$300,000recovery
Driver stopped at a red light
An NYC probation officer was stopped at a red light in Brooklyn when an 18-wheeler rear-ended his vehicle. He suffered multiple injuries.
Brooklyn Trucking Accidents
Brooklyn Truck Accident Lawyers
When commercial trucks cause devastating injuries on Brooklyn's congested streets, you need lawyers who understand the specific issues of Kings County truck accident cases.
What a Brooklyn truck case actually turns on
A collision with a tractor-trailer, box truck, or delivery van is not simply a larger car accident. The vehicle is usually owned by a company, driven by an employee on the clock, insured under a commercial policy, and operated under federal safety rules that do not apply to ordinary drivers. That changes who can be held responsible and what has to be proven.
It also changes where the proof sits. The driver's duty records, the carrier's hiring and maintenance history, data recorded by the truck itself, and video from nearby businesses are all held by someone other than you. Asking for them early, in writing, is a large part of the work.
DEADLINES AND COVERAGE
- Three years to sue
- New York generally allows three years from the date of the crash to start a personal injury lawsuit. A wrongful death claim generally has two.
- Ninety days if a public entity is involved
- Claims against a city, county, or public authority normally require a notice of claim within ninety days, long before the ordinary deadline runs.
- No-fault first, then the lawsuit
- New York no-fault benefits cover early medical treatment and some lost earnings regardless of who caused the crash. Recovering for pain and suffering additionally requires meeting the state's serious injury threshold.
Kings County cases are filed in Supreme Court, Kings County, at 360 Adams Street in Downtown Brooklyn.
FROM OUR BROOKLYN CASE FILES
Two Brooklyn red lights. Two truck collisions. Two recoveries for NYC probation officers.
$380,000recovery
Passenger in a work vehicle
An NYC probation officer was a passenger in a work vehicle rear-ended by a truck at a red light in Brooklyn. She suffered multiple injuries, including surgery.
See more verdicts and settlements
Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome. Every case depends on its own facts.
How Brooklyn truck collisions happen
Brooklyn runs heavy commercial traffic through streets that were laid out long before 53-foot trailers existed. The same conditions turn up again and again: expressway congestion, industrial and port routes, and turning movements on narrow blocks shared with people walking and cycling.
Expressway crashes
The BQE and the Gowanus Expressway pair tight curves and short merges with stop-and-go traffic, which produces rear-end and loss-of-control crashes at highway weights.
Industrial and port routes
Sunset Park, Red Hook, East Williamsburg, and the Brooklyn Navy Yard mix container and delivery traffic with loading docks, backing maneuvers, and pedestrians on the same block.
Turns on narrow streets
Long trailers on residential Brooklyn blocks swing wide, cross into opposing lanes around double-parked vehicles, and clip cars, cyclists, and parked traffic mid-turn.
Blind spots and underrides
A truck driver cannot see everything alongside the cab. On corridors like Atlantic Avenue and Flatbush Avenue, that produces right-turn strikes on cyclists and cars pushed beneath a trailer.
Federal safety rule violations
Interstate carriers are bound by federal rules on driver qualification, hours behind the wheel, vehicle inspection and repair, and how cargo is secured. Cases often begin with a documented breach of one of them.
Road and load conditions
Pavement defects, shifting construction lanes, low clearances, and cargo that was loaded badly all change how a heavy vehicle behaves before the driver ever reacts.
What compensation covers
Damages in a New York truck case fall into two groups: the losses that can be added up from records, and the ones that cannot.
Economic losses
- Medical care
- Emergency treatment, surgery, hospital stays, rehabilitation, assistive equipment, and the cost of care you will still need later.
- Lost earnings
- Income you did not receive while you were unable to work, documented through pay records and tax returns.
- Loss of earning capacity
- Future income lost when an injury keeps you from returning to the work you did before.
- Property damage
- Repair or replacement of your vehicle and of property destroyed in the crash.
Non-economic losses
- Pain and suffering
- New York sets no statutory cap on pain and suffering damages in a personal injury case.
- Emotional harm
- Psychological injury flowing from the crash and from the recovery that follows it.
- Loss of enjoyment of life
- Activities, routines, and relationships you can no longer take part in as you did before.
- Disfigurement and scarring
- Permanent visible change, which New York treats as its own category of serious injury.
What actually helps a truck case
Most of the proof in a truck case is created in the days right after the crash, and most of it is held by someone else. A short practical list is more useful than a flowchart.
If you are not sure what applies to your crash, call 516-227-2662 and ask.
In the days after the crash
- Get medical care and keep following up. The treatment record is the record of your injury.
- Make sure the crash is reported and a police report is generated.
- Photograph the vehicles, the roadway, and the truck's markings, including the company name and any USDOT number.
- Collect names and phone numbers for witnesses before they leave the scene.
- Notify your own insurer promptly and apply for no-fault benefits.
- Do not give a recorded statement to the trucking company's insurer, and do not sign a release, before you get advice.
What a lawyer goes after
- A written demand to the carrier to preserve the truck, its recorded data, and the driver's records.
- The driver qualification file, duty-status records, and the carrier's inspection and repair history.
- Video from nearby businesses, buildings, and vehicles, which owners routinely overwrite on their own schedule and so has to be requested quickly.
- The police report, along with any photographs or measurements taken at the scene.
- Your complete medical records and proof of what the injury cost you in earnings.
Why Brooklyn clients bring truck cases to Licatesi Law Group
Brooklyn ground knowledge
We work the corridors these cases come from, from the BQE and the Gowanus to Atlantic Avenue and the industrial blocks below it.
A Brooklyn office
A local office means we can meet you where you are and get to a scene or a records custodian without waiting.
Commercial-vehicle experience
Truck claims run on federal safety rules, corporate records, and multiple potentially responsible companies. We handle them as that kind of case, not as a bigger car case.
No fee unless we recover
We take these cases on contingency. You owe no attorney's fee unless we recover for you.
Brooklyn Truck Accidents Require Immediate Action
Evidence on Brooklyn's busy streets disappears fast. Surveillance footage, witness memories, and truck data are lost every day. Contact us now to preserve important evidence.
Frequently Asked Questions About Brooklyn Truck Accidents
Don't Face Brooklyn Trucking Companies Alone
Brooklyn truck accidents require lawyers who know Kings County courts, understand federal regulations, and can take on well-funded trucking companies. Contact us today for your free consultation.