When a government agency is involved, such as the New York City Transit Authority, the MTA, the City of New York, or any city agency, there are things that can and cannot be done that differ from those involved in filing a case against a private entity.  For instance, there is a 90-day deadline for filing a notice of claim that must be met in a case involving municipal agencies like the Transit Authority, MTA, the City of New York, LIRR, or Metro-North.  If you fail to meet the deadlines you may be prevented from bringing your claim. For this reason alone, you should always consult an attorney immediately after any subway accident injury.

Roth & Roth handles virtually every type of subway accident injury claim. Subway accidents can be caused by a wide range of things, including, but not limited to:

• Subway strikes- when a person gets hit by a train, many times causing amputations of limbs, traumatic brain injuries, death.
• Falls into the gap between the station platform and the train car.
• Sudden acceleration/deceleration of the train causing people to fall.
• Subway doors closing on passengers and fracturing their bones.
• Poor station maintenance leading to slips/trips and falls.

These are just a sample of the types of cases we’re experienced with. If you were injured as a result of your trip through the subways of New York, contact us to discuss your options for legal compensation.

Filing a case against the NYCTA/MTA has some unique wrinkles. In New York, a more ordinary personal injury case like a car accident has a three-year statute of limitations. This means you have three years after you have been injured to bring a claim. 

When filing a claim against the NYCTA/MTA, or any government agency, you first must file a document called a notice of claim. This document must be filed within 90 days of the date of injury. This notice applies whether your claim is for a major crash or a minor slip and fall. This claim is a required pre-condition to being permitted to file a lawsuit. 

After that, you will have one year and 90 days in which to file your lawsuit. This strict deadline is why working with a subway accident lawyer is strongly recommended. 

Sometimes people are reluctant to file a claim because they are partially responsible for their own injury. 

But, In New York, we use the “pure” comparative negligence standard, meaning that fault is distributed among all the parties in an accident, and recovery is divided up according to the percentage of fault. So if the jury decides that you were 30% responsible for the happening of the accident but the Transit Authority was 70% responsible, you would be able to recover 70% of the damages you sustained as a result of the accident. 

If you are injured because of someone else’s negligence or carelessness, even the NYCTA/MTA’s, you are entitled to be “made whole.” That is a legal term that means you have a right not only to have your medical bills paid but to be put back to where you were before the accident, as much as possible. Healing your physical injuries is only one part of that wholeness. You have a legal right to other compensation as well. 

• Medical bills should include not only the cost of the hospital, but any follow-up doctor visits, physical therapy, specialists, recovery equipment, and long-term care. 
  • If you are unable to work during your recovery, you may be entitled to your wages during that period. If you need to recover at home, you might be able to recover those wages as well. If the injury was severe enough for you to become permanently disabled, that can also be part of your recovery. 
     
• Pain and suffering. This is not one of those things personal injury attorneys add on for effect. The pain and shock of a serious injury are real, and you are entitled to compensation for going through the trauma. 

The MTA/NYCTA will have its own attorneys investigating your claim, and they will be working hard to prove that everything you claim was not their fault. If it was their fault, they will try to find ways not to pay you everything you are entitled to receive. They could make an offer that seems reasonable at the time but does not take into consideration all the other things discussed above.

Suing the MTA/NYCTA is no easy task. There are a myriad of rules and laws that must be complied with, deadlines to be met, required documents that must be properly worded, and a multitude of claims to be asserted. You should not attempt to do this on your own. We are here to prosecute your case and will do so in a skilled, professional manner based on our decades of experience.