New York Personal Injury Lawyers / Boston Bicycle Accident Lawyer

Boston Bicycle Accident Attorney

In the last few years, bicycling popularity has grown significantly all over the country. However, in Boston, it has remained a favorite activity since the late 19th century, often used for both recreation and commuting purposes in the city. Today, cycling has grown in popularity around the numerous Universities in the area, such as Harvard, Boston College, and MIT.

Yet, even though cycling improves your overall health and well-being, it does not mean that you enjoy immunity from severe crashes and deadly accidents. In fact, Commonwealth Avenue, located right by Boston University, constitutes one of the most common sites for bicycle accidents in Boston.

However, if you have sustained injuries in a Boston bicycle accident because of another person’s wrongful, negligent, or reckless actions, you should not have to endure these negative repercussions on your own. Instead, you should seek justice for the devastating injuries that resulted and financial compensation for the hefty medical bills you now have to pay due to the harm you sustained. At Jacoby & Meyers LLP, we stand ready to take on this fight and go after maximum compensation on your behalf.

 

Jacoby & Meyers LLP—About Us

Founded in 1972, Jacoby & Meyers LLP began with the goal of providing top-quality legal representation to everyone that required it, not only the wealthy few who could afford lawyers or the poor who qualified for legal aid.

Today, our firm represents victims in all types of personal injury claims, and for nearly 50 years, our legal team has provided our clients with straightforward and compassionate legal representation. We continue to represent individuals who have sustained injuries in Boston bicycle accidents, and we use our experience and knowledge to pursue maximum compensation on behalf of all of our clients.

When you work with Jacoby & Meyers LLP, you can expect to receive:

• Free answers to all of your concerns and questions
• Free visits to your home or hospital room following the accident
• Free, 100 percent secure access to your case files online on our website

Due to this diligence, worth ethic, drive, and dedication, we have secured millions of dollars on behalf of our clients from settlement awards and jury verdicts. Best of all, our firm only charges a legal fee if we successfully recover compensation for your injuries. This contingency fee arrangement allows injured individuals to retain our legal services without having to worry about paying an upfront fee and then losing out on that money if their case proves unsuccessful.

Common Causes of Bicycle Accidents in Boston

Although bicycle accidents can occur for numerous reasons, in Boston, the more common causes for this devastating crash include:

• Getting hit by a car, especially at dangerous intersections including Kelley Square at Water Street in Worcester and VFW Highway at Bridge Street in Lowell
• Poor roadway conditions due to potholes, loose debris, or overgrown trees and foliage
• Collisions with fixed objects, such as trees or poles
• Loose dogs or other dangerous animals
• Passengers or drivers opening a car door just as a bicyclist rides by the car

Even though these constitute some of the common issues that can result in a bike accident, other factors can also play a role in a Boston bike collision, including excessive speeding, aggressive or reckless behavior, construction zones, and even pedestrians or other bicyclists not paying attention to the road.

Common Injuries Resulting from a Boston Bicycle Accident

Although soft tissue injuries and musculoskeletal trauma constitute the most common injuries resulting from a bicycle accident, these types of crashes can lead to a slew of other devastating bodily harm, such as:

Head Trauma

A traumatic brain injury usually occurs because of a violent blow or jolt to the body or the head. In addition, any object that goes through the brain’s tissue can also cause traumatic brain trauma.

Typically, if you suffer a concussion, it may only affect the brain temporarily. However, if the injury proves more severe, it can cause torn tissues, bruising, bleeding, and other physical damage to the brain. These injuries may prove long-lasting and can result in various complications and death.

Facial Fractures

These accidents can also lead to bones breaking in your face, which can result in major or minor problems. For instance, if you break the bones that affect speaking, eating, or breathing, you will need surgery to fix these injuries before your functions can go back to normal.

