Stuart M. Kerner, Esq. has a slogan — "Putting You First" — and he will be the first to tell you that a slogan is only as good as what happens after the client walks through the door. In more than fifteen years of representing injured New Yorkers, Kerner has built his practice around a straightforward conviction: that the person who has been hurt deserves an attorney who treats their case with the same seriousness they bring to their own life. That conviction is not abstract. It shows up in how quickly calls get returned. It shows up in the honesty of the assessment a client receives at the first consultation, even when that honesty is uncomfortable. And it shows up in the results — a $5.12 million recovery in a bus accident case, a $2 million settlement involving an NYC police motor vehicle accident, a $1 million recovery in a two-car collision that another firm might have settled for far less. Those outcomes belong to Kerner Law Group, P.C., and they reflect what happens when a client's case is genuinely handled with care from the first conversation to the final resolution.
Kerner's practice serves Riverdale — the northwestern corner of the Bronx, bordered by the Hudson River to the west, Van Cortlandt Park to the east, and Yonkers to the north — along with the broader communities of the borough and New York City. Riverdale has its own character: quieter than much of the Bronx, more residential, with Riverdale Avenue as its primary corridor and the 50th Precinct patrolling streets that wind through a neighborhood that feels, in places, more like a suburban enclave than an urban borough. But the roads here carry the same risks as anywhere in the city, and when a collision happens — on the Henry Hudson Parkway, at an intersection along Riverdale Avenue, or anywhere in between — the legal situation that follows is as serious and as consequential as any in New York.
For anyone in Riverdale who has been hurt in a collision and is trying to understand what their situation actually requires, here is a closer look at how Kerner thinks about that work — and what anyone in that position should understand before they make a single decision.
What the First Days After a Collision Determine — And Why the Insurance Company Is Already Working Against You
"The insurance company is not your friend," Kerner says. "They are a business, and their business is to pay you as little as possible. They start working on that the moment the accident is reported. The question is whether you have someone working just as hard in the other direction — and whether that someone starts working immediately, not two weeks later."
What happens in the first days after a motor vehicle accident shapes the entire trajectory of a case. Evidence is perishable. Traffic camera footage gets overwritten on a cycle that can be as short as thirty days. Witnesses who were present at the scene become harder to locate with every week that passes. The physical record of the accident — the damage to the vehicles, the debris pattern, the sight obstructions or road conditions that contributed to the crash — exists in its clearest form in the immediate aftermath, not months later when a case is finally being prepared for negotiation or trial. An attorney who begins the investigation early is building a case on solid ground. One who starts late is reconstructing it from whatever survives.
At Kerner Law Group, the intake process is built around that urgency. When a new client comes in — still managing medical appointments, still dealing with a damaged or totaled vehicle, still fielding calls from an insurance adjuster whose friendliness is a tactic, not a courtesy — the first priority is to get ahead of the evidence before it disappears. That means documenting the scene, preserving any available camera footage, identifying witnesses, and building a medical record that accurately reflects the full extent of the injury from the beginning.
The medical dimension of these cases is one that Kerner addresses directly with every client. Treatment needs to be sought and documented consistently, because gaps in the medical record become arguments for the defense. Insurance companies routinely argue that a plaintiff who did not seek consistent treatment was not seriously injured. It is a cynical argument, and it is often made against people who had entirely legitimate reasons for the gaps — difficulty accessing specialists, financial pressure, the demands of returning to work. But it is an argument that gets made, and preparing for it starts at the beginning of the case, not at the end.
Motor vehicle accidents in the Bronx involve a range of vehicle types and liability structures that are not always straightforward. Accidents involving commercial trucks carry different insurance frameworks than passenger vehicle collisions, and the investigation required to establish liability — driver logs, vehicle maintenance records, the trucking company's own insurance coverage — is more complex. Motorcycle accidents present their own set of challenges: riders are statistically more vulnerable to serious injury, and defense attorneys frequently attempt to shift blame onto the rider regardless of the actual facts of the collision. Kerner has handled cases across this full spectrum, and his approach in each category is the same — investigate thoroughly, document everything, and do not accept a settlement that does not reflect the full value of what the client has lost.
