Legal & Medical Glossary

Understanding the terms used in personal injury cases

Common Injuries

Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI): A brain injury caused by external force, ranging from mild concussions to severe damage. TBIs can result from car accidents, falls, or construction site incidents. Symptoms may include headaches, confusion, memory problems, and in severe cases, permanent cognitive impairment.
Spinal Cord Injury: Damage to the spinal cord that results in loss of function, mobility, or sensation. These catastrophic injuries can cause partial or complete paralysis (paraplegia or quadriplegia) and often require lifelong medical care.
Herniated Disc: A condition where the soft center of a spinal disc pushes through a crack in the exterior. Common in car accidents and workplace injuries, herniated discs can cause severe pain, numbness, and weakness in the arms or legs.
Whiplash: A neck injury caused by rapid back-and-forth movement, most commonly from rear-end car collisions. Symptoms include neck pain, stiffness, headaches, and sometimes dizziness or blurred vision.
Soft Tissue Injury: Damage to muscles, ligaments, or tendons rather than bones. While often dismissed by insurance companies, soft tissue injuries can cause chronic pain and long-term disability.
Fracture: A break or crack in a bone. Fractures range from simple breaks that heal with casting to compound fractures requiring surgery and extensive rehabilitation. Under New York law, bone fractures automatically qualify as a "serious injury."
Concussion: A mild traumatic brain injury caused by a blow or jolt to the head. Even "mild" concussions can cause lasting symptoms including headaches, difficulty concentrating, and mood changes.
Internal Bleeding: Bleeding that occurs inside the body, often from blunt force trauma in car accidents. Internal bleeding can be life-threatening and may not show immediate symptoms.

Legal Terms

Negligence: The failure to exercise reasonable care that results in harm to another person. To prove negligence, you must show the defendant had a duty of care, breached that duty, and caused your injuries.
Comparative Negligence: New York's rule allowing injured parties to recover damages even if partially at fault. Your compensation is reduced by your percentage of fault. For example, if you're 20% at fault for a $100,000 claim, you recover $80,000.
Statute of Limitations: The deadline for filing a lawsuit. In New York, personal injury claims generally have a 3-year statute of limitations. Medical malpractice has 2.5 years. Claims against government entities require a notice of claim within 90 days.
Contingency Fee: A payment arrangement where the attorney's fee is a percentage of the recovery, paid only if the case is successful. This allows injured clients to hire experienced lawyers without upfront costs.
Pain and Suffering: Non-economic damages compensating for physical pain, emotional distress, and diminished quality of life. In New York, you must meet the "serious injury" threshold to recover pain and suffering in car accident cases.
Serious Injury Threshold: Under New York Insurance Law §5102(d), injuries must meet specific criteria to sue for pain and suffering in car accidents. This includes bone fractures, permanent limitation, significant disfigurement, or 90+ days of disability.
Premises Liability: The legal responsibility of property owners and occupiers to maintain safe conditions for visitors. This applies to slip and fall accidents, inadequate security, and dangerous property conditions.
Strict Liability: Legal responsibility without needing to prove negligence. Under New York Labor Law 240 (the Scaffold Law), property owners are strictly liable for gravity-related injuries to construction workers.
Wrongful Death: A legal claim brought when someone dies due to another party's negligence or wrongful act. In New York, only the personal representative of the estate can file a wrongful death lawsuit.

Insurance Terms

No-Fault Insurance: New York's system where your own insurance pays for medical bills and lost wages regardless of who caused the accident. Coverage is provided through Personal Injury Protection (PIP) up to $50,000.
Personal Injury Protection (PIP): The no-fault coverage that pays medical expenses, 80% of lost wages (up to $2,000/month), and $25/day for other reasonable expenses. You must file your PIP application within 30 days of the accident.
Uninsured Motorist Coverage: Insurance that protects you if you're hit by a driver with no insurance. Required on all New York auto policies, it covers your injuries when the at-fault driver can't pay.
Underinsured Motorist Coverage: Coverage that applies when the at-fault driver's insurance isn't enough to cover your damages. This supplements the at-fault driver's policy up to your own coverage limits.
Policy Limits: The maximum amount an insurance policy will pay. New York requires minimum liability coverage of $25,000 per person and $50,000 per accident for bodily injury.
Bad Faith: When an insurance company unreasonably denies, delays, or undervalues a valid claim. Bad faith practices can result in additional damages beyond the original claim.

Construction Law Terms

Labor Law 240 (Scaffold Law): New York's strict liability law protecting construction workers from gravity-related hazards. Property owners and general contractors are liable for falls and falling object injuries regardless of worker negligence.
Labor Law 241(6): Requires property owners to provide reasonable and adequate protection for construction workers. Unlike Section 240, this requires proving violation of a specific Industrial Code regulation.
Labor Law 200: Codifies common law negligence for construction site safety. Property owners can be liable if they controlled the work that caused the injury or created a dangerous condition.
General Contractor: The primary contractor responsible for overall construction project supervision. Under New York Labor Law, general contractors share liability with property owners for worker injuries.
OSHA Violation: A breach of Occupational Safety and Health Administration regulations. While OSHA violations don't automatically establish liability, they can be strong evidence of negligence.