Name: Legal Services
Brand: Morris Bart Injury and Accident Lawyers
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Sustaining injuries due to the negligent actions of another party is no small burden. You may face overwhelming life changes and mounting medical bills with no financial way out in sight. An experienced personal injury legal team can help you navigate this tough time.

Your physical and mental health matter, so you should hold those responsible for your injuries accountable for their actions. With a Gulfport personal injury lawyer from Morris Bart on your side, you can fight to receive the compensation you deserve.

Why Choose Morris Bart Injury and Accident Lawyers for Your Gulfport Personal Injury Case

Our personal injury lawyers in Gulfport have over 40 years of legal experience. In that time, we have collected over $1 billion in recoveries for our clients.
At our law firm, your Gulfport personal injury attorney will give you individualized attention. We do not pass cases off to assistants or paralegals.
You won’t pay unless we win. Our Gulfport personal injury lawyers operate on a contingency fee basis, meaning we charge $0 in attorney’s fees until a claim succeeds.

For a free legal consultation with a Personal Injury lawyer serving Gulfport, call (228) 357-9621

Is It Worth Hiring a Gulfport Personal Injury Lawyer?

We understand that your daily routine and life can change drastically following a personal injury accident, but it is worth taking the time to reach out to an attorney. We recommend you seek the services of a personal injury lawyer as soon as possible, preferably soon after visiting your healthcare provider. These are the top ways we can help you:

The Statute of Limitations

Believe it or not, you have a limited time to sue those responsible for your injuries. According to Mississippi Code §15-1-49, a prospective plaintiff can file a civil lawsuit within three years from the date of the alleged accident. Failure to take legal action within the stipulated time frame can render your case moot.

Legal Procedures

While many people choose to represent themselves in their litigation, our personal injury lawyers in Gulfport recommend that you let us take the reins. Each lawsuit involves legal procedures, and working with an attorney will protect you from taking steps or making decisions that will jeopardize your right to receive the compensation you deserve.

Insurance Companies

If you have ever been in an auto accident, you likely have dealt with insurance companies before. The goal of any company is to keep its costs down while increasing revenue, which is why the first settlement offer from an insurance company is typically less than what you need.

A lawyer can fight to help you receive every penny owed to you. We will represent you during settlement negotiations and will not hesitate to proceed to trial if a fair amount is not reached.

Liability

Proving liability and connecting the responsible party to your injury is not as simple as it sounds. It can be a complicated process, even with police reports, medical reports, digital evidence, witnesses, and testimonies. The good news is that a legal representative from our law firm can overcome all these hurdles.

What Type of Cases Do Gulfport Personal Injury Lawyers Take?

There are many types of cases that a personal injury lawyer in Gulfport, MS, can represent. At Morris Bart, we focus on the following types of cases:

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What Is the Usual Fee for a Personal Injury Lawyer?

In most personal injury cases, the attorney will ask for a percentage of your settlement or court award in a payment arrangement known as contingency fees. The amount of this percentage can vary depending on the case’s complexity. Your lawyer will discuss their fees with you and clarify them beforehand so you will know what to expect.

At Morris Bart, paying attorney’s fees depends on whether our attorney secures financial compensation for your personal injury case. If your lawyer does not win and achieve a monetary award on your behalf, he or she will not charge anything in fees for the legal services already provided. Contact our Gulfport personal injury lawyers today.

How Your Gulfport Personal Injury Lawyer Proves the Other Party’s Negligence

Negligence is behind most personal injury cases in Mississippi. Negligence refers to the failure of an individual to exercise ordinary or reasonable care in doing something. What constitutes “reasonable care” depends on what a person exercising a normal amount of care and prudence would do in the same or similar circumstances.

When someone’s negligence results in injury, harm, or damage to another person, the negligent person can be held accountable with a personal injury claim. However, the injured victim is burdened with proving or establishing negligence based on a preponderance of the evidence. This means more likely than not to be true.

Preserving evidence that supports a personal injury claim is crucial and something that a Gulfport personal injury lawyer can do for you. Your attorney will search for and collect any available evidence that proves someone else is at fault. Evidence of negligence may include a police report, photographs and video footage, eyewitness testimony and depositions, medical records, and expert testimony.

At Morris Bart, we will investigate to find any evidence that can be used to prove that someone else caused or contributed to your accident and that you suffered injuries as a result. We know how to prove negligence and liability in all types of personal injury cases.

