldn't have been. A surgical error. A medication mistake. Medical malpractice claims have short deadlines and complicated rules, and they're worth getting in front of quickly.
Hurt at a hotel because security was inadequate. Bitten by a dog whose owner didn't restrain it. Injured at a pool that wasn't properly fenced. Premises liability covers a wider range of situations than most people realize.
A piece of equipment that failed. A drug whose risks weren't disclosed. Food that should never have left the warehouse. Product liability cases can reach the manufacturer, the distributor, and the retailer.
There's no way to know without talking through the facts of your situation. In general, a personal injury claim may exist when another person, company, or entity was negligent or otherwise legally at fault and that fault caused you harm.
The strength of any claim depends on the specific facts, the evidence available, and the jurisdiction. A free initial call with a licensed attorney is the fastest way to find out where you stand.
That's exactly what the initial call is for. Most people who call aren't sure.
Sometimes the situation turns out to be a strong claim. Sometimes it turns out there's no claim at all, but there's still a practical next step worth taking. Either way, you stop guessing.
You don't need to decide anything before you call, and you don't need to know any legal terminology. You only need to describe what happened.
Talk to Counsel takes calls about all kinds of injury situations: motor vehicle accidents, slip and falls, workplace injuries, defective products, medical errors, dog bites, premises liability, wrongful death cases, and more.
When the firm doesn't handle a particular kind of case directly, the caller is connected with a personal injury attorney who does.
Nothing. The initial call is free, with no predetermined time limit and no obligation. If you do end up working with a personal injury attorney after the call, most personal injury attorneys take cases on contingency, which means you don't pay attorney fees unless the case actually results in money in your pocket.
All fee arrangements are spelled out in writing before any engagement starts.
Every state sets a deadline for filing a personal injury lawsuit, called a statute of limitations. The deadline depends on the state and the type of claim, and in some places and for some claims it can be as short as one year.
If too much time passes, the right to recover may be permanently lost. That's why most attorneys will tell you not to wait.
Be careful. Adjusters are trained to resolve claims for as little as the claimant will accept, and anything you say in a recorded call can come back later to shrink or deny what you're owed.
Most people are better off talking to a lawyer before they give any recorded statement or sign anything an insurance company sends.
There's no meaningful average. Personal injury settlements range from a few thousand dollars to many millions, and the spread is so wide that quoting an average figure tells you almost nothing about your own case.
What actually drives the value of a claim is the severity of the injuries, the cost of medical treatment, the amount of lost income, the strength of the liability evidence, the available insurance coverage, and the law of the state where the injury happened.
Any lawyer who quotes you a number on a first call, before looking at your medical records, your wage information, the police report, the photographs, and the insurance policies in play, is trying to sell you something. An honest answer about what your specific case may be worth takes information, time, and a willing attorney.
Talk to Counsel takes calls from people across the United States. Personal injury claims are governed by the law of the state where the injury happened, and the firm works with personal injury attorneys in jurisdictions throughout the country.
If your injury happened outside of New York, the firm can, where appropriate, connect you with a licensed attorney in the right state. Any referral or fee arrangement is made in conformity with the New York Rules of Professional Conduct and the rules of the destination jurisdiction.
A licensed attorney will hear you out, ask the questions that need asking, talk through what kind of claim you might have, lay out the realistic options, and help you understand the next step.
When the situation calls for an experienced personal injury lawyer, you'll be connected with one. When it doesn't, you'll leave the call with practical guidance and a clearer picture of where you stand.
Most personal injury cases resolve through negotiation and settlement, without a trial. Some do go to court, usually when an insurance company refuses to make a fair offer.
Whether your specific case is likely to end up in litigation depends on the facts and the parties involved, and is something an experienced personal injury attorney can give you a real opinion on after reviewing your file.
you don't have to
figure this out alone.