Personal injury lawsuits are often extremely complex. They usually involve highly nuanced issues surrounding liability and require the insight of a proficient attorney who knows how to maximize compensation. Since insurance companies will try to use every trick in the book to get your case dismissed and avoid paying out on your claim, it’s important to have a personal injury attorney on your side who not only has extensive courtroom experience and sharp analytical skills — but creativity.
A Creative Approach Can Make All the Difference in a Personal Injury Case
To prevail as a plaintiff in a personal injury action, you need to establish that you have a compensable injury. You’re also required to prove liability. Under the law, it’s not enough to have an injury, no matter how severe — you must be able to demonstrate that another party’s negligence contributed to it.
Even if an accident resulted in a serious and debilitating injury, proving negligence can be challenging. There are often many components in a personal injury case and multiple parties who could be at fault. Although two attorneys may possess the same legal knowledge, the one who knows how to tackle the issues in a case creatively will usually secure a more successful result.
From how the pleadings, motions, and discovery requests are drafted, to presenting the case to a jury, creativity can make all the difference to the outcome of a lawsuit — and the amount of compensation awarded.
Thinking Outside the Box Can Help Obtain Recovery When it Might Seem Unlikely
In personal injury actions where liability is tenuous at best, having an attorney who takes a creative approach is key. We recently handled a case in which a man fell onto our client from the balcony of a music venue during a raucous concert. Even though our client was severely injured and required reconstructive knee surgery due to the accident, a large recovery for our client seemed highly unlikely.
The trouble in the case was that the man who fell on our client was a “John Doe.” Despite having been negligent by hanging over the balcony during the concert and falling two stories onto our client, the man left the building without being stopped or interviewed by security.
Despite an exhaustive investigation, we couldn’t find the man who injured our client to name him as a party in the lawsuit or conduct any depositions. To this day, we still don’t know who he is.
To impose liability and secure the compensation our client rightfully deserved, we had to think outside the box.
We sought the opinions of an engineer and an architect who carefully assessed the concert venue’s balcony. They determined that the balcony railing height complied with an outdated building code — which was six inches lower than the requirements of the new building code.
Unfortunately, the old building code requirements were applicable to our client’s case. However, relying on national and state building codes from around the country, we creatively argued that even though the new code regulations did not apply to the case, they were the industry standard at the time of the accident.
Although the concert venue attempted to have our client’s lawsuit dismissed, their motion was denied. Our creative argument carried us through to a successful conclusion — and helped us obtain significantly more compensation for our client than initially thought possible.
We settled the case for almost $2 million.
Bottom line: An attorney who knows how to think outside the box and develop a creative argument can make all the difference in your personal injury case.
Contact an Experienced New York Personal Injury Attorney
No two personal injury cases are alike and each requires a specific strategy. If you’ve suffered an injury due to someone else’s negligence, it’s critical to contact a personal injury attorney who can help you recover the compensation you deserve. We regularly obtain millions in compensation for our clients who have sustained severe injuries — even in the most complicated cases — due to our ability to think outside the box and develop creative arguments.
The Edelsteins, Faegenburg & Brown LLP have extensive experience fighting for the rights of injured workers to ensure they get the maximum compensation they deserve. Located in Manhattan, we have been handling personal injury cases throughout New York City since 1937. Call to schedule a free consultation at (212) 425-1999 today.