You can file a personal injury claim when you suffer a social, emotional, or bodily injury. If someone hits you, causes you a lot of emotional distress, or even makes defamatory statements about you, you may be able to seek damages. This could involve paying for counseling, paying for medical bills, or other costs.
Personal injury claim categories include:
In most personal injury cases, the goal is to ensure the injured party is adequately paid for whatever losses they may have incurred. The goal is to restore the injured party’s health.
What Kind of Injuries Are Covered by Personal Injury Claims?
A plaintiff’s injuries may impact their physical or mental well-being. Accidents can result in physical and mental suffering.
Physical harm can be done to body parts such as limbs, organs, and others. A personal injury plaintiff’s injury need not show up right away; it could take time to emerge.
Personal injury claims may be based on any of the following incidents or accidents:
- Construction accidents,
- Animal attacks,
- Dog bites,
- Defective products (class actions),
- Elder abuse,
- Nursing facility abuse,
- Premises liability,
- Product liability injuries,
- Toxic exposure (class actions),
- Unsafe pharmaceuticals (class actions), and
- Wrongful death
Numerous things can go wrong and cause an accident. Examining accident statistics might help a person be more prepared and stop accidents before they happen.
What Is a Claim for Intentional Injury?
When a defendant knowingly hurts a plaintiff, it is considered an intentional injury. Intentional harm occurs when a defendant commits violence, assault, or false imprisonment. Any damaging or offensive contact with another is considered an unauthorized battery.
Attacks can be divided into two categories. An unfinished battery is the first. A battery may not have fully charged if, among other things, someone stopped it.
Another type of assault is the defendant putting the victim in immediate danger of offensive or dangerous contact, such as by threatening to injure them immediately. False incarceration is when someone is restrained against their will.
What Is a Negligence-Related Personal Injury Claim?
In a negligence action, it is alleged that the defendant violated a duty of care that it owes to the plaintiff, causing harm to the plaintiff. The plaintiff has established a negligence claim by proving that this breach led to the harm.
Depending on the situation, a plaintiff is owed a duty of care. A defendant must exercise the same level of caution as a reasonable person in the circumstances.
A defendant must obey all traffic laws when operating a vehicle on a public route during good weather.
The defendant is under more obligation when this kind of circumstance occurs. This entails using the right level of caution given the weather. Reduce your driving speed, clean the windshield, and turn on your headlights and taillights.
Whether a plaintiff owes a duty of care is decided by the likelihood of harm developing if the duty is not upheld. The following inquiry can be used to assess if the plaintiff is due a duty of care: Would someone in the defendant’s shoes have known the plaintiff would sustain such harm?
If the answer is “yes,” the defendant has a duty of care to the plaintiff. By failing to uphold that duty, the defendant injured and damaged the plaintiff.
If the response is “no,” then there is no obligation, and the defendant cannot be considered negligent.
How to Respond If You Get Hurt in an Accident
Numerous actions you may take if you are hurt will increase the likelihood that your injuries will heal.
Soon Following an Accident
For any injuries, get medical attention at once.
If you’re feeling up to it, speak with prospective accident witnesses to collect their contact information.
Make your own notes about it as quickly as possible after the incident. Include any pertinent information, such as what was happening just before it happened, what you were doing, and your thoughts that might be beneficial in the future.
Following the Accident
Contact the witnesses, any parties involved, and your insurance carrier.
You must notify your homeowner’s or auto insurance that you will be making a claim if either of those policies covers the occurrence. The majority of insurance companies demand that you give them notice within a specific window of time.
Make contact with everyone who saw the collision. Their statements must be recorded, and you must make sure they are accessible in case they are required in the future.
If there is any evidence you could not obtain or did not notice during the occurrence, go back to the scene and collect it. If the accident happened at night, take pictures outside. Take photos from a variety of perspectives. Speak to those who frequent the area; perhaps they can provide details on previous accidents that have taken place there.
Use photos or a daily journal to record your injuries and progress during your rehabilitation.
Include any information you have regarding your capacity to work or perform daily activities.
Make careful to maintain all medical records or obtain copies of them. Be thorough and upfront with all medical personnel to ensure that your injuries are appropriately recorded in their records.
Advice for Particular Accident Types
Consider the fault of any other person at the site of a vehicle accident, including any other drivers or pedestrians who were not directly engaged in the collision. Consider whether the upkeep of the roads or the traffic lights also played a role.
If a product caused you harm, think about who was at fault—the product’s creator, the manufacturer, the distributor, and the seller—as well as how the product was handled between the time you bought it and the time you were hurt.
If you were wounded in a “slip and fall” event, think about who might be at fault: the owner, tenant, or employee of the building or establishment.
What Sorts of Damages Can a Judge Give a Plaintiff Who Has Been Injured?
The wounded plaintiff is entitled to compensation if they can establish that the defendant was negligent or willful and that liability exists. According to the law, a plaintiff is entitled to two forms of damages: compensation for the injury’s direct effects and its indirect effects.
Law officially recognizes this distinction. According to the law, compensating damages come in two different forms: general and special damages.
Damages for the injury itself are known as general damages. This covers discomfort, mental agony, and trauma.
General harms are difficult to put a monetary number on. In order to put a dollar amount on these damages, an expert witness—such as a doctor or psychiatrist—must give testimony.
Special damages are meant to make up for a particular effect of an injury. Medical costs and wage loss are specific repercussions.
These things may have a particular monetary value. A pay stub or a record of a plaintiff’s wages might be used to calculate the amount lost as a result of an injury if a doctor’s bill indicates that payment is due.
The plaintiff will receive special damages to pay the expenditures that their insurance, Medicare, or Medicaid did not cover.
Should I Get in Touch with a Lawyer?
You might not have to pay your lawyer up front if you engage them. Hiring a lawyer can reduce the stress associated with filing a lawsuit while increasing the likelihood of a just recovery. If you have been hurt, a personal injury attorney can assist you in analyzing your case.
