Are you involved in a personal injury lawsuit? Did you already file, or do you think about a lawsuit? If you’re going to pursue someone for your injuries, here’s what you need to know.
1. A variety of injuries can qualify for a personal injury lawsuit
Only an attorney can determine if you have a case, but some situations can be pretty obvious. For instance, you’re probably aware that slips and falls commonly lead to lawsuits, but there are a variety of injuries that can qualify, including:
- Motor vehicle wrecks
- Construction accidents
- Defective products cases
- Dog bites
- Premises liability cases
When an injury is caused by another’s negligence, you can sue. Whether or not you’ll win depends on your individual circumstances, your attorney, and applicable laws. For instance, in some states, there is comparative negligence, which will reduce your compensation based on how you contributed fault to the accident.
No matter how you’ve been injured, if you feel like it’s someone else’s fault and you have suffered damages, an attorney right away.
2. You need legal representation
If you’ve been injured, don’t pursue a lawsuit on your own. There are two main reasons to hire a personal injury lawyer to handle your case:
- You’ll become overwhelmed and might lose your case by representing yourself
- Lawyers usually get bigger settlements for their clients
If you don’t have the experience of an attorney, you don’t want to fight against an insurance company in court. Not only will you be overwhelmed with the technicalities of pursuing a lawsuit, but you’ll also have to negotiate with a company whose main intention is to pay out as little as possible.
When you represent yourself as a pro se litigant, you will be facing an uphill battle. You won’t be dealing with a private citizen, but rather, their insurance company. Insurance companies exist to make a profit, and they are known to have lowball settlement offers both in and out of court. If you can’t get an insurance company to pay you decent compensation outside of a lawsuit, you won’t get much more by suing them unless you work with an attorney.
Personal injury lawyers have excellent negotiation skills, and they know how to get maximum settlements for their clients. Chances are, your case probably won’t go to trial and will settle. This is where your lawyer will work hard to get you the compensation you deserve.
Attorneys also know the procedural aspect of pursuing a lawsuit, and that’s important because judges don’t have to cut you any slack for making mistakes on your own. You will be held to the same standards and requirements as any attorney, and certain mistakes can cost you your case.
3. You deserve to be financially compensated
Are you unsure about whether you deserve to be financially compensated for your injury? Think about it this way: If it’s not your fault you became injured, and the cause for your injury was someone else’s negligence or oversight, then you have every right to sue. You’ll need the money for medical bills and potentially lost wages if your injury prevents you from working.
Say you became injured on a business’ property by slipping on some ice right outside the front door in the winter. Businesses have a duty to maintain safe premises and if they fail to melt or salt the walkway, in theory, they are responsible for any injuries that result from their negligence. In court, this situation would make a pretty good case.
In this situation, if you hurt your back or break a bone, you shouldn’t have to pay for your own medical bills. Usually, filing a lawsuit is the only way to get a business to compensate properly for medical expenses.
4. Your employer might be liable for other employees’ actions
If you were injured on the job because of another employee’s negligence, your employer might be legally responsible for your accident. This is referred to as the “respondeat superior” rule. Some examples of this include:
- An employee damages safety equipment intentionally or notices the damage and doesn’t report it to the supervisor. You pick up and use that safety equipment, and it fails, causing your injury.
- A coworker plays a prank on you, and it goes wrong and ends in injury.
You’ll need to prove negligence
Last but not least, negligence is at the heart of every personal injury case. In order to win, you must prove that the other party owed you a duty of care breached that duty, and that your injury was the result of that breach.