According to recent statistics, each year, there are more than 30 million people that sustain severe injuries, requiring emergency room visits, and over 40,000 people die in car accidents. Sustaining an injury can have devastating effects on you and your family. Not only can it leave you with the burden of hefty medical bills, but also lasting pain, lifelong disabilities, lost income, and other losses, affecting your quality of life.
Fortunately, if someone else’s negligence caused your injury, you may be entitled to compensation for your afflictions and losses. However, it’s vital that you seek legal representation from a firm that specializes in personal injury law, such as the Law Offices of Kamela James, to fight for your case and ensure you get the compensation you deserve. Typically, personal injury law encompasses a wide range of injury cases.
You need to choose an injury attorney with extensive experience in your type of personal injury case. Here are common types of cases that personal injury attorneys handle:
1. Motor Vehicle Accidents
The first and most common type of case an injury attorney can assist you with is an injury sustained in a car accident. This can include head-on collisions, multiple car accidents, blind spot accidents, T-Bone accidents, hit and run accidents, merging car accidents, rollover car accidents, rear-end collisions, and other car accidents. These accidents are often caused by a driver’s negligent behavior, which can be due to distracted driving, fatigued driving, speeding, and driving under the influence.
The bad thing about car accidents is that they often lead to catastrophic injuries, adversely affecting your quality of life. That’s why you should seek the legal representation of a reputable motor vehicle accident attorney immediately after sustaining a severe injury in a crash. An injury attorney will help collect various pieces of evidence to build your car accident case, such as CCTV footage and photographs of the accident scene, witness statements, damages to the vehicles, road conditions, police reports, and medical reports.
They present the evidence before the court to demonstrate that the at-fault driver is responsible for your injuries. They also negotiate with the at-fault driver’s insurer on your behalf to ensure you’re fairly compensated for your injuries and losses.
2. Premises Liability Cases
Personal injury lawyers also handle premises liability cases that usually involve injuries sustained due to hazardous conditions on another person’s property. While premises liability laws vary from state to state, property owners are required to maintain their premises free from dangerous conditions that may cause injuries to visitors and workers. However, most owners don’t uphold that duty, making them liable for any injuries caused to the visitors. Premises liability typically applies to cities, private homeowners, businesses, and companies that maintain safe subway stations and sidewalks.
Common premises liability cases include electrocution caused by negligent wiring, slip and fall accidents, exposure to harmful chemicals, negligence or lack of security, and swimming pool accidents caused by drowning. In such scenarios, your personal injury lawyer will build a case to prove that the owner of the property where the accident occurred is at fault for failing to fix the problem or not warning visitors appropriately. You should seek legal counsel early to preserve the necessary evidence.
3. Product Liability Cases
Akin to property lawyers, product sellers, and manufacturers are also obliged to do due diligence to protect some particular groups of people, usually their customers and clients. In a bid to prevent the entry of unsafe products into the market, the Product Liability Fairness Act of 1996 was passed by US Congress. Unfortunately, despite all these efforts, these products somehow find their way to the end consumers. A personal injury lawyer can help you get compensation for the direct or indirect injuries sustained due to risky or damaged products, so you can recover and go ahead with your everyday life.
4. Wrongful Death
Wrongful death is when an injury victim succumbs due to the negligence of a third party. Losing a loved one causes unimaginable pain for the decedent’s family, especially knowing that the death could have been prevented. While you can’t do anything to undo what happened, seeking compensation from the party at fault will go a long way to lighten the funeral and burial expenses. Hiring an experienced personal injury lawyer can help you claim the maximum possible compensation to ease your loss.
5. Medical Malpractice
This is a case whereby a victim dies due to negligence by a medical professional. Medical professionals such as doctors, physical therapists, surgeons, doctors’ assistants, pharmacists, nurses, hotel facility managers, anesthesiologists, radiologists, and urgent care centers can be held accountable for medical malpractice. Medical malpractice may vary from birth defects, birth injuries, and medical misdiagnosis to negligent surgeries.
6. Workers’ Compensation
Victims who are injured at the workplace have the right to claim workers’ compensation for medical cost coverage and lost wages if they are temporarily or permanently incapable of continuing working. A personal injury lawyer will prove helpful in the workers’ compensation claim process, often full of obstacles orchestrated by insurance companies.
If the workers’ compensation allocated to you is not sufficient, or there are multiple parties responsible for your injury, your personal injury lawyer will help you fill the workplace accident claim to get additional compensation.
7. Assault
Assault is considered a criminal charge. However, you can still take civil action against a person who assaulted you and get compensated for the personal injuries inflicted. Typically, assault claims can be very complicated, especially with the involvement of multiple parties. Contact a personal injury lawyer to help you evaluate and determine if you are eligible to be granted compensation for the assault.
Compensation claims often include medical bills to cater for physical injuries, property damage, lost wages, therapy, and rehabilitation to treat emotional trauma. Since assault cases are generally characterized by anxiety, an experienced personal injury lawyer will help you hold the offending party accountable.
Endnote
Dealing with any form of personal injury can prove stressful and devastating in equal measure. If you or someone you care about should ever sustain injuries as a result of someone else’s negligence or otherwise, don’t hesitate to contact a personal injury lawyer who will help you hold the parties at fault responsible and receive the compensation you deserve.