An attorney who specializes in personal injury law represents people who have been hurt in accidents. Personal injury attorneys practice tort law, which covers both deliberate and negligent conduct. They work to get accident victims compensation.
Cases involving personal injuries sometimes entail other people’s negligence. This covers car accidents, such as those involving motorcycles and trucks. Other forms of transportation accidents, such as those involving airplanes, bicycles, mass transit, boats, and pedestrians, may also be handled by personal injury attorneys. Additionally, they might deal with matters regarding premises liability, such as those involving negligent security, slip-and-fall incidents, and animal assaults and bites. They may also deal with situations of construction accidents and abuse and neglect in nursing homes. Personal injury lawsuits include medical malpractice claims as well.
Plaintiffs in personal injury cases may be eligible for compensation for the losses they have incurred. Medical costs, lost wages, diminished earning ability, emotional distress, loss of consortium, loss of companionship, diminished quality of life, mental agony, and pain and suffering are all included in this. Personal injury attorneys are available to assist them in obtaining the maximum amount of compensation for their claims. Depending on the sort of case, their area of expertise, and where they are in the case’s procedure, personal injury attorneys will take different measures. However, if you intend to submit a personal injury claim, it is nearly always advised that you contact a personal injury attorney.
In this in-depth guide, we’ll explore what to know before hiring a personal injury lawyer, how to choose a personal injury lawyer and the benefits of investing in help from a personal injury attorney.
What are the Benefits of Hiring a Personal Injury Lawyer?
Hiring a car accident attorney has so many advantages. Let’s consider a few of them.
You may probably feel both physical pain from your injuries and intense emotions after a collision with injuries or another kind of injury accident. Trauma might make it more difficult for you to evaluate your claim rationally. A knowledgeable and experienced personal injury lawyer can also provide in-depth legal expertise to help you handle your claim and get just compensation for your losses.
They are also excellent negotiators. Insurance firms employ a variety of strategies to persuade injured accident victims that their claims are not as valid as they claim. In certain instances, they contact accident victims with unreasonably low settlement offers in the hopes that they would accept the offers. When you are simultaneously dealing with your injuries and financial losses, trying to negotiate your claim with an insurance company may be challenging. The talks with the insurance company can be handled for you if you hire a skilled attorney. Because attorneys refine their negotiation abilities in law school and over their years of practice, in many circumstances having good legal representation may lead to greater settlements.
An accident injury attorney can also avoid crucial blunders. As soon as they realize that an accident victim was hurt, insurance firms get in touch with them. An adjuster may get in touch with you and say that the insurer needs to hear your side of the story. The adjuster could come across as a sympathetic someone who cares about your injuries when they ask you if you’d want to give a recorded statement. In reality, adjusters are not dedicated to the interests of accident victims but rather to those of their employers. The insurance company will use whatever you say against you in your claim if you consent to provide a recorded statement. Similar to this, insurance firms will occasionally mail victims release papers in an effort to obtain their medical data. The insurance provider may advise you that it needs your signature on the release form in order to confirm your injuries. However, they employ these kinds of releases to look for a different reason to attribute the victims’ wounds. Without first consulting a personal injury attorney, you shouldn’t speak with the at-fault driver’s insurance provider or agree to anything. Then, your car wreck attorney may take control and assist you in avoiding mistakes that could possibly impair your claim and your rights to compensation.
What Types of Personal Injury Cases Does a Personal Injury Lawyer Handle?
Personal injury law covers a wide range of various damage scenarios. It is crucial to select an accident injury lawyer with extensive knowledge of the specific kind of personal injury involved in your case.
Automobile Collisions and Accidents
Cases involving motor vehicle accidents include those involving automobiles, buses, bicycles, motorcycles, and pedestrians. It’s crucial to document any security camera video, eyewitness testimonies, car inspection, images of the crash scene, and road conditions at the location of the collision. If you do not move swiftly to protect and preserve the evidence, all of these might be lost to time.
An accomplished auto accident lawyer will start looking into and developing your case right away. The deadlines for filing insurance and personal injury claims are quite severe. You can deal with any issues that may occur with the assistance of a motorcycle accident attorney who is familiar with the law and the judicial system.