Wrongful death cases — when a collision takes a life rather than causing injury — occupy a category of their own in terms of both the legal process and the human weight of the situation. According to Kerner, these cases require a particular kind of care: the family is grieving, the legal process is complex, and the pressure from the insurance company to settle quickly and for less than the case is worth can be intense. "These families deserve someone who will take the time to understand what was lost," he says. "Not just economically — though that matters — but in every dimension. That's what we do."
What Riverdale Residents Specifically Need to Know When They Have Been Hurt in a Collision
Riverdale's geography creates a specific set of traffic conditions that anyone who lives here recognizes. The Henry Hudson Parkway runs along the western edge of the neighborhood, carrying high-speed traffic between Manhattan and the northern suburbs. The on and off ramps where local streets meet the parkway are points of consistent risk — merging accidents, rear-end collisions in slowing traffic, incidents involving drivers unfamiliar with the interchange. Riverdale Avenue carries the neighborhood's daily commercial and residential traffic, and the intersections along it, particularly where the street meets cross streets with limited visibility, generate their own patterns of accidents.
Kerner's familiarity with the Bronx — its streets, its courts, and the dynamics of how personal injury cases play out in this borough — is the kind of knowledge that accumulates over years of practice, not something that can be acquired by a firm parachuting in from another part of the city. The Bronx Supreme Court, where cases that go to trial are heard, has its own culture and its own expectations. Bronx juries bring a perspective shaped by living in a community that has often been underserved by the institutions that are supposed to protect it, and that perspective matters to how a case is argued and what it is ultimately worth. An attorney who does not understand that context is not fully equipped to represent a Bronx client.
For Riverdale residents who have been injured and are navigating the aftermath of a collision while also managing medical treatment, work obligations, and the practical disruption that comes with a damaged or totaled vehicle, the responsiveness of their attorney is not a minor consideration. Clients of Kerner Law Group consistently describe the same experience: calls and emails answered quickly, honest updates about where the case stands, and the sense that their situation is being handled by someone who is genuinely paying attention. That quality of engagement is not incidental to the legal work — it is part of it. A client who understands their case is a client who can make informed decisions at every stage of the process.
What to Ask Before You Choose a Personal Injury Attorney — and What Separates the Right Answer from the Wrong One
Selecting a personal injury attorney after a collision is a decision made under pressure, often without a clear frame of reference for what good representation actually looks like. A few questions are worth asking before any agreement is signed.
Ask who will be handling your case from intake through resolution. At some firms, the attorney whose name is on the door is not the attorney managing your file day to day. At Kerner Law Group, Stuart Kerner is the attorney — not a figurehead, not a brand name attached to a team of associates. His fifteen-plus years of experience are what you are actually retaining, and that relationship is direct from the beginning.
Ask for an honest assessment of your case — not a reassuring one. An attorney who tells every prospective client that their case is strong is not giving legal advice, they are giving a sales pitch. The right attorney will tell you what the case is worth, what the challenges are, and what the realistic range of outcomes looks like. That honesty may not always be what you want to hear, but it is what you need in order to make good decisions.
Ask about the fee structure and what it means in practice. Personal injury cases in New York are handled on a contingency basis — no recovery, no fee. That is the standard, and it is the right structure for clients who are already dealing with financial pressure from medical bills and lost wages. But understand what it means: the attorney's fee comes from the recovery, and the percentage is set by state guidelines. Ask what costs, if any, may be deducted separately. A transparent attorney will walk you through this without hesitation.
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Ask what they know about the specific circumstances of your accident. An attorney who can speak knowledgeably about the location, the type of collision, the vehicles involved, and the liability questions that arise from those facts is already engaged with your case. One who gives you a generic response about "fighting for your rights" is not.
The Firm That Has Been Putting Clients First — and Delivering Results That Prove It
The slogan "Putting You First" is easy to print on a website. What it means at Kerner Law Group is something that shows up in the actual record — in the settlements and verdicts, in the client relationships that extend beyond a single case, and in the straightforward way that Stuart Kerner conducts himself with the people who trust him with their most difficult situations. For Riverdale residents who have been hurt in a collision and are trying to figure out where to start, Kerner Law Group offers a free consultation. The conversation begins with an honest assessment of your situation, and it costs you nothing to have it.