Your Personal Injury Guide
If you've been injured in an accident, you may have the right to compensation. The money may pay for your medical bills and much more. If you would like to know more about personal injury, keep reading.
What Is a Personal Injury Case?
Personal injury cases result when someone else causes your injuries. Some common examples include:
- Car accidents
- Slip and falls
- Dog bites
- Nursing home abuse
- Medical malpractice
In addition, if a loved one dies because of their injuries, you may be allowed to sue for wrongful death.
Personal injury also includes premise liability and product liability. Premise liability means the property owner, such as a homeowner, is liable if some one is injured. Product liability refers to defective products, including defects in design, defects in manufacturing, and defects in labeling/instructions.
How Can an Attorney Help?
You'll want an attorney to win your personal injury case because you need to prove a few elements. You need to show the person responsible for your injury had a duty of care, they breached that duty, the breach directly caused the injury, and the injury resulted in damages.
For example, if someone invites you over and you break your leg on their broken porch, they had a duty of care that they breached by not fixing the problem and/or not warning you. In this case, you should be able to sue for the related medical bills.
If you fell through the porch but didn't hurt yourself or only got a mild scratch, you probably can't sue because you didn't sustain damages because of the breach. Similarly, if someone trespassed, depending on the state laws, the homeowner has little to no duty of care to warn them of the damaged porch.
How Much Money Can You Receive?
The settlement amount depends on many factors, but much of it depends on the medical treatments related to the accident. If you lost work because of the accident, that is often included in the settlement as well. If the accident left long-term mental or physical pain/trauma, you may get reimbursed for pain and suffering. Other money may include:
- Loss of income/services in wrongful death cases
- Loss of quality/enjoyment of life
- Related property damage, such as vehicles
- Punitive damages
If you've been injured by someone who owed you a duty of care, it's time to seek a fair settlement. The process can be hard and stressful, but an attorney can help. If you would like to know more, contact an accident attorney.
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