The Personal Injury Lawyer’s Job and How They Can Help Settle Your Lawsuit

Personal injury cases are never easy and one thing every specialized attorney will tell you from the start is that you will never have a chance of representing yourself successfully. You need specialized help. After all, if you have been the victim of an accident or have been affected by negligence, your personal injury case is worth all the attention it can get. The vast majority of personal injury cases are settled before or during trial; only a small percentage of these lawsuits are tried in court and reach a jury verdict.

So, is it to your own benefit to keep the case out of the courtroom and the hands of a jury?  Below you can find out a few industry tips about settlements and how your accidents attorney will help you get them.

When do settlement discussions really start?

Once a civil lawsuit has been filed, serious settlement discussions will not start until the defense attorney has done all of the discovery work- this will include tools like interrogatories and depositions. Insurance companies will rarely if ever want to engage in serious settlement negotiations until they have all of the facts that they need to make a decision. If the case is more complex, everyone will be waiting till the plaintiff’s lawyer has identified the plaintiff’s expert witnesses. In some cases, the defense attorney will file a motion to dismiss the lawsuit, in which case no one may be willing to discuss settlement until after the court rules on the motion. Other times, the defense attorney will be willing to discuss settlement while the court is considering the motion. In settlement negotiations, every case is different.

Who is involved in the settlement discussion?

In discussing settlement, it is the insurance company and the defense attorney who hold all the cards. They are the ones with the money. If they are not ready to talk seriously about settlement, the plaintiff and the plaintiff’s attorney will get nowhere in settlement discussions.

How is the settlement established?

In less significant or smaller injury situations, a settlement may be extremely easy to set up. The lawyers will get in contact and decide on a time for a settlement meeting. If the defense thinks that the demand from the other party was too high, they may involve the insurer who will not make a counteroffer. In such cases, mediation may be necessary.

If the case is rather large and the personal injury significant, mediation will usually be involved. In fact, many courts today require the parties to attend mediation to try to get the case settled

 

Settlement negotiations can go on for a long time, so it is not advisable to get discouraged by it. You should be able to count on your experienced accidents attorney’s advice and experience to make sure your case is on the right track.

Personal Injury Attorney Tips on Using Expert Witnesses

Some of the most complicated cases for a personal injury attorney are medical malpractice ones. If you have been involved in such a medical accident and are looking for settlement, know that an expert witness testimony is essential to winning your case. You may have heard about these experts testifying in court, on behalf of the plaintiff, but how efficient are these experts and where to find them? Below are a few tips.

Fact: You Will Need a Medical Expert, No Matter What

Almost all medical malpractice cases rely on the expertise of such an expert. This is because the facts are usually too complex for non-doctors to determine if the patient’s doctor should be held liable for the patient’s injury.  As your personal injury attorney will explain, some states will even require that you get a medical expert’s opinion before you can initiate a lawsuit.

So what can happen if you ignore this rule? Without a medical expert’s opinion, chances are a judge will dismiss the case or decide the case early. This is because the courts generally consider that the technical information the jury must consider in a medical malpractice case is too complicated to sort through without help.  When a jury is involved, they are not required to adopt the expert opinion 100% but they do have to consider the facts.

So, use the help of your specialize attorney to find an expert to testify on your behalf. These experts are usually not cheap and are hard to find but a good lawyer with a proven track record of personal injury cases will be able to recommend someone.

What Can a Medical Expert’s Testimony Establish?

Generally, there are two questions central to any medical malpractice case: did the medical professional follow the general standard of care and did their failure to follow the standard bring about your injury?

A certified medical expert will give their informed opinion as to whether the doctor being sued lived up to that standard or care. There are no hard-and-fast rules about the standard of care in any given field, so the expert may use evidence like medical publications or medical board guidelines to assist. Another important part in the expert’s testimony is the part where that person must explain to the jury how likely it was that the doctor’s incompetence was actually the cause of the injury you suffered.

Who Is Qualified to Be a Medical Expert?

As your expert attorney will tell you, state rules answer to the above question in different ways. But there are a few general rules that do apply. The expert  can be a specialist in a certain area of expertise pertaining to your case.  An expert might qualify as a specialist through a combination of academic and practical experience, or through board certification.