Insurance companies will attempt to find any excuse not to compensate you, but a personal injury attorney who is familiar with the industry and knows how to deal with insurance companies will be able to effectively negotiate on your behalf to obtain the compensation which you are legally due.
Liability for Products
To safeguard the general public, rules are in place to ensure that companies only promote safe items. Government standards and restrictions notwithstanding, faulty goods can nonetheless reach customers.
You have legal remedies if a faulty product causes an injury to you. Companies who create, produce or market hazardous items may be held responsible for any damages the products cause. An attorney for a personal injury who has dealt with product liability lawsuits can hold irresponsible manufacturers accountable and pursue full and appropriate compensation on your behalf.
Make sure the injury lawyer you choose has knowledge in matters involving product responsibility. Better still, if the experience in your situation connects to the product.
Medical Negligence
Medical malpractice occurs when a patient suffers harm as a result of carelessness on the part of medical personnel (such as physicians and nurses) or institutions (such as clinics and hospitals). They could be required to pay the patient for the harm they caused by not meeting a reasonable standard of care. Medical malpractice includes a wide range of potential behaviors that may be connected to surgical errors, diagnostic errors, anesthetic blunders, and medication prescription problems.
These cases can be quite technical and sophisticated, and gathering the necessary evidence frequently calls for a significant investment of resources. They might be challenging to prove since the patient must demonstrate that medical staff negligence was to blame for the harm.
Workers’ Compensation
Workers have a right to workers’ compensation if they suffer an injury while doing their duties. This program effectively functions as employer-held insurance that pays for medical expenses, missed income, and disability compensation in the event that a worker becomes temporarily or permanently incapacitated. Negotiations with the insurance firms that distribute the compensation on the employer’s behalf may be necessary for these situations.
Cases of Premises Liability
Landowners in Connecticut are required by law to ensure the security of anybody on their property. Owners are responsible for making sure that anybody entering their place of business, residence, or land is safe and does not suffer harm from dangerous or hazardous circumstances. Depending on whether the person is a trespasser, a social guest, a business guest, or even a business visitor, the amount of culpability for harm may change.
Premises liability law covers a variety of situations, including those involving dangerous goods or chemicals, slips and falls, poisoning, swimming pool mishaps, careless security, defective wiring, and insufficient lighting.
A slip and fall lawyer with knowledge in premises liability can assist you in holding the property owner liable if you were injured on someone else’s property as a result of their carelessness. A slip and fall attorney can also help you gather evidence to support your case.
What Types of Compensation Can a Personal Injury Lawyer Help You Get?
Punitive damages and compensatory damages are the two sorts of awards in a personal injury lawsuit. The two divisions of compensatory damages are general and particular compensatory damages. Special compensatory damages have a specific monetary value. Calculating expenses such as your medical costs, lost pay, alternate daycare, and travel to medical visits isn’t too difficult.
The amount of general damages is more debatable. Pain and suffering, loss of company or companionship, and emotional misery are a few of these. Financial recompense for the mental suffering experienced after an accident is known as emotional distress. The financial cost of the accident’s influence on your relationship with your significant other is represented by the loss of consortium and companionship. In addition to the physical agony you have experienced after an accident, pain and suffering might also entail mental misery. Usually, it is computed by dividing the remaining sum of your losses by a number between 1 and 5. Where the injuries are more serious or when the defendant was particularly careless or under the influence, a greater multiplier will be used.
Punitive damages are seldom imposed and can only be given in a courtroom during a trial, not as part of an out-of-court settlement. Punitive damages, as the name implies, are intended to penalize the at-fault party for very careless or repulsive behavior. Punitive damages can benefit the accident victim if the offender has large funds since they must be significant enough to really injure the defendant and deter them from engaging in the same activity.
What Types of Damages Can a Car Accident Lawyer Help You Get?
You might receive compensation for a variety of damages. Probably the most common type of damage would be medical expenses. If you are involved in a catastrophic accident, the costs associated with your medical care will rise rapidly and tremendously. Transportation by ambulance, hospital stays, x-rays, surgeries, prescription drugs, physical therapy, and other costly but typical treatments are utilized following many different sorts of accidents. If your health insurance covers the majority of your medical costs, they could ask the defendant in your case to pay them back. It’s referred to as subrogation. If you don’t have enough health insurance to cover your medical expenses, medical liens may be used to treat you. In this situation, your physicians will ask for payment of their outstanding amount from your personal injury settlement.
