When motorists, property owners, other individuals, companies, and even government entities behave negligently, their actions could cause accidents that result in injury to others. Victims who have suffered personal injuries because of another’s negligence might be eligible to seek financial compensation from the liable party through a personal injury claim or lawsuit.
The skilled Buford personal injury lawyers of Spaulding Injury Law have extensive experience with filing personal injury claims and lawsuits on behalf of injured victims to make certain that they receive the compensation they require for full recovery following an accident.
Injuries Compensable in Personal Injury Cases
If you suffer injuries in any kind of accident through no fault of your own, your injuries will be compensated as part of a personal injury claim. In general, the resulting injuries are more severe following a more serious accident. Among the most common personal injuries from which personal injury claims are founded include:
- Soft tissue injuries, such as serious contusions, strains, and sprains
- Multiple bone fractures
- Back and spinal cord injuries
- Head and brain injuries
- Amputations
- Disfiguring burns
- Internal injuries, including internal bleeding and organ damage
- Death
If an accident that resulted in another individual’s negligence injured you, you can count on our Buford personal injury lawyers to investigate your case, figure out the parties responsible for your damages, and ensure that you receive proper compensation suitable for your losses. Likewise, if a family member was killed in an accident caused by another individual, we can also hold the at-fault party liable through a wrongful death claim.
Recovering Damages and Compensation in a Personal Injury Case
Injured victims could seek monetary compensation by filing a personal injury claim or lawsuit against the at-fault parties responsible for their losses. The case will then be resolved through a personal injury settlement, arbitration, mediation, or a jury verdict.
The specific types of damages and associated amounts for which injured victims might receive compensation would be dependent on the following:
- The exact extent and nature of the injuries
- The accident’s severity
- The level of medical treatment and care you had to undergo for your injuries
- The existence of any injury (resulting from the accident) that might cause you to suffer permanent or lifelong disabilities or impairment
- The extent of your physical and emotional pain and suffering
- The possibility that you will need to undergo more medical treatments in the future
For instance, a soft tissue injury, such as a muscle strain or sprain, will not be compensated as much as a severe fracture or spinal cord injury that you sustained in a motor vehicle accident. In addition, if you sustained permanent injuries, you will be entitled to a higher compensation amount.
Injured victims might be eligible to obtain monetary compensation for the following damages:
- Medical expenses, including past and future medical-related bills
- Previous and future lost income
- Lost earning capacity
- Pain and suffering
- Mental anguish and distress
- Loss of life enjoyment
- Loss of companionship or consortium
It is, however, vital to note that to successfully recover the losses or damages you are claiming to have suffered, are still suffering from, or have yet to suffer, you must demonstrate that the accident caused your injuries and related losses.
Proving Negligence in a Personal Injury Case
In a personal injury case, injured victims, called plaintiffs, have the burden of proof. This means that the defendants, which are the people or entities that are being sued by the plaintiff, will not have to prove anything. Generally speaking, injured victims must be able to show that the defendant or at-fault party was negligent and that the defendant’s negligent actions were the proximate and direct cause of the accident and the injuries sustained by the victims. To prove negligence, the injured victim must prove these elements of negligence:
Duty of Care
You must be able to show that the party liable for the accident and resulting injuries owed you a legal duty of care. For instance, all motorists owe all other road users, including pedestrians near or on the road, a legal duty to drive their vehicles in a reasonably careful, safe, and prudent manner every time they go out on the road.
Similarly, property owners are legally obligated to make sure that their property doesn’t have any defects or hazards and that they repair, replace, or warn about known defects and dangers that wouldn’t be clearly obvious to visitors upon reasonable assessment. In addition, manufacturers and sellers of products have a legal responsibility to properly design, manufacture, and test products before they make them available for public consumption.
Breached Duty
You should also show that the at-fault party violated or breached the reasonable duty of care owed to you and engaged in unreasonable actions under the circumstances. In a car accident case, for example, the negligent driver could have been drunk, speeding, or violated a traffic rule, or a restaurant owner/manager did not clean up a spilled drink in time, causing the slip and fall of a customer who suffered serious injuries.
Put simply, if an individual or entity violates the law and causes injury to another individual, that violation could be enough to establish a breach of duty in a personal injury claim.
Causation
Injured victims must likewise show proof that the accident and the injuries resulting from it would not have happened without the liable party’s negligent or careless acts. Additionally, they must demonstrate that the accident occurred as a direct consequence of the liable party’s negligent actions.
Damages
Finally, injured victims must provide proof that they have sustained some kind of personal injury and that this injury was a direct result of the accident caused by the at-fault party.
Reach Out to Our Skilled Buford Personal Injury Lawyers Today
If another individual or entity’s negligent acts resulted in an accident that consequently hurt you or a loved one, the experienced Buford personal injury lawyers of Spaulding Injury Law could help you with seeking compensation for all your accident-connected losses. To arrange a free consultation of your case with one of our Buford personal injury lawyers, you can call us at 770-874-8891 or fill out our online contact form.
