What Happens if You Can’t Remember Your New York Car Accident?

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Updated on Monday, Oct 23, 2023

Many car, truck, and motorcycle accident victims get knocked unconscious after an accident. So do many pedestrian and bicycle accident victims.

As such, many victims have no way to remember the facts of the accident, nor do they have any way of gathering or preserving evidence at the scene. It may even take them some time to regain consciousness and realize an accident has occurred.

What happens in these cases?

Plaintiffs Must Prove Memory Loss

First, to prove that you don’t recall the events of the case, you must be able to provide some medical or other convincing evidence you don’t remember. You can’t just claim a lack of memory to get out of depositions or other proceedings.

Nevertheless, courts would hold you to a lesser standard of proof if there is clear and convincing evidence that you can’t be expected to remember what happened.

Your Loss of Consciousness May Impact Certain Deadlines

If you are in a coma, a legal guardian or representative can file a claim on your behalf. However, if no such person exists, the three-year statute of limitations would be tolled or paused until you’re awake and realize that you’d been in an accident.

You don’t have to be in a coma for some of these deadline exceptions to apply. For example, in an MVAIC case, you usually are required to report a hit-and-run accident to the police within 24 hours. If you were unconscious for several days after the accident, you obviously can’t be expected to file a police report during that time.

If you ever wake up and find you’ve been unconscious, contact a lawyer immediately. You will need help investigating the facts of the accidents and handling organizations like MVAIC if necessary.

Accident Reconstructionists and Evidence Gathering Become More Important

During a standard car accident, you would usually gather information such as the other driver’s insurance policy and the witnesses’ names and numbers. You’d be able to take photos.

If you were unconscious, we’d need to move fast to gather that evidence on your behalf. We’d do this by looking for any cameras at the scene and trying to get that footage, in attempting to find witnesses, and by working closely with accident reconstructionists to gather as many case facts as possible. If a police report already exists, we’d find one for you.

Get Help Today

Traumatic head injury cases can get very expensive for insurance companies, which means they will look for ways to take advantage of your inability to remember your accident.

Don’t let them. Work with an experienced personal injury law firm that you can trust to look out for your best interests throughout the life of the case.

We Have Recovered Over $2 Billion for Our Clients.

The attorneys at Jaroslawicz & Jaros have obtained verdicts and settlements of over $1 Million for hundreds of our individual clients. Since all New York personal injury law firms generally charge the same legal fee why not hire an experienced law firm with a proven track record?

When you retain the New York City accident lawyers at Jaroslawicz & Jaros, you will always work directly with your lawyer, and not with a paralegal or secretary. We will always be available to you! Our hundreds of positive client reviews and testimonials speak for themselves.