Severe accidents can leave victims with lasting disabilities, paralysis, and brain impairments that will have an impact on them for the rest of their lives. As you can’t sue the defendant again if you didn’t ask for enough money the first time, you might need to employ medical specialists to estimate the expense of your medical care over the course of your lifetime.
Compensation for lost pay is another very common personal injury damage. You will probably need to take time out of work to heal if you have major injuries in an accident. You may not have nearly enough hours to last the length of your rehabilitation or you may exhaust your PTO days. In any case, you may be able to get compensation for the lost wages as part of your personal injury claim.
Loss of consortium is another type of damage. These losses may include both the romantic and domestic aspects of your connection with your significant other. For instance, a full-time homemaker wife can get shattered bones and nerve damage in a vehicle accident. Her spouse is now responsible for taking care of all the household duties and kid care while she continues to work full-time outside the home. Her incapacity to have an intimate relationship causes strain in their union. The wife’s personal injury claim may include loss of consortium as one of the damages.
As previously noted, pain and suffering are frequently estimated by multiplying the remaining damages by a value selected based on the circumstances surrounding the event and the injuries. These variables include the kind of injuries sustained, the length of the injury, the quality of life following the accident, and the drugs that have been administered.
Emotional distress and mental anguish may be counted as part of pain and suffering or may be treated separately for calculating damages. Your life may be severely harmed by depression, anxiety, PTSD, and other bad feelings. You might use the costs of your therapist and psychiatrist as a starting point for figuring up these damages.
How Do Personal Injury Lawyers Proceed With the Case?
You might be curious about what to expect from a personal injury lawyer once they begin to proceed with your case.
Assemble Demands
Your lawyer will likely prepare a settlement proposal to be presented to the other party’s attorney or the opposing party’s insurance provider after completing their first investigation and gathering some of the key evidence.
The settlement offer will typically consist of two parts:
- A letter of demand setting up the circumstances of the dispute and demonstrating the defendant’s liability.
- Supplementary records (such as medical bills, police reports, and witness statements).
The goal of the settlement offer is to provide the opposing party a chance to resolve the dispute without having to spend the extra time and money necessary to file a lawsuit.
The opposite side will choose one of three actions upon receipt of the settlement offer:
- Accept the offer of a settlement.
- React by making a counterproposal.
- Reject the proposal.
In the event that the opposing party accepts the offer, your lawyer will prepare a settlement agreement and procure the money. Your lawyer could try to negotiate a settlement without filing a lawsuit if the opposing side makes an acceptable counteroffer. Your lawyer will probably launch a lawsuit if the opposing side rejects the offer or makes an unreasonable counter offer in response.
Sue in Court
Your lawyer will launch a lawsuit if the settlement offer doesn’t result in a settlement. The two different actions required to begin a lawsuit include the submission of a summons and complaint to the relevant court, and serving the defendant with a summons and complaint.
Discovery Process
The pre-trial process in which the plaintiff and defendant exchange evidence is referred to in the law as “discovery.” According to the general rule, a party may ask the opposing side for any information as long as it relates to a dispute in the litigation and is not privileged. Private correspondence between a lawyer and their client is the most typical instance of anything that is protected by privilege.
Negotiation
Your lawyer will keep trying to negotiate a settlement while they gather evidence through discovery. While a smart lawyer isn’t hesitant to go to trial, they are also aware of how costly, stressful, and time-consuming trials can be. As a result, the lawyers in your case will probably try to settle the matter multiple times. In rare situations, the lawyers could include a mediator. The role of the mediator is to assist the parties in coming to a resolution. The mediator is a neutral third party, sometimes a sitting or retired judge.
Pre-Trial
Pre-trial motions request that the court rule on a matter before a trial. Motion in limine, change of venue, move to compel, and motion for summary judgment are a few frequent pre-trial motions.
Trial
Most personal injury claims are resolved before going to trial. But if a settlement cannot be reached, a trial will be the next stage in the legal process. A judge will decide culpability and issue a ruling following the trial.
