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A personal injury lawyer is an individual who helps someone who has been injured in an accident due to the negligence of another, to recover compensation for their injuries and property damage. A personal injury lawyer should have a great deal of experience in handling such claims.
Personal injury claims happen when one person is injured due to the negligence of another person or entity. Examples of personal injury accidents include:
If you or someone you love was injured in an accident that was not their fault, then you should reach out to a skilled personal injury attorney. The initial consultation with a personal injury attorney at Schuelke Law is free.
When someone is involved in an accident, they may not survive their injuries, which means the personal injury case then becomes a wrongful death claim. For this reason, it is vital that you contact an attorney right away.
Personal injury accidents can get complicated. Do not communicate with the insurance companies, including engaging in settlement negotiations and possible lawsuits alone. Speak to a qualified personal injury attorney so they can get you the compensation you deserve.
At Schuelke Law, we handle several different kinds of cases, all of which are classified as personal injury accidents. That includes car accidents, truck accidents, wrongful death, brain injuries, and dog attacks.
A personal injury claim comes about when someone has been injured due to the negligence of another person or entity. Personal injuries can involve bites, broken limbs, amputations, burns, and a variety of other wounds varying from traumatic brain injury to paralysis. A serious personal injury can also result in death, which would then involve a wrongful death claim.
It is important to know that every case a personal injury lawyer handles is different. While the details may sound similar, the outcome varies from case to case. Additionally, every state has its own set of rules, regulations, statutes, and laws to deal with personal injury accidents. And while each accident involves an injury or several injuries, these wounds affect each person differently and impact their lives differently.
Your personal injury attorney has deep experience in personal injury and negligence cases and knows what your legal rights are. You may be entitled to compensation and a personal injury attorney knows how to evaluate your injuries and take your case to a settlement or trial.
If you get hurt in an accident, immediately seek medical care and get your injuries assessed and treated. Try to get names, addresses, and other contact information from those involved in your accident, or from those who may have observed your accident, and provide that information to your personal injury attorney.
If you can get pictures of the accident scene, do so. If you can get pictures of your injuries before and after the crash, take as many as possible. Keep all medical bills. Write your experience down in your own words. Get a traffic accident report from the police.
Video what you can, particularly the accident scene and where the vehicles involved in a collision came to rest. If your accident was a slip and fall, still get pictures of the location and anything else that your personal injury attorney may need. Make it a point to connect with an experienced personal injury attorney to find out what your legal rights are, what options are open to you, what you may expect as an outcome, and what your attorney needs from you to assist in building a successful lawsuit. Do not wait to connect with an attorney, as the first few days after an accident are crucial when it comes to collecting information, pictures, documents, medical information, and eyewitness testimony.
Unless you have a deep knowledge of the law, the rules, regulations, statutes, and other legal experience in taking a case to court, you are not going to be able to represent yourself in a personal injury case. To do so could mean losing the case, receiving much less than your case could have been worth if handled properly, and once your case is done, it is done. You cannot revisit a loss.
The first consultation with a personal injury attorney about an accident or death is free and you can ask all the questions you need to ask to find out what is likely to happen when you move forward to file a personal injury case.
The first thing that is critically important is proving that there was negligence and that the negligence resulted in an accident. An attorney works to show that the defendant acted without reasonable care and because they did, the plaintiff was injured. This addresses the four elements that need to be proven to win a case. Those elements are:
In Texas, a lawyer can prove the defendant had a legal duty toward the plaintiff in two ways, special duty and duty of care. Your attorney may discuss that with you when you go over the details of your case. The circumstances of the case and the personal relationship, if any, the plaintiff had with the defendant lays the foundation for a case.
Proving a duty was contravened means showing the defendants did not meet that legal duty and showing how they failed to do so. Proving the plaintiff’s injuries means showing emotional and/or bodily harm. Emotional harm is difficult to prove, but skilled attorneys know full well the emotional toll of an accident on a plaintiff.
Once a plaintiff proves that there was a duty, the plaintiff must then prove how the defendant violated that duty. That is typically shown by proving: (1) that the defendant took an action that an ordinarily prudent person would not have done; or (2) the defendant failed to take an affirmative action that an ordinarily prudent person would have taken.
Once the plaintiff shows that the defendant violated the duty, the plaintiff must show that the violation of that duty caused harm or injury to the plaintiff.
Under no circumstances should you discuss your accident with an insurance company representative. If they contact you, refer them to your attorney and leave it at that. They should never call you directly but are adept at getting a claimant to settle early under pressure from the company. If you do not have an attorney when they call you, say you are in the process of hiring one and have nothing to say to them. Let them know the attorney is going to handle your case and call them.
Do not discuss the accident, your injuries, your past accidents or other injuries you may have had, or any other insurance claims you may have had. Do not post anything on social media. Do not post pictures of your accident or comment on it in any way. Do not continue the conversation with the other side’s insurance company once you have stated you have or are hiring an attorney.
If you do not have an attorney, reach out to Schuelke Law for your free initial consultation and case evaluation. During this appointment, you can freely discuss your accident. Your attorney will evaluate the situation and tell you if you have a legitimate case. From there, you can discuss how to proceed.