Mississippi’s Comparative Fault Laws

During a personal injury claim, you may encounter a law known as comparative fault or contributory negligence. If this defense is raised by the other side of your case, it could potentially reduce the amount of financial compensation to which you are entitled if you are found to be partially at fault for your injury.

As Mississippi Code §11-7-15 states, the fact that the injured victim in an action brought for a personal injury may have been guilty of contributory negligence shall not bar a recovery. However, the damages awarded by a jury shall be diminished in proportion to the amount of negligence attributable to the injured victim.

If you are found to have contributed to your accident or injury, a jury will reduce your award by an amount equivalent to your degree of fault. For example, being allocated 10 percent of fault in a personal injury claim would diminish a $100,000 award by 10 percent ($10,000) for a total of $90,000.

If you are accused of playing a role in the cause of your injuries during a personal injury case in Gulfport, contact an attorney at Morris Bart right away for assistance. Your lawyer can seek evidence to establish that the other party is at fault – protecting your financial recovery.

Types of Injuries in Civil Cases

If you suffered any form of injury because of your personal injury accident, you may be able to take action against the liable party. The types of injuries you may have suffered could include:

Bodily harm: Refers to the physical injuries that the plaintiff suffers due to the defendant’s negligent actions. It also extends to medical expenses and treatment needed to prevent the injuries from killing or further harming the plaintiff.
Emotional distress: The actions of an individual or entity can harm someone on a psychological level in a way that they cannot function as they once did. The person may be so emotionally distraught that it affects their social life.
Pain and suffering: Typically, bodily injury is associated with pain and suffering. A burn victim is likely to experience tremendous pain and suffering, as well as lose their ability to perform certain tasks, and so can have a legal right to compensation for their loss.

What Kind of Compensation Can a Personal Injury Lawyer Get?

The circumstances of each case are unique, so there is no “average” settlement. Here are some examples of settlements our personal injury lawyers have secured for our clients in Gulfport:

$450,000 for a client who sustained a pelvic fracture in a Gulfport car accident.
$250,000 for a Gulfport client who suffered a pelvic fracture due to another driver’s negligence.
$215,000 for a premises liability client who had to have a leg amputation after an injury in Gulfport.
$100,000 for a Gulfport premises liability client who endured a severe arm injury.

Each case is unique, and our experienced team is here to help you determine the compensation you deserve. Don’t settle for less—let us fight for the full settlement you’re entitled to.

Recoverable Damages in Gulfport Personal Injury Cases

After your Gulfport personal injury accident, you could recover damages for your economic and non-economic losses. While the type and amount of damages you can recover depends on the details of your personal injury case, injury victims are generally able to recover:

Economic Damages

Economic damages are the financial losses you suffered because of your accident. These include:

Lost income
Reduced earning capacity
Property damage
Medical expenses, both current and ongoing

We can use any bills and invoices you have collected to show proof of the economic losses you suffered.

Non-Economic Damages

Non-economic damages are the intangible losses you suffered. While these expenses do not have a financial value, your attorney can determine how much compensation you should receive for your non-economic losses.

Some non-economic damages you may be able to recover include:

Pain and suffering
Loss of life enjoyment
Mental anguish
Scarring and disfigurement

Your attorney can take statements from expert witnesses, your medical team, and your family to understand how your injuries have impacted your life and well-being.

Cap on Non-Economic Damages in Mississippi

Mississippi has a legal limit, known as a cap, on non-economic damages in personal injury claims (Mississippi Code §11-1-60). Under this law, pain and suffering damages may not exceed $1 million in all civil suits, with the exception of medical malpractice claims, in which non-economic damages are limited to $500,000.

For the purposes of the damage cap, non-economic damages can refer to any of the following:

Pain and suffering
Inconvenience
Mental anguish or worry
Emotional distress
Loss of society and companionship
Loss of consortium
Bystander injury
Physical impairment or disfigurement
Injury to reputation
Humiliation or embarrassment
Loss of the enjoyment of life

Mississippi’s damage caps can limit your recovery of financial compensation for any of these types of losses. If a jury awards more than the statutory limit in non-economic damages or pain and suffering, state law will reduce it to the maximum amount. However, there is no damage cap on economic losses in Mississippi.

