A bicyclist who was in a collision with a sport utility vehicle last month on Long Island has died, police reported.
Suffolk County Police stated the cyclist rode eastbound in Melville on Old Country Road about 3:05 p.m. when he collided with a Chevrolet Tahoe 2001 model that was trying to turn left into Tuxedo Drive.
The cyclist, a 33 year old from Farmingdale, NY was taken to Nassau University Medical Center in a critical condition. He failed to recover and became another bicycle fatality that so often takes place in New York and Long Island.
The Chevrolet’s driver was a 48 year old resident of Melville. He was not injured in the accident. The police so far have not revealed who was at fault for this tragic accident. No doubt an investigation into will take place including taking statements from eye witnesses.
Bicycle accidents always seem particularly tragic as a cyclist often uses a bicycle for fitness purposes or for financial reasons. So often other motor vehicle drivers fail to see cyclists and inadvertently turn in front of them, rear end them or open car doors causing severe, sometimes catastrophic injuries.
In this accident a family lost a loved one. But this is not the end for the family though.
If the Chevrolet driver is found negligent, the family can file a lawsuit to recover damages. These lawsuits are not just based on financial compensation for the family. Families are also compensated for their emotional loss, potential future earnings of the decedent and sometimes punitive damages.
For a wrongful death lawsuit to be successful, it is often necessary to hire a competent and experienced attorney who will assess the likelihood of winning the lawsuit. Normally, these attorneys offer his or her services on a contingency fee basis. That is, the attorney only earns a fee if the matter reaches settlement or is otherwise successfully concluded through a verdict and/or appeal.
The severity of these cases requires a very thorough investigation, both on the part of the plaintiff’s attorney and by the defendants. Because of this complexity, wrongful death lawsuits can sometimes take years to finally reach settlement and clients receive funds.
Meanwhile, plaintiffs sometimes encounter financial hardship for whatever reason. Monthly expenses continue and plaintiffs are sometimes forced to accept “low ball” settlement offers simply because they cannot wait any longer for compensation.
In response to this need, the settlement funding industry was born. Originally designed to give litigants the financial staying power to wait out a fair settlement, lawsuit settlement funding has become a liquidity marketplace for litigants willing to sell a portion of the future proceeds of their case in exchange for immediate cash.
These transactions are NOT loans, although sometimes referred to as “lawsuit loans” or “settlement loans”. Instead, they are a sale of property rights to a PORTION of the lawsuit’s settlement. As such, the applicant’s creditworthiness is irrelevant. Therefore, no credit checks are required.
The great thing about settlement funding is that in the unlikely event the lawsuit is unsuccessful, the lawsuit cash advance is not repaid. That is, the risk of loss is solely on the settlement loan company.
