Westbury Personal Injury Lawyer

The aftermath of an accident can turn your life upside down. Between medical appointments, missed work, and the financial pressure that follows, it’s easy to feel overwhelmed before you’ve even begun thinking about your legal options. If someone else’s negligence caused your injuries, you may have the right to pursue compensation for everything you’ve lost. At The Odierno Law Firm, our Westbury personal injury lawyers are here to help you understand your options and fight for the full recovery you deserve under the law.

Why Hire a Westbury Personal Injury Lawyer After an Accident?

Most people underestimate how quickly an injury claim can become complicated. On the surface, it might seem simple: someone caused the accident, you got hurt, and now they owe you compensation. In practice, it rarely works out that way. Here is why claims can often be challenging:

• Determining Liability: Identifying who is liable (or legally responsible) for your injuries isn’t always obvious. In some cases, liability extends beyond the most apparent party. For example, if a driver hit you, the vehicle owner or an employer could also share responsibility, depending on the circumstances.
• Valuing Damages: Valuing your damages accurately is another challenge. Beyond your current medical bills, a fair recovery must account for future treatment costs, lost earning capacity, and the personal toll your injuries have taken on your daily life.
• Insurance Company Tactics: Insurers have experienced adjusters and legal teams whose job is to limit what they pay out. They may dispute the severity of your injuries, argue that you were partly at fault, or pressure you into accepting a quick settlement that doesn’t reflect your actual losses.

How Our Westbury, NY Personal Injury Lawyers Can Help

At The Odierno Law Firm, our attorneys combine more than 150 years of experience in personal injury law and have been serving clients on Long Island since 1978. We focus on pursuing the full compensation our clients are entitled to, and that commitment has led to more than $300 million in recoveries across a wide range of cases.

When you hire our legal team, here is what we do on your behalf:

• Investigate the accident from the ground up. We gather and preserve evidence, review reports and records, and speak with witnesses to build a clear picture of what happened.
• Identify every potentially liable party. We look beyond the most obvious source of fault to determine all individuals or entities that may be responsible, so no avenue of recovery is missed.
• Build the full value of your claim. We work with medical providers and financial experts when needed to document not just current bills, but future treatment needs, lost income, and long-term impact.
• Handle all insurance company communication. We deal directly with adjusters and defense lawyers, pushing back on low valuations, disputed liability, and early settlement pressure.
• Prepare every case for trial. We build every case as if it may proceed to a personal injury lawsuit and be presented in court. This approach strengthens your position and increases pressure on insurers to offer fair compensation.

We are not just attorneys who work in this area. We are part of this community, and that shapes how we treat every client who walks through our door.

Types of Personal Injury Cases We Handle

Our attorneys handle a broad range of injury matters throughout Westbury and the surrounding Long Island communities, including:

• Car accidents: Collisions caused by distracted, reckless, or impaired drivers often lead to serious injuries and long recoveries.
• Truck accidents: Crashes involving commercial vehicles often raise complex liability issues involving trucking companies, cargo handlers, and federal safety regulations.
• Motorcycle accidents: Riders are especially vulnerable on the road, and these cases often involve severe injuries and disputed liability.
• Pedestrian accidents: Drivers who fail to yield, speed, or drive inattentively can cause life-altering injuries to pedestrians.
• Bicycle accidents: Cyclists struck by vehicles or injured due to unsafe road conditions may have claims against negligent drivers or other responsible parties.
• Slip and fall accidents: Property owners are required to maintain reasonably safe conditions. When they fail to do so, injured visitors may have a claim.
• Dog bite injuries: Dog owners may be held responsible when their animal causes harm, particularly when proper control or restraint is not maintained.
• Construction accidents: Workers and bystanders injured on job sites may have claims against contractors, property owners, or equipment manufacturers.
• Medical malpractice: When a healthcare provider fails to meet the accepted standard of care, resulting in injury or harm, patients may be entitled to compensation.
• Wrongful death: When negligence leads to a fatal accident, surviving family members may be able to pursue a claim for their loss.

What Do You Need to Prove to Win a Westbury Personal Injury Case?

Most personal injury claims are built on the legal theory of negligence. To succeed, you generally need to establish four elements:

• Duty: The at-fault party owed you a legal duty of care.
• Breach: They failed to meet that duty through their actions or inaction.
• Causation: Their breach directly caused your injuries.
• Damages: You suffered real, measurable losses as a result.

Proving these elements requires solid evidence. The types of evidence that commonly come into play include accident reports, photographs from the scene, surveillance footage, medical records, expert testimony, and witness statements. The strength of your evidence often determines the strength of your case, which is one reason why investigating quickly and thoroughly matters so much.

What Types of Compensation Can Injury Victims Recover After an Accident in Westbury?

Injury victims in New York may be able to recover several types of damages depending on the facts of their case:

• Economic damages: These are the measurable financial losses caused by the accident, including medical expenses, future treatment costs, lost wages, and reduced earning capacity.
• Non-economic damages: These compensate for the personal impact of an injury, such as pain and suffering, emotional distress, and loss of enjoyment of life.
• Punitive damages (in limited cases): In situations involving especially reckless or intentional conduct, courts may award punitive damages to punish wrongdoing and deter similar behavior. These are less common in standard negligence cases.

How Long Do You Have to File a Personal Injury Claim?

In New York, most personal injury claims must be filed within three years of the date of the accident. Missing this deadline generally means losing your right to pursue compensation entirely.

That said, there are exceptions. Claims against government entities carry a much shorter notice requirement, sometimes as little as 90 days. Cases involving minors or certain medical malpractice claims may follow different timelines. Because the rules vary depending on who is at fault and the nature of your claim, waiting to get legal guidance is a risk not worth taking.

Can You File a Claim If You Were Partially At Fault?

Yes. New York follows a rule called pure comparative negligence. Under this system, your compensation is reduced in proportion to your share of fault, but you are not barred from recovering even if you were significantly at fault for the accident. For example, if a court finds you 30% responsible, your recovery would be reduced by 30%.

Insurance companies often try to inflate a victim’s percentage of fault as a way to minimize their payout. Having an attorney who understands how this rule works, and how insurers try to exploit it, can help protect the value of your claim.

Speak With a Westbury Personal Injury Attorney

If you or someone you love has been hurt because of another person’s negligence, you don’t have to figure this out alone. Our attorneys are ready to review your case, answer your questions, and help you understand what your claim may be worth.

We handle personal injury cases on a contingency fee basis, meaning you pay no attorney’s fees unless we recover compensation for you. Contact The Odierno Law Firm today to schedule your free consultation.