Wrongful Death Damages

If your loved one passed away after a Gulfport personal injury accident, we extend our condolences to your family. Our team may be able to help you pursue a wrongful death case to recover damages such as:

Funeral and burial expenses
Your loved one’s medical expenses
The decedent’s lost income

Our experienced attorneys can help you seek the compensation you need to move forward after a personal injury accident.

Tactics Insurance Companies Use Against Personal Injury Victims

Not all insurance companies use these tactics, but here are some of the common ways our personal injury lawyers in Gulfport, MS, have seen some insurance companies and adjusters try to settle personal injury cases for less than they are worth:

A Quick Settlement Offer

An insurance adjuster may offer monetary compensation before you even think about filing a lawsuit and before you even understand the full extent of your injuries. Many people accept this settlement due to being out of work, facing mounting bills, or feeling overwhelmed about taking the legal route.

Your personal injury attorney will advise that you turn it down because, typically, the offer will be significantly lower than what you are legally owed. They also tend to provide lower compensation offers when you are not represented by an experienced law firm.

Statements and Releases

An insurance adjuster can tell you that they need a series of written or recorded statements to verify the facts in order to process your claim. While it may seem logical, they can misinterpret your answers and use them against you in court. They can also ask you to sign a release of your medical records.

Our personal injury attorneys recommend that you do not give consent. By giving them your consent, they can access your complete medical history and use any pre-existing condition or information to debate and potentially ask a judge to dismiss your claim.

Delay and Deny

Since the state only allows a prospective plaintiff to file a personal injury lawsuit within a limited time frame, the liable party’s insurance company can string you along with false promises and numerous requests for more information until the specified time elapses.

These tactics are why you may decide to let a Gulfport, Mississippi, personal injury lawyer handle your legal affairs. We know the insurance companies’ tricks that their adjusters have used, and we have efficient ways of dealing with them.

What Happens if My Case Goes to Trial?

Most personal injury claims in Mississippi reach settlements, meaning agreements made between a claimant and insurance company to release its policyholder from liability in exchange for an agreed-upon amount of money. However, if your injury claim gets denied by an insurer or a fair settlement cannot be reached, your case may need to go to trial.

Although every personal injury trial is unique, the general process involves:

Pre-litigation: after a Gulfport personal injury complaint is filed with the correct civil courthouse, the defendant has 30 days to submit a response. If the claim is accepted, both parties can negotiate a settlement at any time before the end of the trial.
Discovery: a phase that precedes a personal injury trial in which both sides of a case can search for evidence and request documents or information from each other. The discovery phase often involves witness depositions and interrogatories.
Trial: both sides of the case will prevent evidence in an attempt to establish the truth or validity of their claims. At the end of the trial, a jury will decide whether the plaintiff met the burden of proving that the defendant is more likely than not responsible for his or her injuries. If so, the jury will grant an award.

Even if your personal injury case has to go to trial in Gulfport, it may still end early with settlement negotiations or alternative dispute resolutions (such as mediation). Hiring an experienced attorney increases your chances of reaching a satisfactory settlement and avoiding a trial, which could be costly and time-consuming. However, if going to court is necessary for your claim, a trial attorney will be prepared to argue your case before a judge and jury.

How to Help Your Gulfport Personal Injury Lawyer in Advance

Whichever personal injury lawyer in Gulfport you choose to represent you, there are things you can do to aid your case in advance, including:

Take photos of your injuries, car damage, and the crash scene.
Get the contact information of any witnesses to the crash.
Obtain a copy of the crash report from the police.
Get seen by your doctor as soon as possible after your injury and obtain a copy of the record.
Keep a clear journal of your experience post-injury with times and dates.

How Long Could My Personal Injury Case Take?

Like with compensation, every case is unique. It could take weeks if it is a quick case or months if it becomes a drawn-out court battle. The key to speeding it up is building a strong case that the insurance company cannot deny. That starts with hiring an experienced personal injury attorney.

Get a Free Consultation With Morris Bart Injury and Accident Lawyers in Gulfport

When we represent our clients at the negotiating table, we aim to protect their legal rights and seek every penny legally owed to them. When you hire Morris Bart for your Gulfport personal injury lawsuit, we will support you with over 40 years of litigation service.

Call us today to see how our Mississippi law firm can provide skilled legal representation and help you win your case. We understand that injuries don’t only happen during office hours, so we are here for you 24/7.