While there is a possibility of the case going to court, many settle out of court. Approximately 2 percent of all personal injury cases end up going to trial. Each case is different. While some may settle quickly, others can take a long time to reach an equitable conclusion. Your attorney will keep you up to date on all information as it arises.
Proportionate responsibility means that if the plaintiff is at fault for most damages, they may not recover any damages in their case. If a plaintiff is partially at fault, their damages are reduced by the percentage of fault attributed to them.
Catastrophic injuries are permanent, and survivors may deal with the following for the rest of their lives:
Treatment for catastrophic injuries is varied. However, the course of treatment depends on the nature and severity of your injuries. You may face a variety of interventional treatments, including emergency medical care to stave off the injury worsening, operations, various medications, physical therapy and rehabilitation to help restore or retain mobility, and skin grafts.
Special damages are those that are relatively easy to calculate and often have a dollar amount attached to them. Special damages are the easier, more straightforward side of compensatory damages.
Special damages can include medical bills, because they offer a firm dollar amount. Lost income can also be classified as special damages, as it can easily be calculated, as can out-of-pocket expenses, property damages and property loss. Put another way, special damages are easily figured out without too much debate.
General damages are typically more subjective and not always easy to quantify and include:
There are several methods of calculating general damages. One is the multiplier method that figures out general damages by multiplying the total of the special damages by a number that depends on how serious the plaintiff’s injuries happen to be.
Other cases may use a per diem calculation that attaches a dollar value to every day the victim/plaintiff suffered and then add the value of the days together. Courts have even been known to use a mix of both methods to calculate damages. If the injuries sustained are serious, general damages tend to be higher. If the injuries are considered to be minor, the damages tend to be lower.
Some personal injury claims have a significant impact on plaintiffs. The definition of a catastrophic injury, is one where the consequences are that the person is permanently injured and can no longer work or maintain a job. Catastrophic physical injuries affect victims on many levels, including emotional, psychological and physical. They also are noted for enormous medical bills. While some victims may be able to retrain to perform another job, a large number have severe cognitive and/or physical impairments preventing them from working.
Common types of catastrophic injuries include, but are not limited to the following:
It is important to focus first and foremost on your medical care and healing. However, if your accident was the direct result of someone else’s negligence, you need a personal injury attorney to help you file your claim. Negligence that caused an accident and resulted in injuries can typically be dealt with via a settlement conference with the insurer or if that process does not resolve your case and provide a settlement, then the case may be taken to trial.
Do not attempt to file your own claim or deal with any insurance companies. They are not your friend and their first objective is to reduce your claim and try to get you to settle for less than what you are likely to get in a settlement if you have legal counsel or at trial.
The short answer here is, “Yes, hire an experienced personal injury attorney” because it protects you and your legal rights and can result in obtaining fair and equitable compensation for any injuries and damages incurred in a collision or another type of accident.
You need to consider hiring skilled counsel because you cannot pursue a claim on your own for damages and come out with a just amount of compensation. Unless you have an experienced car accident attorney, the insurance company is going to ride roughshod over you to get you to settle quickly and for a low amount.
There are several things that can happen if you do not have an experienced personal injury lawyer. First, the insurance company may try to quickly settle your claim by paying an unreasonably low amount before you understand how fully you are hurt. If you settle at that point, you are giving up your rights to make future claims once you understand how badly you’re hurt. And under Texas law, even an agreement over the phone can be enforceable, and you can give up your rights that way. Second, insurance companies may want to just delay your claim. The longer they hold onto your money, the longer they have it invested and the more investment income they earn off of your money. Finally, if you don’t have an experienced personal injury lawyer, you don’t have the threat to file suit and taking them to a jury trial. That is the ultimate bargaining power, and without an experienced personal injury lawyer, you don’t have that power.
In the wake of a crash, insurance company lawyers and claims adjusters are already gathering evidence to use against you. They want to shift the liability to anyone else they can. An experienced personal injury lawyer can help you gather that information on your behalf and can help you avoid making mistakes that might hurt the liability assessment or the claim about your damages.
At Schuelke Law, we understand how frightening an accident is and what it’s like to try to pull the pieces of your life back together. We’re here to help you every step of the way. Call us today for a free legal consultation.
An insurance company is not looking out for your best interests. They are looking out for theirs and accordingly, they work to reduce your claim as much as possible, if not deny it. They may sound and act like they are on your side and are going to help you by settling the case early and quickly, but they are not protecting your interests. In fact, many companies engage in a tactic we call “swoop and settle” to come in and settle with injured persons for a small amount very early on before the person knows how bad they are hurt or otherwise knows their rights.
Insurance companies make money from people paying premiums. This builds up the company profits and encourages them to pay you, the personal injury victim, as little as possible to protect their profits. If they do convince you to settle, you are likely giving up your rights to fair compensation, because once you sign on the dotted settlement line, you cannot ever reopen your claim. This is one of the major reasons why it is best to have a personal injury attorney speak on your behalf while dealing with the insurance company.
If the insurance company calls you, do not speak to them. Just refer them to your attorney, or if you do not have an attorney when they call, inform them that you are in the process of hiring one and that the attorney is going to return their call. Do not discuss the accident at all. Refuse to talk about it and do not respond to questions about it. It is your lawyer’s job to protect your rights. Speak only to your lawyer.