Help my friend deal with the NYC beaurocracy
June 23, 2017 12:23 PM
Asking for a friend, who's girlfriend was just hit by a New York City-owned vehicle. It sounds like a nightmare. Does anyone have experience or ideas about navagating this?:
" It was a city vehicle that hit my girlfriend and the city parks department isn't giving us the drivers info from the police report they made without a 30 day wait. Without that driver insurance info we haven't been able to get her treatment done because doctors won't bill to health insurance when there was an auto accident, but we can't seem to get the auto insurance info from the city. So in addition to trying to find doctors who will treat now and bill later, I've had to get a lawyer and we've had to reschedule some of my girlfriend's medical care for next month."
" It was a city vehicle that hit my girlfriend and the city parks department isn't giving us the drivers info from the police report they made without a 30 day wait. Without that driver insurance info we haven't been able to get her treatment done because doctors won't bill to health insurance when there was an auto accident, but we can't seem to get the auto insurance info from the city. So in addition to trying to find doctors who will treat now and bill later, I've had to get a lawyer and we've had to reschedule some of my girlfriend's medical care for next month."
What does their lawyer say to do? if they are not clear on whether or not their lawyer is giving them good information, they should perhaps find different counsel.
It may be worth reaching out to your city council member's office to speak with someone in constituent affairs, they will get faster and more thorough responses from city staff than you will.
posted by Exceptional_Hubris at 12:43 PM on June 23, 2017
It may be worth reaching out to your city council member's office to speak with someone in constituent affairs, they will get faster and more thorough responses from city staff than you will.
posted by Exceptional_Hubris at 12:43 PM on June 23, 2017
Ugh, I'm so sorry your friend and his gf are dealing with this.
Honestly, I would take this story to a local news station. That should get things moving.
posted by schroedingersgirl at 12:43 PM on June 23, 2017
Honestly, I would take this story to a local news station. That should get things moving.
posted by schroedingersgirl at 12:43 PM on June 23, 2017
This guy is sort of obsessed (in a maybe unhealthy way) with the NYC Parks dept and may be worth giving a call also.
I can say from personal experience that the organization of the Parks Dept is byzantine, there are boro-level folks, citywide staff, and site specific folks so its really almost impossible to say who was in charge of the parks employee that hit your friend.
Id try picking a name from the "Community Outreach" or Borough-specific section of this link - these folks should respond quickly to news that you'd been hurt by an on-duty employee.
posted by Exceptional_Hubris at 12:55 PM on June 23, 2017
I can say from personal experience that the organization of the Parks Dept is byzantine, there are boro-level folks, citywide staff, and site specific folks so its really almost impossible to say who was in charge of the parks employee that hit your friend.
Id try picking a name from the "Community Outreach" or Borough-specific section of this link - these folks should respond quickly to news that you'd been hurt by an on-duty employee.
posted by Exceptional_Hubris at 12:55 PM on June 23, 2017
Get a New York lawyer ASAP! There may be a very short notice period to make an accident claim, and there may be formalities and technicalities. For example, this form from NYC's Comptroller's website says the deadline is 90 days and that the form must be notarized.
posted by PlannedSpontaneity at 1:00 PM on June 23, 2017
posted by PlannedSpontaneity at 1:00 PM on June 23, 2017
You're girlfriend should go to her lawyer (who should be someone familiar with these types of cases) and ask for the lawyers advice and then follow it. There are deadlines regarding reporting accidents she doesn't want to miss.
posted by SpaceWarp13 at 1:01 PM on June 23, 2017
posted by SpaceWarp13 at 1:01 PM on June 23, 2017
What does their lawyer say to do? if they are not clear on whether or not their lawyer is giving them good information, they should perhaps find different counsel.
Absolutely this. Filing and notice periods for municipalities are generally very, very tight -- ridiculously so. (A slip n fall in Toronto, for example, is less than a week.) I do not know what NYC-specific filing and notice periods are, but I would expect that they are no different than most cities in this. IANYL and TINLA, but it would be very helpful for one to have counsel well-experienced in lawsuits against the city -- if only to preserve one's rights until the time when they can properly decide how to proceed -- rather than have a lawyer who needs to figure things out as they go along, because by the time they do, it may well be too late.
posted by Capt. Renault at 1:06 PM on June 23, 2017
Absolutely this. Filing and notice periods for municipalities are generally very, very tight -- ridiculously so. (A slip n fall in Toronto, for example, is less than a week.) I do not know what NYC-specific filing and notice periods are, but I would expect that they are no different than most cities in this. IANYL and TINLA, but it would be very helpful for one to have counsel well-experienced in lawsuits against the city -- if only to preserve one's rights until the time when they can properly decide how to proceed -- rather than have a lawyer who needs to figure things out as they go along, because by the time they do, it may well be too late.
posted by Capt. Renault at 1:06 PM on June 23, 2017
This is literally the lawyer's job yo know and navigate. In LA, there are doctors that work with accident attornies and are FINE waiting on accident insurance claims to settle before receiving payment.
It sounds to me like your friend has the wrong attorney. This should be a no-brainer and the girlfriend should already be under treatment.
posted by jbenben at 1:23 PM on June 23, 2017
It sounds to me like your friend has the wrong attorney. This should be a no-brainer and the girlfriend should already be under treatment.
posted by jbenben at 1:23 PM on June 23, 2017
Doctors usually bill to no-fault when there's an accident and the driver isn't known. Your lawyer should know about this.
posted by Obscure Reference at 7:10 AM on June 24, 2017
posted by Obscure Reference at 7:10 AM on June 24, 2017
Just FYI NYC settles for millions of $$ every year for these kinds of accidents. e.g. in 2016, NYC paid out $629.5 million for tort claims.
posted by beerbajay at 12:27 PM on June 24, 2017
posted by beerbajay at 12:27 PM on June 24, 2017
So, they switched to a better lawyer, who muscled the report out of the agency and got a doctor and oral surgeon who would work while waiting for payment. And then immediately sued the city for a very large sum of money. What a stupid way for the city to run things. She has great insurance and likely wouldn't have sued if she could just have gotten the information she needed.
posted by overhauser at 2:03 PM on August 1, 2017
posted by overhauser at 2:03 PM on August 1, 2017
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by rhizome at 12:43 PM on June 23, 2017