Other Broken Bones

Since bicycles often do not have the protective exterior that motor vehicles have, bicyclists face a risk of breaking their bones when involved in a crash. These broken bones often include broken wrists, fingers, feet, and ankles, and the pain can prove excessive. Plus, the treatment may involve months of rehab and even reconstructive surgery.

Back Injuries

Typically, when a bicyclist collides with an object, crashes into another vehicle, or falls from the bike, it can cause significant injuries to the rider’s shoulders and back. These back injuries often include strains and sprains, herniated discs, and fractured vertebrae, with symptoms including chronic pain, numbness, or altered sensation in their body parts.

Internal Injuries

If a bicycle collides with a motor vehicle, it can cause blunt force trauma, often damaging internal organs and resulting in internal bleeding. If an organ suffers damage, it will require surgery to fix or cause the bicyclist to lose the organ altogether.

Soft Tissue Injuries

Following a bike accident, victims commonly experience injuries to their tissues, including harm to ligaments, tendons, and muscles. Although these sprains, strains, and contusions often appear as minor injuries, compared to the other harm that can result, many times, even with adequate treatments, these injuries can still cause many issues for the victim and lead to a lifetime of pain and problems.

Whiplash Injuries

If a bicyclist sustains injuries from a collision on a bike, it can cause the individual to experience sudden and severe direction changes in the neck, resulting in harm similar to whiplash. Whiplash usually results from a forceful, rapid back-and-forth movement of the neck, similar to a whip cracking. Although whiplash can get better within a few weeks, sometimes these bicyclists can suffer chronic neck pain, leading to long-lasting complications.

The Statute of Limitations to Bring a Personal Injury Claim in Boston Following a Bicycle Collision

If you have sustained injuries in a bicycle accident in Boston, you need to act fast, especially since you have a limited amount of time to pursue an injury claim. The legal statute of limitations dictates the maximum amount of time you have to file a case following an alleged offense. If you do not file this suit within this deadline, you may miss out entirely on your opportunity to pursue compensation for your injuries.

In Massachusetts, injured individuals have three years from the date of the accident to pursue a compensation claim. However, various exceptions to this rule exist that can shorten or extend the amount of time you have to file your case. You should not wait to pursue legal action following your bicycle accident. Rather, you should reach out to a skilled bicycle accident attorney, like those at Jacoby & Meyers LLP, as soon as possible. These attorneys can not only help you determine precisely how much time you have to file your claim, but they can also ensure the timely and proper filing of all required legal motions and documents.

Actions to Take After a Boston Bicycle Accident

If you have sustained injuries in a Boston bicycle accident, you need to realize that the actions you take can not only protect your health and safety but your legal rights as well. Taking certain steps will set your case up for success and help your attorney build a strong legal claim for compensation. For these reasons, following a bicycle crash, you should consider doing the following:

Contact 911 as Soon as You Can

Following a Boston bicycle accident, you need to contact 911 as soon as possible. This constitutes the fastest way to reach out to emergency medical personnel and let them know that you or someone at the scene needs immediate medical help. This call will also get your accident on record.

In addition, after police officers arrive, they can investigate your bike crash and jot down their findings in their police report. If you decide to bring an injury claim later on, this police report can provide you with valuable evidence regarding what happened.

Promptly Receive a Doctor’s Evaluation

Even if you do not believe you require emergency medical treatment, you still need to see your doctor after your bicycle collision. More times than not, some injuries, such as devastating head and brain trauma, can take days, if not weeks, to appear. The longer you go without getting treatment, the more deadly these injuries can become. For these reasons, you should get a doctor’s evaluation as soon as possible.

Additionally, getting this prompt medical treatment will help your legal claim. Insurance companies search for any reason to deny your case or to pay you less money than the true value of your claim. By not getting looked over following your accident, these insurance companies will argue that your injuries are not that serious or a result of a subsequent event. Fortunately, when you head to your doctor after your accident, these medical care professionals can write down their findings regarding your injuries in their medical reports and provide you with evidence of a connection between your bicycle accident and your injuries.