Accidents Attorney Advice about Construction Workers’ Personal Injury

For an accidents attorney, personal injury cases are the most complex and sometimes hardest to settle. When personal injury occurs at the workplace, the case becomes even more difficult. Nevertheless, the help of a specialized attorney can be crucial in your case. Especially if you work in the construction industry and you are looking to file a claim for personal injury.

Did you know that, besides getting a worker’s compensation, you can also file a civil lawsuit for negligence or product liability?

Below are a few essential tips and a few legal options explained.

The conditions of your workplace injury compensation

If you are injured while doing construction work you are legally eligible for workers’ compensation benefits. The conditions may vary from state to state, but they generally have several elements in common. Among these, the fact that you do not need to prove fault for any party. All you need to be able to prove is that you sustained your injuries at the workplace.

Every accidents attorney will explain that each employer is required to carry workers’ compensation insurance and that through this; your benefits will be paid. Now, a workers’ compensation claim will typically pay for your lost wages, medical treatment and permanent or partial disability.

You can ring a civil lawsuit outside of the workers’ comp

Keep in mind that this legal aspect depends on the rules of the state where the incident occurred and on the particular circumstances of your personal injury. Many construction workers typically work with subcontractors and vendors, which means that often there will be other people on a job site- people like engineers and architects or even suppliers, some of them operating heavy machinery or even driving trucks. If you are injured due to the negligence of one of those persons, you may have a claim for damages against not only that individual, but also that person’s employer.

As a specialized lawyer will explain, these actions traditionally take the form of a classic lawsuit with the same rules and procedures. Success largely depends on you being able to prove a few things:

–          another person had a professional duty to act in a reasonable and safe manner in regards to you; they failed to perform it

–          your injury came as a result of that negligence

Some situations involving professional negligence from another party include: falling from a scaffolding that wasn’t properly erected, badly designed equipment leading to injury, electric shocks happening from defective equipment, reckless driving on the scene, that leads to an accident, the collapse of a structure, toxic leaks or spills due to faulty equipment.

There are many aspects to personal injuries happening in the construction industry, so if you have been injured and are seeking compensation, the best advice anyone can give you is to find legal help.

Personal Injury Claims: What Are the Key Elements to a Defamation Trial?

While many don’t consider it as such, a defamation or slander claim is actually a personal injury case. A specialized attorney will help you understand what such a legal action entails. Below are a few useful pieces of info.

What is a defamatory statement?

This is a false statement negligently and publicly communicated to a third party, that can bring about personal injury or damage to the subject of the communication. There are many types of defamation and generally libel and slander are different types. While slander is an oral statement, libel is written.

A personal injury lawyer will explain that a statement is defamatory if it holds the plaintiff up to ridicule, contempt or disgrace in the eyes of the community. In some US states, certain types of statements will be automatically considered defamatory.  These include statements that:

  • The plaintiff had a terrible disease
  • He or she has committed an immoral act
  • The plaintiff is incompetent from a professional standpoint

What is the difference between opinion and defamation?

Legally speaking, a defamatory statement is that statement which actually elicits a fact. An opinion cannot be defamatory.  It is all depending on who you say it to and how you say it, implying that someone did something bad by phrasing it as an opinion can be defamatory. There are many aspects here that the law leaves for attorney’s interpretation but overall, gray area statements are the ones that have most chances of being qualified as defamation.

Another important aspect of a defamatory statement is that it must have been made to a third party.

There is also another crucial aspect that one should consider in a defamation trial. The person making the statement had to have acted inappropriately in some way.  Thus, a person can be found liable if:

–          They knew the statement was false

–          They acted with a negligent disregard of a statement’s truth value

Defamation of a public figure, is that a different legal case?

In legal terms, the difference between defamation of a public figure versus defamation of a private person is quite simple to explain. A private person who claims defamation will need to be able to prove the defamer acted negligently when making a certain statement. A public figure has to prove the act was intentional.

A plaintiff in a defamation case is entitled to receive damages for any actual personal injuries incurred as a result of the defamatory statement and this includes moral damage. Other damages may include lost wages, pain, suffering as well as personal humiliation and loss of reputation.