If you need assistance hiring a personal injury lawyer, the team at Jonathan Perkins Injury Lawyers can help. Get in touch with our team of talented auto accident attorneys today by calling 203-635-0282.
What Practice Areas Does a Personal Injury Lawyer Cover?
A personal injury lawyer will have extensive experience in helping individuals of negligence gain the monetary damages they deserve for a wide range of claims that result from:
- Motor accidents
- Construction site accidents
- Pedestrian accidents
- Uninsured motorist accidents
- Boat, ATV, and recreational vehicle accidents
- Bike accidents
- Defective products, such as equipment, tools, household items, toys, etc.
- Slips, falls, retail accidents, and dog bites.
- Injuries that occur as a result of negligence, such as scars, disfigurement, knee injuries, amputations, spinal injuries, etc.
- Wrongful death
How Can a Personal Injury Lawyer Help You?
There are several ways a personal injury lawyer might benefit you.
They can provide knowledgeable help to start. Personal injury cases are not handled by every legal practice. Pick your legal team wisely. A pedestrian accident lawyer may be excellent at handling finances but worthless at assisting you with a personal injury lawsuit. A personal injury-focused law company will have the tools and backing you need to prevail in your case. Their teams are skilled in handling situations like yours and obtaining the outcomes you deserve.
A pedestrian accident attorney can also aid in your recovery. By handling the administration of your case, your attorney will free you up to concentrate on your recuperation. They know how to get you what you need since they have assisted others in similar circumstances in the past. They can guide you through the system, which can be difficult to understand on your own.
A personal injury lawyer will assist in the probe as well. The last thing you want as you work to heal physically and psychologically is to have to relive the event as you try to figure out what occurred and what to do next. Your attorney can be useful. They will go to the accident scene and acquire the proof you need to win your case. So that you can focus on getting healthier, they will speak with the police and insurance companies on your behalf.
Naturally, a lawyer will assist you by developing your case. To establish a solid case against the perpetrator, your attorney will gather all the evidence, acquire a copy of the accident report, and prepare it. The attorney will attempt to get you the money you are due.
Things That Personal Injury Lawyers Ask Before Taking a Case
Your attorney will ask you questions that directly relate to your case and its background. A few bits of information they might ask for include:
- Any evidence you have of the accident.
- Date and time of the accident.
- Description of the accident.
- Whether or not you admitted fault.
- The police report details.
- The injuries suffered during the accident.
- Where you received treatment and what treatment you received.
- Insurance claim information.
Depending on the nature of your case, your attorney may ask for more detailed information.
How to Hire a Personal Injury Lawyer
Need some tips for hiring a personal injury lawyer? We’re here to help. Luckily, hiring an auto accident attorney is pretty straightforward. When it comes to how to find a personal injury lawyer, you should start by considering your area of law, which would be a specific area of personal injury.
Identify Your Legal Area
You’re not alone if you don’t know where to begin while looking for an attorney. Determine the general field of law for which you need a specialist first. You will be seeking a reputable personal injury attorney if you were hurt in an accident that was either not your fault or not entirely your fault.
Personal injury attorneys defend their clients’ rights to compensation for losses they incurred as a result of incidents that were the fault of others. This may include medical negligence, slip-and-fall incidents, motorbike accidents, automobile accidents, and more. Try to identify a lawyer who specializes in the field of law you require, paying particular attention to experience. For instance, seek a skilled auto accident lawyer if you were injured in a car collision.
Look for Licensed and Accredited Attorneys
The next step is to look for reputable, admitted lawyers in your neighborhood. Do not enter terms like “motor accident lawyer” into Google. While this may lead to local lawyers in your region who are competent, you may also see a flood of paid results for lawyers who may not have the finest qualifications but have the best advertising budget.
Instead, you should think about a lawyer’s background. Search professional groups based on the specialty you want, or do a search inside the Connecticut State Bar Association. Check to discover whether they are board certified in the practice area that pertains to your case. Look at the minimal qualifications for admittance into any professional organizations to which they belong.
This may also offer important information on links in the law. An indication that an attorney is deeply interested in the local legal scene is participation in local bar groups or financial support of political causes.