Gather Evidence From the Scene

If possible, try to collect as much evidence from the accident scene as you can. If you physically cannot collect this evidence, ask someone at the scene to do it for you, if possible. Your evidence should include videos and pictures of your visible injuries, any vehicles involved in the crash, the state of your bike after the accident, skid marks on the road, traffic signs near the accident scene, the weather conditions at the time of the accident, and any other evidence that can help show what happened.

Get Driver Details

If your accident involves other parties, try to exchange information with them. This should include names, contact details, driver’s license numbers, and insurance information. Having this information will prove valuable down the road if you decide to file a legal claim and can’t remember all of the parties involved in your accident.

Obtain Witness Statements and Contact Information

If bystanders at the scene saw your accident unfold, get those individuals’ names and numbers. These witness statements can often provide you with detailed evidence regarding the accident and help back up your claim. If these individuals feel wary of providing personal details, do not try to force them into doing so. Instead, reach out to a skilled bicycle accident attorney and let these lawyers work on getting this information for you.

Keep Records Related to Your Bicycle Accident

If you want to make sure you collect as much money as you can following your bicycle accident, you need to present reliable evidence that proves your losses and damages. For these reasons, you should hold onto all of your expenses, bills, and records related to your bicycle crash. These records and documents can help your bicycle accident attorney prove the full extent of the damages and losses you endured because of your bicycle collision.

Watch What You Say to Others at the Scene

As you talk to other people at the scene, you need to make sure you watch what you say. This should include avoiding making any definitive statements regarding the bicycle accident, apologizing for anything that happened, or taking the blame for anything that occurred. These types of statements can come back later and hurt you and may reduce the amount of money you ultimately receive.

Speak to Your Attorney Before Speaking With the Insurance Company About Your Boston Bicycle Accident

If the insurance company reaches out to you to speak about your accident, you should first contact an experienced Boston bicycle accident lawyer, such as those at Jacoby & Meyers LLP. These lawyers can not only discuss with you how this conversation with the insurance company can ultimately affect your claim, but they can also help you avoid mistakes that may hurt your claim.

Boston Bicycle Accident FAQs

If you suffered an injury in a Boston bicycle accident because of another person’s wrongful, intentional, or negligent actions, you deserve answers regarding your legal options. For these reasons, the law firm of Jacoby & Meyers LLP has prepared the following responses to some frequently asked questions our clients often have after a bicycle accident. With these answers, we hope you have the information you need to better understand the legal remedies you can pursue, the type of financial recovery you may qualify to pursue, and how our legal team can help you fight for justice and maximum compensation given your specific circumstances.

1. How Do I Know If I Have a Valid Boston Bicycle Injury Case?

Following a personal injury accident, it can prove difficult to determine whether you have a valid injury claim. Typically, you can only find out for sure by contacting an experienced bicycle accident law firm, such as Jacoby & Meyers LLP. Your lawyer will first need to discuss with you specific questions and factors regarding the accident to figure out if you have a valid bicycle injury case.

For instance:

• Did your bicycle accident occur because of another individual’s negligent, intentional, or wrongful actions?
• Did you suffer significant injuries because of your bicycle accident?
• Did you have to miss work because of your bicycle accident-related injuries?
• Did the statute of limitations pass, or do you still have time to file your bicycle accident injury claim?
• What insurance money is available?

2. What Types of Compensation Can I Expect in a Boston Bicycle Accident Lawsuit?

Following a Boston bicycle accident due to another person’s wrongful actions, you may qualify to pursue compensation for the harm and losses you suffered. This compensation often includes the following:

Economic Damages: These damages include the easily measurable losses that result from an accident.