Personal Injury Attorney Tips: A Few Things about Assault and Battery

It is a known fact that most personal injury cases are the result of a kind of accident, either a car crash, a negligence situation of a slip and fall incident. This isn’t all to be said about personal injury cases, though. A less more frequent but still very common kind involve intentional torts, that is situations in which one person intended to cause harm to another person.

An accidents attorney will be able to help you file a claim in court, in case you were the victim of such an act, but will your case be going to civil or criminal court? Let us look closer at personal injury claims for intentional tort.

The interesting thing is the same type of conduct can both lead to criminal and civil liability. Legally speaking, battery and assault are part of the intentional torts category. In these situations, they can serve as base for civil lawsuits, usually solved by the perpetrator paying financial damages. But if the case is considered criminal assault, state prosecution will follow, and the attacker can face jail time.

What does “assault and battery” legally entail?

Criminal and civil assault and battery will have almost the same definition. The thing to keep in mind is that every US state has different criminal statuses and these vary slightly in their definition of crimes.

Generally speaking, assault involves action or a threat of action, by which one person puts another person in imminent bodily harm.  Battery is considered the logical result of an assault. Legally speaking, assault turns into battery when physical touching is involved.  For instance, if someone has only raised a fist at you, placing you in imminent punching danger, that person has assaulted you. But if the punch was not thrown and in no way connected to your body, that cannot be considered battery.

A few things about civil cases

Civil assault and battery are actually considered torts which means a wrong was done by one party against another, causing some sort of damage. Most of the civil battery cases are the result of an act of negligence. This is why an accidents attorney will explain that in court, a regular tort will not take the intent of the perpetrator into consideration. An intentional tort is a totally different situation and it can usually be at the basis of a criminal case, as they can result in false imprisonment, fraud or slander.

Generally, keep in mind that battery and assault are considered criminal actions when there are actual laws preventing this kind of behavior.  A person can be found non-guilty of such an intentional crime, but can still be found civilly liable and be forced to pay damages arising out of the same incident.

As battery and assault cases are generally considered more difficult, in case you were the victim of such an act, the best thing would be to first contact a specialized personal injury attorney.

Personal Injury Lawyer FAQ: How Much Is Your Workers Compensation Case Worth

If you sustained a serious injury at your place of work, you may be already looking to obtain workers’ compensation, without knowing exactly what this entails. There are slight differences in workers’ compensation laws from state to state, but basically the process is similar: you file a claim, this is reviewed for validity and, if approved, you begin collecting a monthly benefit. You may however be wondering how much this case of workers’ compensation is actually worth and will it be enough to cover medical bills and make up for lost wages?
There’s no simple answer to that. A lot of factors and details influence the amount you’ll end up getting out of your settlement. But understanding those factors could give you a sense of what to expect.

1. Severity of the injury

To begin with, benefit amounts will largely differ from one case to another, and this is largely depending on how severe an injury has been. In cases where an employee is left totally unfit for working duties, there will be a benefit calculated according to a fixed formula. If your injury limits your capacity to work without depriving you of it, the benefit will be calculated according to a rating system and you will be entitled to wage differential benefits.

2. State law

There may be some differences in the way the benefit amount is established from state to state. There is general consensus among most states that a worker rendered unfit for work is entitled to up to two-thirds of his average weekly income. In most states, however, the benefit amount is limited by a set average income.

3. Insurance company policy

In theory, workers’ compensation law is meant to provide quick and efficient compensation for medical bills and lost wages in the event of an injury sustained at work. From the insurance companies’ vantage point, it should make up for the minimum medical care and a certain amount of lost wages. Therefore, they may try to approach you and offer you a smaller settlement, thinking you’ll be desperate enough to accept it.
Be sure to consult with a personal injury lawyer before considering such an offer. A specialized lawyer can give you a clearer understanding of what your workers’ compensation case is really worth and ensure you won’t settle for less. A competent personal injury lawyer will take into consideration these and other factors (your age, education, personal injuries and your chances of physical and psychological recovery, your wages and work history) to give you a rough estimate of what you can hope for in compensation. If you enlist his help, he will assess the case as if it were going to trial, gather evidence and witnesses and may assist you in recovering more for your claim.
Bear in mind that a statute of limitations applies, so it is important to file for workers compensation as soon as you can. The longer you wait, the more likely you will be suspected of fraud when you do file a workers’ compensation claim.