[Music] Welcome to the Millennial Lawyer with personal injury attorney Mark Shirian. I am your host Kevin Rosenquist and today’s episode is Tangled Up navigating the complexities of multi-vehicle car wrecks in

Nassau and Suffolk counties. Hey how’s it going Mark? 

I’m doing well Kevin, how are you? 

I’m good I almost thought, I almost was afraid I mispronounced stuff there. I don’t know why,

I think because I was goofing around beforehand I screwed up that. But anyway let’s move on, let’s

start here. What makes multi-vehicle car wrecks in Nassau and Suffolk counties more complex to handle compared to single car accidents? 

Okay, well why multi-vehicle accidents are more complex in Nassau & Suffolk Counties. Multi-vehicle accidents are significantly more complex due to the sheer number of parties involved, the overlapping insurance coverages, and the potential for conflicting witness statements. Unlike single car crashes

where fault is often straightforward, multi- vehicle pileups involve a domino effect of collisions requiring

meticulous reconstruction of events. Nassau and Suffolk counties especially, you know they have a lot of high-speed roadways like the L and the Northern State Parkway, or chain reactions can escalate quickly making investigations even more intricate and important. I would, I would also think that, you know, there’s a lot of challenges with figuring out the liability, like how do you determine fault in those

situations? Well the first thing would be to look at how fault is determined in chain-reaction crashes. To analyze police reports, look at any sort of eyewitness accounts, dash cam, or surveillance footage, an accident reconstruction expert. One major challenge is the possibility of multiple parties sharing responsibility under New York’s comparative negligence. Insurance companies will often attempt to shift blame to minimize payouts making it crucial to have experienced legal representation that can untangle the layers of responsibility. 

Yeah I can imagine. You mentioned dash cams, I think that’s really interesting. Are you seeing more cars having those? Non-emergency vehicles and things like that? And non-delivery vehicles, like just the everyday cars and trucks? 

It’s interesting I’ve been seeing the rise of dash cams and their impact on accident claims,

them more in Uber and Lyft, so it’s definitely something we’re seeing more of and, you know, now with Teslas, you see a lot of, you know, that’s basically built into those vehicles from what I know. I don’t own a Tesla but I’ve been in them a few times. 

Yeah it seems like that.

Would especially in a multi-car crash that something like it and somebody that has a dash cam that seems like it would help that situation out quite a bit. It would. But evidence really you’re collecting evidence at the crash scene: Photos, 911 calls, and witness statements. When you’re talking about gathering evidence it starts at the scene. So,  photographs, videos, witness statements, skid marks, we also obtain 911 call records, traffic camera footage, blackbox data from vehicles. But the one key factor is identifying the initial point of impact which helps determine who triggered the sequence of collisions. The

Medical records are also critical to linking the injuries to the accident.

Where do you start that process? I mean it with it there are so many, with so many moving parts and so many cars and people and all that where do you how do you begin the process?

Well the process, like I said, the the evidence collection starts at the scene so photographs, videos, witness statements, skid marks, obtaining the 911 call records, traffic camera footage, and blackbox data from the vehicles, and also identifying the initial point of impact which would help us determine who

triggered the sequence collisions and medical records are also critical to linking the injuries with multi-car

accidents. 

If multiple parties retain counsel, get personal injury attorneys and you’ve got the insurance companies, talk about how difficult it is to balance all those different people and everybody trying to, I don’t know, probably blame each other?

Right now it does become difficult. Insurance companies employ tactics to avoid liability and delay claims. Insurance companies take a defensive approach often delaying claims and pointing fingers at other insurers to avoid liability. Adjusters analyze accident reports and come up with their own. They analyze accident reports and medical records to undervalue claims. This tug of war leads to prolonged negotiations which is why having a personal injury attorney with experience in high stakes cases is essential. The other problem is with a lot of these cases there’s limited insurance policy on the cases, so for example, if you’re in a vehicle and there are two other passengers in that vehicle and the other car is at fault but the other car only has what we call a 50 to 100 policy. That means per incident per person it’s a $50,000 policy up to $100,000, so that pot would have to be shared with the two other passengers. So it does and can become difficult. 

So you touched on the insurance companies and what they try to do in these situations but can you elaborate a little bit on what their approach is to multi-car wreck claims and how it impacts the settlement process? 

So insurance companies like to take a defensive approach, often delaying claims and pointing fingers at other insurers to avoid liability. Adjusters meticulously analyze accident reports and medical records in order to undervalue claims so this tug of war leads to prolonged negotiations which is why having a

personal injury attorney with experience in high stakes personal injury cases is essential. The other issue is as far as a settlement process goes, if the at fault vehicle has a limited policy and the vehicle that you’re in have multiple passengers, then could be a limited pot if you will for everyone to get compensated from, and that could affect how much the case is valued. Even if it is a multi- wreck claim, there could be one at fault vehicle and that vehicle may have a limited policy. So that’s where it becomes a bit difficult. 

Do you find it to be a lot more difficult to secure fair compensation for your client because of how many people are involved and because of the varying insurance coverage and what not? 

Well it’s strategies to ensure fair compensation despite multiple involved parties, state strategic battle we present evidence, medical reports, and expert opinions to counter these lowball offers. A key strategy is leveraging New York’s joint and several liability laws which allows victims to recover full compensation for many at fault parties with substantial insurance coverage. 

Okay, alright. So when multiple drivers are involved, each driver’s liability affects the amount of compensation you can seek? 

Yes. Well under New York’s comparative negligence rule, a victim’s compensation can be reduced by their percentage of fault. So this makes it critical to ensure that our client is assigned minimal liability. So by building a strong case with expert testimony and accident reconstruction, we mitigate comparative fault claims and maximize recoveries. 

How does that get decided at the end, like what percentage everyone’s at fault? 

Well how courts determine fault percentages in complex accidents at the very end and that’s why we

have a jury. A jury ultimately if it can’t resolve amongst the parties, a jury ultimately determines

who’s at fault and how much fault each party has that’s what we look forward to. When we try our cases it gets to be interesting, especially when there’s multiple people involved like seeing the jury decide who is at fault and what percentage and does it get messy. I mean we handled a case where a client was injured in a multicar pileup on, I think it was the Long Island Expressway. The at fault driver initially denied responsibility and multiple insurance companies tried shifting the blame. Through aggressive investigation

and expert testimony, we proved the chain of events and secured a six figure resolution ensuring that our clients medical bills and other damages were fully recovered. 

How long does a case like that typically take with so many different pieces? 

It all depends, I mean that particular case that I just told you about, we were able to resolve that after our client testified so a lot of times it does come down to testimony. You know, I did mention the police report and the video earlier but sometimes you don’t have video and you do need the testimony of the parties. That gives you a much better idea who was at fault and what actually happened, so typically after deposition you have a much better sense of what happened. 

What do you recommend people do in that situation if they get into a multicar wreck? And let’s just say they’re not, they don’t have to go to the hospital necessarily, but just take pictures of every car involved and every angle and, I mean, just the more the better is that kind of what you tell people? 

Almost everybody has a phone on them, so use it to take photos, take videos, record witness statements, all of these are very important. Gather as much evidence as you possibly can from the scene. That’s the best thing I can say.

Yeah that makes sense. Alright well thank you for tuning in to the Millennial Lawyer podcast with New York litigation attorney Mark Shirian. To connect with Mark, visit shirianpc.com and please like and subscribe to our channel and leave us a review. Mark, always great seeing you. 

Thanks so much for your time, great seeing you too. Thank you so much Kevin. 

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