Economic damages include:

• Past, current, and future medical expenses, such as doctor visits, emergency room visits, surgeries, prescription medications, and hospital stay
• Lost income
• Lost earning capacity
• Rehabilitative therapy (occupational and physical therapy)
• Personal property damages
• At-home nursing care expenses
• Replacement household services such as cleaning services
• Other out-of-pocket expenses

Non-Economic Damages: These damages include the subjective losses that occur because of an accident. These losses often prove difficult to measure monetarily and may include:

• Loss of enjoyment of life
• Pain and suffering
• Disfigurement
• Scarring
• Loss of a limb
• Loss of reputation
• Loss of consortium

Punitive Damages: After certain accidents, courts may award punitive damages. However, unlike compensatory damages, which compensate victims for their losses and put them in a similar position as before the accident, courts award punitive damages to punish defendants for their wrongful actions and deter others from committing this same act. In Massachusetts, courts will only award punitive damages if a defendant’s willful or wanton conduct or gross negligence caused a victim’s death.

3. If I Suffered Harm in a Boston Bicycle Accident, From What Parties May I Recover Damages?

Before you can pursue compensation for your injuries through a lawsuit, you will need to first figure out who caused your accident.

These at-fault parties can include:

• The motorist who hit you
• The owner of the vehicle who hit you
• The manufacturer of your bicycle, if a defective part caused your accident
• The bicycle repair shop that worked on your bike before the accident
• An agency responsible for maintaining the roadway where your accident occurred, if a hazard in the street caused your bicycle accident
• Any other parties that contributed to your losses and your injuries

However, following a bicycle accident, you may struggle to determine who exactly caused your crash. For this reason and many others, you should work with an experienced Boston bicycle accident lawyer as soon as possible. Your attorney can investigate the incident, gather evidence to figure out fault and damages, and determine what party bears liability for your losses.

4. As a Bicyclist, Do I Have Any Rights?

As a bicyclist in Boston, you enjoy the same legal rights as any motor vehicle driver. However, you also must use the roads responsibly.

For instance, when riding on these streets:

• A bicyclist needs to observe all signal turns, obey traffic signs, and use certain safety features, such as lights, reflectors, and helmets.
• A bicyclist must obey all traffic laws and regulations of the Commonwealth and give pedestrians the right of way.
• Bicyclists can ride their bikes on any public street, road, or bikeway in Boston, except in areas of limited access or express highways that have signs prohibiting bicycles.

However, when it comes to the sidewalks, a bicyclist can only ride there if it would prove unsafe to do otherwise, and a bike crash could result. If bicyclists ride on the sidewalk, they must yield the right of way to all pedestrians and give loud signals when passing.

5. How Much Money Can I Recover Following My Boston Bicycle Accident?

Unfortunately, no lawyer can tell you the exact value of your Boston bicycle accident case. Too many factors can impact the value of your claim.

For instance, your lawyer will need to consider:

• The type of injuries you suffered and the severity of these injuries
• The variety of medical treatments you need now and may need in the future
• The ability to return to work following your accident
• The extent of your lost wages
• The ability to perform everyday functions
• The need for replacement services you did not require before the accident, such as child care services
• The credibility of the evidence and the witnesses presented
• The wrongdoer’s culpability

Even though a lawyer cannot tell you the exact value of your Boston bicycle accident case, when you work with skilled Boston bicycle accident attorneys, like those at Jacoby & Meyers LLP, these lawyers can figure out which of these factors can impact your claim and prepare the strongest case in response. Ultimately, your attorney will fight for the maximum financial recovery available in your specific situation.

6. If the Insurance Company Wants Me to Provide a Statement Following My Boston Bicycle Accident, Should I?

You need to realize that the insurance company does not exist to help you or to ensure that you get the money you need after your bicycle accident. These companies, like other businesses, want to make a profit first and foremost. For these reasons, insurance adjusters will try to do anything they can to get you to admit fault for an incident so that they can pay you reduced compensation or deny your claim outright

Before giving an insurance company any statement, you should first discuss your case with a skilled Boston bicycle accident attorney, such as those at Jacoby & Meyers LLP. These lawyers can not only make sure you understand what types of information you should avoid discussing with the insurance company, but can also take over these conversations for you and ensure that you do not say anything that may impact your claim and reduce your overall compensation.

