A Louisiana personal injury attorney can handle your insurance claims or take other steps to recover compensation for you if you have a viable case following a negligence accident. This could include suing the negligent party and holding them legally responsible in civil court, if necessary. You may be eligible to recover money damages for your medical bills, time away from work, ongoing treatment and care, and more. We can value your claim for you.
If you were hurt by another party’s careless, reckless, or intentional bad behavior, a personal injury law firm like the Morris Bart law office is your best option for having someone manage your case while you undergo treatment and focus on your physical recovery. We provide free case consultations for victims of negligence across Louisiana. We have worked on cases like yours for more than 40 years.
Building a Claim and Recovering Damages in Your LA Personal Injury Case
The first step in building a claim and recovering compensation is investigating what happened and gathering evidence to prove fault, liability, and the value of the case. We need to have a strong argument to show the insurance company or jury that the at-fault party is responsible for our client’s injuries and related damages. As a part of this investigation, we gather information and evidence, including:
- Any reports filed by law enforcement or other first responders
- Interviews with witnesses
- Photos or video
- Survey and analysis of the scene
- Physical evidence
- Relevant medical records
- Expert testimony
- Documentation of damages
With a solid case showing fault and legal responsibility, we can often recover compensation for our clients by:
- Negotiating an out-of-court settlement with the at-fault party’s insurer
- Mediating the case before going to trial
- Taking the case to a jury trial and allowing the jury to determine the case outcome
Which of these approaches we take will depend primarily on the facts of what happened and what we must accomplish to recover a payout for our client. With the documentation we recover to show our client’s expenses and losses, we can value their case and seek fair and appropriate compensation that could include damages such as:
- Medical treatment, care, and other related expenses, current and future
- Lost wages, benefits, and income
- Reduced earning ability
- Property damages
- Other miscellaneous costs
- Pain and suffering
- Emotional distress
Our team understands how to accurately value our clients’ losses, including future costs, intangible damages, and more. This allows us to seek—and frequently recover—compensation packages that ensure our clients do not have to pay out of their own pockets for their ongoing care and support needs. To our attorneys, this is the best way to ensure justice is served in these cases.
For a free legal consultation with a Personal Injury lawyer serving Louisiana, call 800-537-8185
Surviving Family Members May Pursue Wrongful Death Damages
When a personal injury accident victim dies from their injuries, their right to file a lawsuit and seek damages survives them. When they pass away, their family members can pursue compensation instead. Louisiana’s wrongful death law is very clear on who can take action and in what order. Under La. Civ. Code Art. 2315.2, they include:
- The spouse and children, or either the spouse or children, if there is only one or the other
- The parents, or one parent, if there is no spouse or children
- Siblings, or one sibling, if there are no closer relatives
- Grandparents, or one grandparent, if there is no spouse, no children, parents, or siblings to pursue a case
The recoverable damages in a Louisiana wrongful death case could include the same losses and expenses covered by a personal injury case, in addition to the losses suffered by the decedent’s surviving family members. These include:
- Funeral, burial, cremation, and other final costs
- Loss of future income that would have been earned by the decedent
- Loss of benefits, retirement, and more
- Loss of services usually managed by the decedent
- Mental and emotional damages suffered by survivors
When we build these cases for our clients, we identify the recoverable damages and pursue compensation based on them in the same way we would a personal injury claim.
Morris Bart, LLC Represents Victims of Louisiana Personal Injuries
The Morris Bart law firm got its start in Louisiana, and the state is still home to our headquarters today. For more than 40 years, our team of attorneys has served New Orleans and other areas of the state. We understand how the personal injury laws work inside and out in Louisiana.
We also have a strong network of resources, experts, and medical professionals throughout the state. We are familiar with many of the civil courtrooms in Louisiana, and it is not unusual for our attorneys to know the judges and even opposing counsel in many areas.
As of 2022, we have eight locations in Louisiana:
- New Orleans
- Shreveport
- Lafayette
- Alexandria
- Houma
- Baton Rouge
- Monroe
- Lake Charles
Our personal injury team helps thousands of clients seek and recover compensation each year. We manage a wide range of negligence accident cases. If another party’s carelessness caused your injuries, we are here for you. Some common types of injury cases include:
- Car crashes
- Truck crashes
- Motorcycle accidents
- DWI and DUI collisions
- Pedestrian accidents
- Bicycle crashes
- Boating accidents
- Slip and falls
- Trip and falls
- Pool accidents and drownings
- Other premises liability injuries
- Workers’ compensation claims
- Offshore injury and Jones Act cases
- Medical malpractice, including birth injury
- Defective product injuries
- Dangerous drug claims
Our team of attorneys helped more than 6,500 people recover damages in personal injury cases in 2019. We fight for the best interests of those we represent, pursuing justice through a fair and appropriate settlement or award. Some of our recent case results for clients in Louisiana include:
- $852,845 for a New Orleans car accident where the client suffered neck and back injuries as well as facial fractures
- $650,000 in a Monroe collision caused by a drunk driver that left our client with several broken bones, including their back, hip, pelvis, leg, and arm, and fractured ribs that punctured their lungs
- $640,000 in a Lafayette workers’ compensation case based on back injuries, hip tendinosis, and headaches
- $550,000 for a Shreveport hit-and-run accident that left our client needing surgery for a protruding and herniated disc in their spine
- $475,000 in a car accident claim in New Orleans that caused our client neck, back, and shoulder injuries
- $450,000 for an Alexandria crash that required our client to undergo lower back surgery
- $430,000 in a New Orleans bicycle versus car accident that left our client with a fractured skull, broken hip, and head, eye, and ear injuries
Click to contact our Personal Injury Lawyers today
Who Is Liable for My Louisiana Personal Injury Accident and Injuries?