Investigate Their Past
You need a lawyer with a spotless professional history. The simplest technique to locate one? The Attorney Consumer Assistance Program, run by the Connecticut Bar and its Department of Lawyer Regulation, oversees a state-wide disciplinary system. Visit the Connecticut Bar website to do a public record search on any Connecticut Bar attorney. If you come across a lawyer with a history of misconduct, you might want to avoid them.
Scope Out Their Law Firm
In a personal injury lawsuit, the firm’s age, size, experience, and relationships with doctors and medical expert witnesses pertinent to your case are all crucial. Don’t, however, rush to dismiss tiny businesses. While bigger companies would advertise often on billboards or in radio ads, their prices will almost certainly be higher to cover their expenditures, and you might get less individualized attention for your case.
Look for firms that have a number of testimonials, contacts, and recommendations from local attorneys.
View Client Testimonials
Consider reading client testimonials as an opportunity to interview a motorcycle accident lawyer before agreeing to arrange a consultation. It’s possible to gauge an attorney’s demeanor from former client testimonials – did they come highly recommended? Did they have trouble reaching a consensus on important case-related issues?
The attorney-client relationship is, once more, a private one. Previous clients need to have felt at ease around the lawyer, as well as comforted and emboldened by their abilities. Reviews from previous clients can also shed light on a lawyer’s negotiating skills and case-specific experience. Online reviews are the new word-of-mouth, keep that in mind.
It might be wise to reduce your list of potential attorneys to three to five at this time. From this point, you may take a closer look at each lawyer and gain a better sense of who they are as people.
From here, simply make an appointment for an initial consultation and select the best lawyer you meet.
Things to Ask a Personal Injury Lawyer
There are a few questions to ask when hiring a personal injury lawyer that is worth considering to put your mind at ease and get a feel for the potential accident attorney you will be hiring. Let’s consider a few questions to ask a personal injury lawyer before hiring.
Make sure all of your inquiries are addressed before you select a personal injury attorney:
- How much experience do you have managing cases like mine?
- What degree of courtroom experience do you have?
- If I win, how much money will I receive?
- Who will handle my casework?
- What would it cost you to represent me?
- When and by whom are court expenses paid?
Make a list of additional inquiries before meeting with a lawyer, in addition to the ones we just discussed. You’ll want to prepare yourself as much as you can.
Invest in a Personal Injury Lawyer Who Will Be Passionate About Winning Your Case
Our Connecticut personal injury lawyers at Jonathan Perkins Injury Lawyers have years of combined expertise helping victims of wrongful death, vehicle accidents, medical malpractice, personal injury, workers’ compensation, and nursing facility injuries. With a track record of success in litigating cases involving fatalities and catastrophic injuries, Jonathan Perkins Injury Lawyers is regarded as a leading legal company. Call us at 203-635-0282 if you require assistance right now.
Let our highly skilled accident lawyers lead you through the procedure, defend your rights against the insurance companies, and assist you. Our attorneys will assist you in obtaining the just recompense you require. The personal injury lawyers at Jonathan Perkins Injury Lawyers have successfully defended clients who have suffered life-altering injuries in auto accidents, slip-and-fall incidents involving pedestrians, or due to medical negligence. We know how to best represent your claim in court since we are skilled trial lawyers.
Our good personal injury lawyers have a proven track record of success in personal injury cases. For you to get the care, focus, and outcomes you require, our team has also developed a case management system. We constantly remind clients to schedule doctor appointments and to keep track of all medications, therapies, and other treatments. Every day, our accident attorneys appear in court to guarantee that our clients achieve a fair result. We go above and beyond what is typical for a law office. We can provide transportation for you, for instance, if you lack transportation to the hospital or a doctor’s appointment. We’ll take care of your legal problems so you can focus on getting healthy. Our company consistently defends victims of wrongful death, medical misconduct, and severe personal injuries. Our staff and injury attorneys put out a lot of effort to ensure that we offer superior representation because they care about our clients.
Contact us at Jonathan Perkins Injury Lawyers right away for a free consultation if you or a loved one has been hurt in a tragic accident or due to someone else’s carelessness. You can get in touch with one of our experts by dialing 203-635-0282.