7. Will I Need to Prove That Another Individual or Party Caused My Boston Bicycle Accident?

If you suffered injuries in a Boston bicycle accident, you should not have to worry about proving that another party caused your injuries. Rather, you should reach out to a skilled Boston bicycle accident lawyer and have your attorney do this for you. Generally, to prove fault, your attorney may need to show that the wrongdoer’s negligent, reckless, or intentional actions caused you harm.

To prove negligence, your attorney needs to establish:

• The wrongful party owed you a duty of care to act safely around you.
• The wrongful party breached this duty through negligent or reckless actions.
• This breach caused the accident in which you sustained injuries.
• You suffered substantial losses and damages as a result, including lost wages and significant medical bills.

Although proving fault or negligence can get rather complicated when you work with experienced lawyers, such as those at Jacoby & Meyers LLP, our legal team can tackle this investigation for you, making sure to obtain the evidence necessary to prove fault and damages and fight for the financial recovery you need to cover the cost of your injuries.

8. Should I Accept the Insurance Company’s Settlement Offer?

Even though most individuals assume that if the insurance company offers them money after an accident, they need to accept it, you should always consult an attorney before signing anything. For example, if the insurance company offers you money shortly after your accident, the company often does this so that you accept the money quickly without discussing the settlement with an attorney.

Unfortunately, many injured individuals end up accepting a settlement offer, only to later find out that the amount doesn’t cover the full cost of the individual’s injury costs, let alone future needs. If you accept a settlement offer, you sign away your right to pursue additional compensation down the road should your injuries worsen.

For these reasons, if you received a settlement offer from the insurance company, you need to reach out to a knowledgeable Boston bicycle accident lawyer before making any decision. These attorneys can review your case, look into your settlement offer, and determine if it covers the full cost of your injuries. If not, your attorney can go back to the negotiation table and fight for additional compensation.

9. Will My Boston Bicycle Accident Case Go to Trial?

Not every bicycle accident case will go to trial. In truth, the majority of these cases settle through negotiations before trial. However, to ensure the efficient handling of your case and that you don’t miss out on any potential compensation, you should work with a skilled bicycle accident lawyer, such as those at Jacoby & Meyers LLP. These attorneys can handle all the negotiations with the other side, including the insurance company, and fight for a fair settlement on your behalf. If the other side decides to negotiate, your lawyer can take your case to trial and fight for a successful resolution to the case.

10. Why Should I Contact the Law Offices of Jacoby & Meyers LLP Following My Boston Bicycle Accident?

If you have sustained injuries in a Boston bicycle accident, you already have a lot on your plate. You likely don’t have the time or energy to figure out how to bring a successful injury case. Fortunately, when you work with an experienced Boston bicycle accident attorney from Jacoby & Meyers LLP, you will not have to figure this on your own or tackle this complex legal battle by yourself.

Once retained, your attorney can:

• Evaluate your potential legal claim, go over your legal options, and provide you the legal advice you need.
• Discuss all of your questions and concerns, and offer you the legal support you require during this challenging time.
• Investigate your Boston bicycle crash and gather the evidence necessary to prove what happened and who caused your injuries.
• Hold all those liable for your accident accountable for the harm you sustained.
• Obtain experts, such as doctors and accident reconstructionists, to substantiate your claims.
• Handle all the negotiations and discussions with the insurance company and fight for a just settlement on your behalf.
• Take your case to trial and work relentlessly to secure compensation that covers the full cost of your injuries.

If you or a loved one suffered harm in a Boston bicycle accident, do not wait any longer to seek the legal assistance you need. Instead, contact Jacoby & Meyers LLP today at (877) 472-3061 for a free case evaluation, and let our skilled bicycle accident lawyers show you how we can fight for you.

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Finkelstein & Partners, LLP
50 Congress Street
Boston, MA 02109