Personal injury laws provide coverage for injuries sustained by both people and businesses resulting from medical negligence, automobile accidents and product liability claims. Personal injury tort law encompasses non-property related bodily and mental injuries sustained through non-property related torts such as personal injuries.
To win a personal injury suit, you must establish that the defendant violated legal duties that resulted in injuries and damages to yourself and others. There are certain steps every personal injury lawsuit takes from its overall perspective.
Statute of Limitations
Every legal case contains a statute of limitations deadline, setting forth rules on when someone may file suit following an accident or injury, to avoid evidence deterioration, witnesses dying off and memories fading over time. Furthermore, too much time elapsed renders claims or defense harder to prove or defend against.
Under New York law, injured parties typically have three years to file their personal injury suit in court. Failing to do so typically results in dismissal by the court as well as preventing them from receiving court-ordered damages. There may be exceptions; for instance if someone involved was not of sound mind at the time of an accident or when their injuries weren’t discovered until later on. These exceptions will pause the statute of limitations countdown timer.
Damages
A personal injury lawsuit’s purpose is to restore an injured party to as close to normal after they experience significant physical, emotional or financial distress due to an accident. That money awarded by a court after winning their lawsuit is called damages.
Damages may include reimbursement of medical expenses, compensation for lost wages and property loss, as well as payments for pain and suffering. A person’s attorney will determine exactly how much money a person should receive in compensation according to their losses.
Sometimes personal injury claims are filed even against wrongdoers who lack insurance or only possess minimal coverage. Even then, it’s still possible to file and receive compensatory damages from a judge or jury for negligence, recklessness, or intentional wrongdoing. Thompson Law’s experienced lawyers know how to place value on non-economic damages such as disfigurement, loss of consortium and emotional distress when negotiating fair settlements for our clients.
Preparing a Case
Work closely with your attorney to collect all pertinent evidence in support of your case, such as medical bills, documentation of missed work/lost wages and any communication from insurance companies or other parties involved in your claim. These pieces of evidence can help prove your losses and prove who was at fault for causing you harm.
Causation must also be established. This means showing that the defendant’s actions or inactions caused your injuries directly, regardless of any indirect effects they may have had. Proving causation can be complex depending on your case; for example, you may need to demonstrate that without defendant conduct your injuries would not have taken place; that the harm you experienced from their conduct was foreseen as being caused by them; this is called “proximate cause.” Additionally, losses must also be compensable under personal injury law, including both economic and non-economic losses.
Filing a Claim
Personal injury law encompasses several areas, but most specifically personal injury helps clients recover damages from individuals or corporations responsible for physical, emotional, or reputational harm to themselves and others. This broad area is commonly known as tort law.
Damages for those injured in accidents often include both economic losses, like medical bills and lost income, as well as non-economic ones like pain and suffering and changes to quality of life. When trying to put value on such damages, it’s vitally important that an experienced attorney be hired.
Personal injury cases frequently settle without going to trial; however, in some instances litigation must occur and may involve either a jury trial or arbitration hearings – with arbitration hearings typically being quicker and cheaper than full trials; both parties and their attorneys agreeing upon an arbitrator who will serve as their point-person to settle disputes within their cases; often these arbiters are retired judges or lawyers with extensive experience who serve as arbitrators.