Filing a Car Accident Case in Long Island 

The initial step in filing a lawsuit is the purchase of an index number in the county court that a person plans on bringing the lawsuit. For example, in Long Island, if a person is bringing the case within a national county, the first step is purchasing an index number at the courthouse. Once they have that they serve the defendants, the parties that they are going to be suing, and that begins the lawsuit.

The process of filing a car accident claim in Long Island begins with a summons, which is a one-page document that states who is suing who and where. Attached to that summons is a complaint, which could be as short as two pages and as long as 20 pages, alleging general allegations of what happened, where it happened, when it happened, and how much the person is looking for. An experienced auto accident attorney can speak more about the process. En Español.

Car Accident Claim Details

When filing an initial car accident claim, plaintiffs in Long Island will want to include the date of the accident, the names of the parties, the vehicles that were being driven, and the identification of the vehicles being driven. They have to include what they are claiming. If somebody is negligent, they have to be able to say the word “negligence” and use that word. They have to claim that they have met the requirements in New York State for the no-fault threshold law, which means they have sustained a serious and permanent injury. In some instances, they have to indicate how much money they are looking for.

Process of Filing a Car Accident Case in Long Island

The most important thing in a car accident case is making sure that the client has a serious and permanent injury. Without having that serious and permanent injury, filing a lawsuit could be a dead end. Before filing the action, an attorney wants to make sure that the police report is supportive of the person’s position of how the accident occurred. Also, they want to make sure that the person has sustained a serious permanent injury, which they get with the hospital records and medical records.

Generally, the injured person does not have to be very involved in the process. The summons complaint is drawn up by the attorney, filed by the attorney, and followed up by the attorney. The person just needs to know when it is being filed. Once someone files an action, they are not required to continue suing the defendant. A person can stop the filing a car accident case in Long Island any time they want. Also, if someone files an action, they are not forfeiting the right to negotiate outside the courtroom.

Types of Courts

Courtrooms where individuals can file a car accident claim in Long Island include the New York in Supreme Court. The Supreme Court in the state of New York is the first level court, which hears trials. Occasionally, a case can be filed in federal court. If the plaintiff and the defendant live in different states, it may be filed in federal court. If the claim involves a federal issue or a federal question, it may be filed in federal court. If the defendant is a federal entity or federal agency, it has to be filed in court. As an example, if a person gets into a car accident with a post office truck, it has to be filed in federal court.

A Long Island Attorney Could Help You File a Car Accident Case

It is important to understand the court system locally. While every court in the state of New York has to abide by the same rules, each court has a little tweak on how cases get processed in the courthouse. It would not be wise to hire an attorney in Albany, which is upstate New York, to handle a case in Long Island unless they are familiar with Long Island. Generally, lawyers upstate are familiar with upstate courts and lawyers downstate, which includes Long Island, are familiar with downstate courts. Having somebody familiar with the court system locally is always important.

It is also important to hire a lawyer who is familiar with roadways and highways where that lawyer might practice, especially in car accident cases. If a person hires a lawyer in Buffalo, New York, which is upstate almost by Canada, to file a car accident case in Long Island, they could theoretically do it, but they are not going to be familiar with any of the streets or roads that are in Long Island. Call an experienced accident lawyer in Long Island today.