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If you were injured in an automobile accident that wasn’t your fault, you expect to receive a fair claim settlement claim from the negligent party’s insurance to compensate you for your injuries, time missed from work and other factors that play a role in a personal injury, such as mental anguish and pain and suffering.

Nobody wants to get injured, especially not because of the negligence of another party. However, if you or a loved one suffered an injury that was the fault of another party, you have the right to file a personal injury claim and be compensated for your injuries.

If you suffer a personal injury as the result of another party’s negligence, you will likely file a personal injury claim with the hopes of being compensated for your suffering.

If you are injured in an automobile accident, then you will have to file a personal injury claim to be compensated for your injuries. There are two types of personal injury claims in New York.

In some cases, when your spouse is injured in an accident because of the negligence of another person or party, the state allows you to file a loss of consortium claim against the at-fault party.

If you have been charged with and arrested for a New York DWI in Westchester, Rockland, Dutchess, Putnam, Orange or Ulster counties, your first interaction with the courts will be at your arraignment. An arraignment is not a trial in which evidence is produced and witnesses are called, but it is the first and very important step in due process

In most cases, a first DWI conviction is a misdemeanor. In New York, a misdemeanor is defined as an “offense…for which a sentence in excess of 15 days but not greater than one year may be imposed (New York State Penal Law, Article 10). A misdemeanor is a crime.” As such, any DWI carries stringent penalties, including fines and loss of driving privileges.

There have been several key pieces of legislation to New York’s Driving While Intoxicated (DWI). One of the more recent is the enactment in 2006 of a law regarding Aggravated DWI. While a blood alcohol content (BAC) of .08 will get you a DWI charge, if you are a repeat offender or register a BAC at or above .18, you will be facing the more serious charge of Aggravated DWI.

Hit-and-run accidents can happen to anyone, at any time. Recently, there has been a rash of these tragic accidents in our area: on May 22, 2019, a bicyclist was struck on Yonkers Avenue and suffered a serious head injury. Also, in 2019, a 23-year-old man was killed when he was the victim of a hit-and-run on Bruce Avenue in Yonkers and a pair were apprehended in Nyack after fleeing the scene of an accident on Route 59. In July of 2018, an 18-year-old was struck and critically injured, later dying, on the Saw Mill River Parkway.

In 1910, New York became one of the first states in the U.S. to pass a DWI law. At that time, the general consensus was that a driver was considered drunk with a blood alcohol level (BAC) of .15 percent. Even then, prosecution was difficult as there was little in the way of scientific evidence. Today, a BAC of .08 percent or above is considered a DWI in most cases. There are exceptions, however, when a BAC of as little as .02 percent becomes a drunk driving offense. As of 1996, New York has a zero tolerance law.