Personal Injury Lawyer

Personal Injury Lawsuit

leg injuryA personal injury case occurs when one party’s negligence is responsible for the injuries you or a loved one sustained. The consequential physical and emotional damage can cause long-term negative effects on your life, earning potential, and family. This often happens when another person or business acts recklessly and causes some sort of accident.

A civil personal injury attorney can help you find justice by taking the offenders to court or seeking a settlement. This helps in two different ways: (1) personal injury victims will get the justice and compensation they deserve; and (2) it discourages similar situations from happening again.

What Determines a Personal Injury Lawsuit?

A personal injury lawsuit normally begins with an injury. If someone is legally responsible for causing - or didn’t act reasonably to prevent - injury, you can make a claim against them and take them to court. As the injured person, you would become the plaintiff and the one who caused the injury will become the defendant. Not every injury you suffer leads to a personal injury case.

First, you would need to suffer an injury. If you slip and break your ankle, that is a physical injury. If you slip and break your phone at a store, that is property damage.

Next, a case can only be brought if the injury was because someone was negligent or careless. Your case needs to prove the defendant acted negligently. The elements of negligence needed to support your case are explained in the next section.

Finally, you need to establish that you have suffered personal and financial harm. For example, if you become paralyzed in a road accident, you would be awarded damages for your lost wages and medical bills.

Elements of Negligence in Personal Injury Lawsuits

While some personal injury cases are intentional, most injuries come from negligence.
State laws differ, but typically the plaintiff must show the defendant was negligent through these four elements:

  1. Duty: Prove that the defendant had a “duty of care” to the plaintiff. For example, a grocery store manager should place wet floor signs near puddles in aisles so no one risks falling.
  2. Breach of duty: The plaintiff must then show the defendant breached their duty by not responding reasonably.
  3. Causation: Next, the plaintiff should prove that the personal injury they suffered was because of the defendant’s breach of their duty.
  4. Damages: Lastly, because of the plaintiff’s injury, they must have suffered damages.

Damages in a Personal Injury Lawsuit

What type of damages could you claim in your case? These are explained below.

Medical costs - This includes medical care, surgery, medications, and physical therapy.

Future medical treatment - This is based on an estimate of how much your future medical care will cost, including visits to the doctor or surgeries.

Lost income - This involves income lost taking time off work to recover and going to doctor’s appointments. It includes the money you will lose in the future because you are unable to perform your job at a level needed to earn promotions or advance in your field. This can include income lost because of changing careers.

Damage to property - This covers damage to your belongings involved in the incident, such as your home, vehicle, and the cost of repairs or replacements.

Pain and suffering - After an accident, you will probably experience pain and discomfort. This suffering is also taken into account, and you can receive compensation for your suffering.

Emotional distress - Some incidents cause severe emotional suffering, leading to fear, anxiety, and PTSD. Sometimes, this suffering is included in considerations for pain and suffering. Examples of emotional or psychological trauma include, but aren’t limited to:

  • Witnessing or being involved with a sudden accident, severe injury, or violent attack.
  • Mental distress due to disfigurement.
  • Suffering extreme humiliation in a public or online setting.

Loss of relationships - Sometimes, your injury could cause your relationships to suffer, like with your parent, child, or spouse. If this happens, you could recover damages for this. Damage that deals directly with a spouse is known as “loss of consortium”.

Loss of enjoyment - There are times when an injury can take away your ability to enjoy things that you used to do regularly, like playing a sport, creating art, or gardening. If this has happened to you, your personal injury attorney may be able to get these damages compensated to you.

A personal injury attorney can help you during this difficult time after an injury and recover what was lost.

How Can a Personal Injury Lawyer Help?

A personal injury lawyer provides many services. These include:

Explaining your rights: A personal injury lawyer will explain how your rights are affected by an accident. Your lawyer can help you understand other legal issues in your situation. Laws differ from state-to-state about what is considered negligence or how long you can file a complaint related to an incident.

Providing advice: A personal injury attorney understands the legal system and can walk you through it. They understand legal procedures, medical and insurance terms, and make sure no important paperwork is missed.

Many injury victims experience fear, anger, frustration, stress, and other powerful emotions. A personal injury attorney understands what you’re feeling and gives you objective opinions to help you make the best possible decisions not clouded by negative emotions.

Representation in court: Most personal injury cases do not end in a trial. Most are settled before a lawsuit is filed. If an insurance company denies a claim, the only way for the victim to recover may be to go through a civil litigation and trial.

Lawsuits are very complicated. There are procedures and rules of evidence that must be strictly followed. Going to court is not a task for you to take on by yourself.

Speak With a Personal Injury Lawyer Today

The experienced attorneys at Dash Injury Law Firm will help guide you through the litigation process of a personal injury lawsuit. It is crucial to find an attorney who will support you during this difficult situation and advise you with expert legal advice.

Dash Injury Law Firm provides personal injury lawsuit services in the surrounding areas of the following locations:

We are committed to serving our clients and fighting for the compensation and justice they deserve. Call our legal team today at 888-(DASH-LAW) or complete an online contact form.

The information contained in these pages should not be taken as a substitute for legal advice and it is in fact not legal advice, especially as to cases which are highly fact-specific.