New York law requires every person behind the wheel to exercise reasonable care for the safety of others, and yet, you often see drivers looking down at their phones, adjusting the radio, or eating a meal. When this negligence causes a crash, the at-fault driver's insurance company should, in theory, cover the damages fairly. However, their business model must balance paying claims with remaining profitable.
This is where our role begins: holding negligent parties accountable for their choices. When a driver decides that a text message is more important than the road in front of them, they endanger everyone.
As a Distracted driving accident lawyer serving New York, we know that recovering from a crash is a full-time job. You shouldn't have to fight a legal battle at the same time. We handle the legal process of your claim so you may focus on healing.
Call William Mattar, P.C. today at (716) 444-4444.
Why Choose William Mattar Law Offices
William Mattar founded our firm in 1990 with the goal of making a difference for injured people. Unlike general practice firms that handle various legal issues, William Mattar Law Offices concentrates exclusively on motor vehicle accidents.
With our principal office located at 6720 Main Street #100 in Williamsville, we are positioned to serve clients throughout the region. We also have intake locations across the state, including Rochester, Syracuse, Albany, New York City, and Long Island, to make our services accessible to all New Yorkers.
We understand the financial strain a distracted driving accident causes, which is why we offer our No Fee Until We Win guarantee. This means you pay nothing upfront, and our fee comes only from the settlement or award we obtain for you.
Distracted Driving Compensation: What Is Your Case Worth?
The goal of compensation is to restore your financial stability to where it was before the crash. A fair settlement provides the resources you need to rebuild your life. The value of a distracted driving case depends on numerous factors, including the severity of your injuries and the impact on your livelihood.
In New York, compensation is typically divided into two primary categories.
Economic Damages
These are the tangible, calculable financial losses you have suffered. In motor vehicle cases, many of these damages could be covered by no-fault insurance. They include:
- Medical Bills: Coverage for emergency room visits, hospital stays, surgeries, physical therapy, and future medical care. Some of these expenses may be covered by no-fault insurance.
- Lost Wages: Reimbursement for the income you lost while unable to work. This also includes loss of future earning capacity if your injuries prevent you from returning to your previous job. Some of these lost wages may be covered by no-fault insurance.
- Rehabilitation Costs: Expenses for occupational or vocational therapy to help you regain skills and re-enter the workforce.
- Out-of-Pocket Expenses: Costs for things like prescription medications, medical devices, and transportation to doctor's appointments.
Non-Economic Damages
These damages compensate you for the non-financial losses that affect your quality of life. This includes pain and suffering, emotional distress, and loss of enjoyment of life. To recover these damages in New York, your injuries must typically meet the state's serious Injury threshold as defined in the law.
Punitive Damages
In rare instances, a court may award punitive damages. This third category is not meant to compensate you for your losses but to punish the defendant for exceptionally reckless behavior and deter similar conduct in the future. An example could be a driver who caused a crash while streaming a movie.
What If I Am Partially at Fault?
New York follows a Pure Comparative Negligence rule, which means you may still recover damages even if you were partially to blame for the accident, including cases involving the serious risks of distracted driving. Your total compensation award is simply reduced by your percentage of fault.
Part of our role as distracted driving accident lawyers is to make sure no amount of blame is unfairly shifted to you, which maximizes your recovery.
How Distracted Driving Claims Work in New York
Distraction is not always obvious, and without experienced legal help, essential evidence could disappear forever. The process starts with gathering proof to establish negligence, the legal term for a failure to exercise reasonable care.
This usually involves obtaining cell phone records to look for timestamps of calls, texts, or data usage that align with the time of the crash, which can also help demonstrate failures to prevent distracted driving. Other sources like traffic camera footage, dashcam videos, and witness statements may also be instrumental. Once negligence is established, we build a case to demonstrate how that negligence directly caused your injuries and financial losses.
Relevant Laws and Negligence Per Se
New York has specific laws that prohibit distracted driving. Violating them simplifies your case through a legal principle called negligence per se. This means if we can prove the other driver violated one of these statutes, they are automatically considered negligent.
- VTL 1225-c (Use of Mobile Telephones): Prohibits drivers from using a hand-held mobile phone to engage in a call while the vehicle is in motion.
- VTL 1225-d (Use of Portable Electronic Devices): Bans the use of any portable electronic device for activities like texting, emailing, or browsing the internet while driving.
The Three Types of Distraction
Distraction is not limited to texting. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration identifies three main types of distraction, and a single act like texting involves all three:
- Visual: Anything that takes your eyes off the road, such as looking at a GPS, checking on children in the back seat, or watching an event on the roadside.
- Manual: Anything that takes your hands off the steering wheel, like eating, drinking, adjusting the radio, or reaching for an object.
- Cognitive: Anything that takes your mind off the task of driving. This includes daydreaming, being lost in thought, or having an intense or emotional conversation with a passenger.