Most personal injury cases are based on negligence. If you can prove that another party acted negligently, you can generally hold them legally responsible and recover compensation for the harm they caused. While this is a very straightforward and general way of looking at the entire area of personal injury law, this is what it often boils down to.
What is necessary to prove a party acted negligently can differ based on the applicable laws. For example, a manufacturer of a defective drug may be strictly liable for any injuries it causes. This means we could hold them responsible if they caused injuries without demonstrating exactly how their negligence occurred. In most cases, though, we need to show:
- What happened
- Why it happened
- Who played a role
- Who is hurt
- How they suffered injuries
We do this by gathering evidence to prove the four elements of negligence. It is important to note that negligence generally occurs because of carelessness. However, it can also happen because of reckless or even intentional behavior.
The four elements of negligence include:
- The accused party owed a duty of care
- They breached the duty of care
- This led to an incident
- The incident caused the victim to suffer injuries
For example, drivers have a duty of care to others on the road. They must follow all traffic laws and regulations. If a driver changes lanes without looking or signaling, this would be a breach of their duty of care. They may collide with another vehicle in an adjacent lane, causing an accident and injuries. By showing this occurred, the occupants of the other vehicle could likely recover money damages for their expenses and losses.
Common Issues that Complicate Personal Injury Claims
While we are explaining Louisiana personal injury law in simple terms, there is no doubt that many cases can be complex. It is not unusual for injured victims to run into issues they cannot navigate on their own. This is especially true if they are still undergoing treatment, recovering, have just returned to work, or suffered lasting injuries.
While there are many complexities that commonly occur in personal injury accidents, two frequent scenarios that call for the help of an attorney include:
Someone Blames You for the Crash
In some cases, the best defense is to blame the victim. When the at-fault party claims you played a causative role in your own injuries, it can cause great frustration and anxiety. In Louisiana, this is known as comparative fault. The state’s laws on how to deal with it fall under La. Civ. Code Art. 2323.
While you will want to fight the allegations to try to prove you did not contribute to your own injuries, these accusations will not prevent you from filing an insurance claim or suing. You can move forward with your case. However, the percentage of fault assigned to you could dramatically reduce the compensation you recover.
When we handle these claims, we work to mitigate the damage done by allegations of comparative fault. For example, imagine you have $10,000 in damages. If the jury determines you are 25 percent at fault, you will receive $7,500. If they rule you are 10 percent responsible, your payout could be $9,000.
Another Party Is Vicariously Liable
There are some circumstances when the liable party or parties may not be obvious. This is often the case when the at-fault person was working when the accident occurred. In Louisiana, statute sets the legal doctrine of respondeat superior. Under La. Civ. Code Art. 2320, we hold employers vicariously liable for the negligent actions of their workers.
You may find this intimidating, since it could mean suing a large corporation. However, it often allows us to file an insurance claim against a much larger liability policy and settle out of court, as well.
We Make It Easy to Pay for Our Services and Representation
When you choose to work with the Morris Bart law firm, you will not need to pay anything up front. We work based on contingency fee only. There are no retainers, hourly charges, or other payments due. Instead, we receive a portion of the settlement or award secured in your case. We can discuss how this will work during your initial meeting with our team and can talk about the percentage then.
Our attorneys may be able to negotiate a fair settlement or sue for compensation in your case and ask for nothing until you get paid. However, in either situation, we need to get to work quickly. We generally only have up to one year to sue in Louisiana under La. Civ. Code Art. 3492. Running out of time will likely put your rights in jeopardy.
Talk to a Lawyer from Morris Bart, LLC About Your Case Now
The eight Morris Bart law offices in Louisiana represent hundreds of clients each year, fighting for their best interests, holding liable parties accountable, and recovering compensation. You may be next. You can learn more about our services and the areas we serve during your free personal injury case evaluation. We will meet with you on the phone, in your home, in our office, or in another location.
Call (800) 537-8185 to speak with an attorney about your legal options today. We have someone available to take your call 24/7.
Questions?Call 800-537-8185
to find a Morris Bart office near you.
