QUESTION
I might be sued for pain and suffering. If so can I pay in small amounts?
Asked on Mar 18th, 2021 on Personal Injury - New York
More details to this question:
This lady( a family member of some kind) came to my house to take my grandma to get her hair done. My dog heard the door open and left out the house. According to the lady the dog knocked her down she fell and broke her arm in two places. But according to my grandma the dog just ran out and was no where near her she fell on her own. She told me it was for medical, but her lawyer told me he is making a case for pain and suffering. They want to make my landlord pay for it. But we are technically not suppose to have a dog. Which is why I was saving up to buy a house to protect the family dog and so we can move. Was so close and now this happen. But if what my grandma says is true the she fell in the snow on her own because she freaked out about the dog then it can be the landlords fault because of the snow. I’m not sure that’s gonna work, and I don’t want them to be blamed for a complete accident. So in the end I’ll have to pay. But I never been through this before.
1 ANSWER
Automobile Accidents Attorney serving New York, NY
Partner at
Kramer, Dunleavy & Ratchik, PLLC
4 Awards
Sorry to hear what you're going through. At this point there's really nothing you can do except take a wait-and-see approach. The statute of limitations on a personal injury lawsuit is three (3) years so there's still a lot of time left on the clock. If you had renter's or homeowner's insurance you should report the incident to them to put them on notice of the incident and avoid the risk of a disclaimer in the event you do get sued. If you do not, in my experience, most attorneys are not going to waste their time suing an uninsured individual. If the landlord is sued, consider having your grandmother speak with its attorney to give her side of the story. Keep in mind that slipping on ice because you get nervous after seeing a dog running towards you does not relieve the dog owner of legal responsibility - there can be more than one cause of an incident.
Best regards,
Jonathan R. Ratchik, Esq.
Kramer, Dunleavy & Ratchik, PLLC
61 Broadway, Suite 2220
New York, NY 10006
(212) 226-6662
http://kdrpilawyers.com/
Answered on Mar 18th, 2021 at 4:00 PM