Personal injuries generally center around who or what caused the incident. If another party caused the event, injuries, and financial losses, they might support a personal injury case.
These are a type of civil case that allows victims to recover compensation and hold the at-fault individual or group accountable. A member of our legal team at Morris Bart in Birmingham can help you learn if your injury qualifies as a personal injury and if it supports an insurance claim or lawsuit.
Common Types of Personal Injury Accidents
The lawyers at Morris Bart have years of experience working on a range of personal injury cases. Some types of incidents that you may want to contact our attorney’s office about include:
- Car, truck, or motorcycle collisions
- Pedestrian or bicycle accidents
- Falls and other premises liability incidents
- Pool accidents
- Boat accidents or offshore injuries
- Dog bites and other animal attacks
- Dangerous drugs
- Defective product injuries
- Medical malpractice
- Birth injuries
- Workers’ compensation
- Wrongful death
If you are unsure as to whether your accident fits into one of these types of cases or if it’s filed through as civil court, one of our law firm representatives can help.
For a free legal consultation, call 800-537-8185
How Can Someone Be Liable in a Personal Injury?
In personal injury lawsuits, the defendant faces legal responsibility for an accident that caused the plaintiff to suffer physical and financial harm. There are three reasons why another person or party may be responsible for someone else’s accident and damages. These include:
Negligence
This concept refers to when the liable party acted carelessly or recklessly, often violating a law, code, regulation, or safety rule. These actions lead to accidents, injuries, and financial losses.
Negligence can be a factor in many different scenarios, including car accidents, product liability, medical malpractice cases, and nursing home abuse cases. For example, a Birmingham slip and fall lawyer can determine how a property owner was negligent for failing to maintain a safe environment where you slipped and fell.
Strict Liability
Strict liability occurs when there are laws in place that hold a party accountable regardless of negligence or fault.
For example, if a defective product causes an injury, victims may only need to show the product has a defect to hold the manufacturer responsible. They may not need to prove where in the process negligence occurred or who caused it.
Intentional Harm
When one party acts deliberately and causes another person harm, they may be held accountable for the victim’s damages.
One example of this is when one party commits assault and battery against another. The aggressor will likely face criminal charges, but the victim can also hold them responsible in a civil case to recover money for their medical care and other losses.
Elements of Negligence in a Personal Injury Claim
If the defendant acted negligently, there are five elements you will need to prove in your personal injury claim. These are:
- The other party owed you a duty of care.
- There was a breach of duty by the other individual.
- If not for the other individual’s breach of duty, you would not have been injured.
- The other party’s failure proximately caused your injury.
- You have damages from being injured and suffered some form of loss.
These elements must be proven if you wish to recover from your damages. Your New Orleans, LA personal injury lawyer may bring in expert witnesses as a part of this process.
Click to contact our personal injury lawyers today
Laws That Are Relevant to Personal Injury Claims
Many personal injury cases settle outside of court through the insurance claims process. However, when a trial is necessary, there are many rules that outline how these cases work, who can file them, and when. Each state has its own laws about the deadlines, so these rules can vary.
Statute of Limitations
Personal injuries have specific deadlines you will need to adhere to so you do not miss your window to file a claim in the state’s civil court system. Your attorney can advise you of any changes to this time frame depending on the specifics of your case.
For example, the time limit for filing these suits ranges from one year to several years. In Louisiana, the deadline for filing a personal injury claim in a civil court is only one year, according to the Civil Code (CC) Art. 3492.
Comparative Negligence
Each state can decide whether or not to adopt this law for personal injury cases. Most often found in car, truck, and motorcycle accidents, the pure comparative negligence doctrine in the state of Louisiana means you contributed to your injury to some degree.
The result of this would be that the total amount of compensation you were supposed to recover is reduced by your percentage of fault. According to Louisiana Laws Civil Code CC 2323, the only exception to this rule is intentional tort cases.
Damage Caps
In personal injury cases, there is a limit to how much you can collect in damages. These vary by state and are different for economic, non-economic, and punitive damages. For example, in medical malpractice cases, outlined in Louisiana revised statutes §5628, you cannot collect more than $500,000 in damages.
One Bite Rule
Animal attacks and dog bite cases are typically reliant on the state’s “one bite” rule. This protects dog owners to some degree if their animal had no history of violence. However, according to Louisiana Civil Code 2321, dog owners are “strictly liable” for their pet’s behavior and for any personal injury they cause.
Damages You Can Recover in Personal Injury Lawsuit
A personal injury case requires you to provide evidence of your damages. With this evidence, you may be able to recover the following types of compensation to cover your expenses and losses:
- Economic damages: current and future medical costs, income loss, property damage, therapy bills, out-of-pocket expenses
- Non-economic damages: intangible losses you experienced referred to as pain and suffering
- Punitive damages: awarded to punish the defendant and exceed simple compensation
A personal injury attorney can assist you with determining the value of all of your damages. This total value will be used in settlement negotiations or in court to ensure a fair award.
Speak With a Team Member from Morris Bart, LLC
A complimentary consultation will give you the opportunity to discuss your injuries, damages, and legal options with a personal injury lawyer. We offer free case reviews, and we do not require any fees until your case has successfully concluded.
You can speak with a team member from the Morris Bart, LLC law firm for free today. We are a personal injury firm with 15 locations, including an office in New Orleans. Let us help you move on with your life.
Questions?Call 800-537-8185
to find a Morris Bart office near you.