Common Accidents and Injuries
Certain types of accidents are hallmarks of distracted driving. Rear-end collisions are frequent, as a driver looking down for even a few seconds will not notice slowing or stopped traffic ahead. Other common scenarios include drifting into adjacent lanes, causing sideswipes or head-on collisions, and failing to see traffic signals, resulting in T-bone crashes at intersections.
The injuries resulting from these accidents are typically severe:
- Whiplash: A common and painful soft-tissue neck injury in rear-end crashes.
- Traumatic Brain Injuries (TBI): Ranging from concussions to more severe, life-altering brain damage.
- Broken Bones and Fractures: The force of impact easily causes fractures to limbs, ribs, and hips.
The Serious Injury Threshold
As mentioned before, to sue for non-economic damages like pain and suffering, your injury must meet the serious injury threshold.
This includes death, dismemberment, a fracture, or a permanent limitation of use of a body organ or member. It also includes an injury that prevents you from performing “substantially all” of your usual daily activities for at least 90 out of the 180 days following the accident.
Where Distracted Driving Accidents Occur in New York
While crashes might happen anywhere, we see patterns in certain locations:
- High-Speed Corridors: Major highways like the NYS Thruway (I-90) and the I-290 may lull drivers into a false sense of security. This highway hypnosis, combined with the temptation to use a phone on a long, straight stretch of road, is a dangerous mix.
- Busy Commercial Strips: Areas like Niagara Falls Boulevard in the Buffalo area or Erie Boulevard in Syracuse are filled with intersections, stoplights, and heavy traffic. The constant stop-and-go tempts drivers to check their phones at red lights, leading to inattention when the light turns green and causing rear-end collisions.
Dealing with the Insurance Company
After an accident, you may assume that because the other driver was clearly at fault, their insurance company will treat you fairly, especially when the blame for distracted driving seems obvious. Remember that the insurance adjuster you speak with works for their company, not for you. Their responsibility is to protect their company's financial interests, which involves balancing fair claim payments with profitability.
Tactics to Watch Out For
An adjuster's job is to conduct a thorough investigation, and in that process, they may use certain tactics to minimize the value of your claim.
- The Early Lowball Offer: They might offer you a quick check soon after the accident. This offer may seem tempting, but it is almost always made before the full extent of your injuries and future medical needs is known. Accepting it means you forfeit your right to seek further compensation.
- The Recorded Statement Trap: An adjuster will ask to record a statement from you. During this call, they may ask questions designed to elicit responses where you might unintentionally downplay your injuries or accept partial blame for the crash. We advise consulting with an attorney before providing any recorded statement.
- Requesting Your Full Medical History: They may ask you to sign a broad medical authorization form. This allows them to search through your entire medical past, looking for any pre-existing conditions they can use to argue that your current pain is not a result of the accident.
Frequently Asked Questions for Distracted Driving Accident Claims
Can I sue if the driver was eating or applying makeup, not using a phone?
Yes. Any activity that diverts a driver's attention from the road is considered negligence. While there isn't a specific statute against eating while driving, the general principle of needing to operate a vehicle with reasonable care still applies. Proving this type of distraction would rely on witness testimony or admissions from the driver.
What if the distracted driver was in a rideshare (Uber/Lyft)?
Cases involving rideshare vehicles are more complicated. They involve tiered insurance policies that depend on whether the driver was waiting for a ride request, en route to pick up a passenger, or had a passenger in the car. We highly recommend consulting a lawyer who understands the nuances of these specific insurance rules.
Can I file a claim if I was a passenger in the car with the distracted driver?
Absolutely. As a passenger, you have the right to file a claim against the insurance policy of the driver of the car you were in if their distraction caused the accident and your injuries.
How do we prove they were texting if they deny it?
If the at-fault driver denies being on their phone, your attorney may issue a subpoena. This is a legal demand for their cell phone provider to release records showing call, text, and data usage logs from around the time of the accident. This data directly contradicts their denial.
Does the Move Over Law apply to my case?
Generally speaking, New York's Move Over Law requires drivers to exercise due care and, when possible, move over a lane when approaching a stopped emergency or hazard vehicle. This law was recently expanded to protect any stopped vehicle on the roadside. If you were hit while stopped on the shoulder of a road by a distracted driver, their violation of this law could serve as strong evidence of their negligence.
Don’t Let a Distracted Driver Wreck Your Future
You may think the insurance company will take care of you because the other driver was clearly wrong. Unfortunately, that is rarely how it works. Insurance companies are businesses, and their adjusters are trained to protect the bottom line. They have teams of investigators and lawyers on their side.
William Mattar, P.C. has the experience and resources to level the playing field. We know the strategies insurers use, and we know how to build a case designed to pursue the maximum compensation available under the law.
We are ready to listen to your story. Contact us at (716) 444-4444.