Personal injuries should not have to be a part of your own daily life. You are not meant to bear the risk of someone else’s lack of care. Regardless of whether they meant to injure you, others can be held legally responsible for the damages that they caused you. When that happens, they will pay you compensation. First, you need to go through the personal injury process. This means hiring an experienced lawyer who can press your case and work for the most possible compensation.
At Spaulding Injury Law, we help people just like you when they have sustained injuries at the hands of someone else. We help clients with the following types of cases:
- Car Accidents
- Motorcycle Accidents
- Pedestrian Accidents
- Truck Accidents
- Brain Injury
- Back and Neck Injury
- Slip and Falls
- Product Liability
- Dog Bites
- MARTA Accidents
- Drunk Driving Accidents
- Boating Accidents
- Lyft and Uber Accidents
- Wrongful Death
As an accident victim, personal injury compensation does not happen overnight. The responsible party does not just deposit a check into your account. A settlement check or jury award is something that you are made to work for before they can happen. The defendant and their insurance company often do everything that they can to keep you from recovering financially for the full value of your injuries. The legal process is not necessarily designed to be in your favor, even if the law is. Hiring an experienced Crabapple personal injury attorney is one way to level the playing field.
How the Personal Injury Process Works
There are two major parts of every personal injury process:
- Proving that someone else was at fault for your injuries
- Negotiating the amount of compensation that you legally deserve
Each of these steps benefits from the expertise that an experienced personal injury lawyer could bring.
Proving Negligence in Your Case
In every personal injury case (except for product liability claims that have their own special rules), the requirement for compensation is that you prove negligence. The burden of proof is on you, meaning that you will be paid if you cannot show that it is more likely than not that someone else caused your injuries. This standard puts you in a position of needing to gather evidence that backs up your side of the story. Without it, you will not have a case. The problem is that you are injured and not experienced in how the personal injury system works. An attorney knows the evidence that you need and how to get it.
Once your lawyer has the evidence, they will argue why the other party was negligent. This is a legal term for acting unreasonably under the circumstances. Essentially, your attorney would compare what the defendant did with what the average person would do to show how the defendant did something wrong. For example, a reasonable person follows all the traffic laws and does not run red lights.
Damages in Your Personal Injury Case
If you are able to show that you are entitled to money, you can begin to talk about the compensation that you can get. In some cases, securing the right amount of compensation could be an even heavier lift than proving liability. You are dealing with an insurance company that has every incentive in the world to write checks that are as small as possible.
However, nobody can take away your legal right to receive full payment for your damages. The law says that if you suffered damages, the defendant must pay for them, regardless of the type of damages they are.
In general, there are two ways that you would suffer. First, you could be harmed financially. You may have to pay accident-related costs, or your injuries can keep you from earning money. These are known as economic damages.
Second, you could also suffer physically and mentally after an accident. Personal injuries are traumatic and stressful. They cause discomfort and anxiety. In some cases, they can permanently change your life. If you have been injured, you have been subjected to an experience because of what someone else did. You can also be paid for your non-economic damages. These include:
- Pain and suffering
- Emotional trauma
- Loss of enjoyment of life
In very rare instances, you may be able to get punitive damages when the defendant has acted extremely badly and a very angry jury wants to punish them. However, these are the exceptions rather than the norm.
What Happens After You Have Been Injured in an Accident
The legal process does not always begin when you call a lawyer. An insurance company may begin trying to pressure you right after the accident. You cannot wait to make the call. When you do contact an attorney, they will learn more about your case and begin to lay out the options for how you can receive compensation. Then, they will get to work investigating your case and beginning to build the evidence,
You will either file an insurance claim or a lawsuit in civil court to try to get the money that you deserve. Most personal injury cases will settle without the need for a trial. However, it takes work and determination to reach that point, as well as an attorney who can cut through the red tape. You may be up against a powerful defendant or an insurance company trying to make your life difficult. In the end, it is the law that matters. When someone else is responsible for your injury, the law is on your side.
Call a Crabapple Personal Injury Attorney Today
When you have been injured in an accident, Spaulding Injury Lawyers is here and prepared to fight for you. Contact us at (470) 509-5772 or fill out a form online to schedule your free initial consultation. We can help reduce some of the stress and worry that you are feeling by handling the details of your legal process. The first step to holding someone accountable and getting paid for your injuries is coming forward and contacting an experienced lawyer.
