Legal Question in Personal Injury in New York

Re: personal injury insurance

Interesting. I think it would be homeowners, but I would suggest notifying both homeowners and car insurance to be safer. And if you have an umbrella notify them too.

You may have a claim against the pedestrian as well.

Re: personal injury insurance

The letter you received sounds like the standard-form claim-letter that personal injury attorneys churn out in volume.

Yours is an unusual situation because most knowledgeable PI attorneys will not bother taking a case unless there is an insurance policy to secure payment of their 1/3 contingency fee.

If you have homeowner's insurance, send the letter to your carrier immediately via certified mail. If you don't notify your carrier in a timely fashion, your carrier will disclaim and you will be on your own.

If you don't have homeowners, call Plaintiff's counsel and speak to one of the partners. Do not speak to an associate or a paralegal. Explain that there is no insurance. The partner may very well drop the client.

If you have no homeowner's Insurance and plaintiff's counsel pushes the litigation, you will have to pay a lawyer to defend you or else you will end up with a large judgment against you and you may find your bank accounts and other assets frozen.

Hope this is helpful.

Re: personal injury insurance

You should immediately report this to your homeowner's carrier. They should take it from there in terms of negotiating this with the pedestrian's attorney and possibly providing you with an attorney should this result in a lawsuit (depending on the terms of your policy). With respect to your last question, the short answer is: yes, negligence could still be found. However all factors must be considered, including the police report, testimony of all parties, possible witnesses, etc.

I have over 20 years of experience defending personal injury cases and would be happy to discuss this further with you if you have any additional questions.