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Accidents can happen, and although many only leave minor injuries, some can lead to long-term pain and suffering. Eye injuries can lead to a partial or total loss of vision, and ear injuries can affect your sense of hearing for life. According to a study in JAMA Otolaryngology — Head and Neck Surgery, people with hearing loss are also more likely to suffer other injuries.
When you suffer injuries in an accident that affect your eyes or ears, contact us at Pyrros, Serres & Rupwani LLP. A New York hearing and vision loss lawyer with our firm can help.
Victims of car accidents or workplace accidents are at risk of developing a loss of vision or hearing due to their injuries. Common accidents or causes of hearing or vision loss include:
According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. workers reported 18,510 eye-related injuries and illnesses in 2020 that caused them to miss at least one day of work. If you experience injuries to your eyes or ears in an accident like one of those listed above, contact a vision or hearing loss attorney in New York with our firm. We can help you pursue compensation for your medical costs, pain and suffering, and lost wages if you missed worked due to your vision or hearing loss.
New York has a serious injury threshold for motor vehicle accidents before you can pursue a claim for personal injury in court. This includes “permanent loss or significant limitation of use of a body organ, member, function, or system.” The law also has provisions for non-permanent injuries that limit you from performing your daily activities for 90 or more of the 180 days immediately after the injury.
Most eye and ear injuries that affect vision or hearing fall within the parameters for a serious injury, including:
With our hearing and vision loss lawyer in New York on your side, you can seek justice and compensation for these injuries.
When you bring a claim against a liable party (the defendant), you must prove negligence by the defendant with “a preponderance of the evidence.” To prove negligence, you must demonstrate that all four elements of negligence apply, including:
Your New York hearing and vision loss lawyer with our firm can help you gather evidence to prove negligence by the defendant and seek compensation for your injuries.
In a personal injury case, you can seek economic, non-economic, and possibly punitive damages. Economic damages compensate a victim for tangible losses, including medical bills, travel expenses to go to appointments, disability aids, lost wages, and diminished earning capacity.
Non-economic damages cover intangible losses, including pain and suffering, diminished quality of life, and emotional distress. If the defendant was reckless, wanton, intentional, or oppressive in their actions, the court may award punitive damages as an additional amount the defendant must pay as punishment for their actions.
New York is a pure comparative fault compensation state, meaning that if you share any portion of the fault for the accident, the court will reduce compensation by the percentage of fault.
Even if you are at a larger percentage of fault than the defendant, you can still collect compensation for your injuries. For example, if the court awards you $200,000 in damages but finds you 60% at fault, you would only receive $80,000 in your final award.
A loss of vision or hearing due to someone else’s negligence can permanently impact your life. If you suffered your injury at work, we can help you pursue a workers’ compensation settlement for your losses. If your injuries occurred due to an accident, we can help you file your claim in court.
For legal representation regarding an ear or eye injury, call us at Pyrros, Serres & Rupwani LLP, at (718) 626-7730 or contact us online for a free case evaluation with a New York hearing and vision loss lawyer.
Workplace injuries are one of the most common causes of vision or hearing loss, including for workers at airports, in construction, or in trades like welding or electrical engineering.
Yes, losing one or more of your senses could be a catastrophic injury, which typically includes more serious injuries with long-term or permanent effects.
New York does not place caps on non-economic or punitive damages a victim can seek for their injuries in a personal injury claim. However, like most other states and court systems, damages should be proportional to the losses suffered. Seeking a multi-million-dollar settlement for a paper cut would be absurd, but seeking millions for permanent blindness or deafness could be reasonable.
The typical statute of limitations to file a claim in court for a personal injury lawsuit is three years, although exceptions exist if the defendant is the state or a municipality, or if the victim was a minor or mentally incompetent.
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