When Do I Know If I Need To Hire A Personal Injury Lawyer?

Posted by Anthony Flores on November 4, 2011 under Personal Injury | Be the First to Comment

What is the first thing you do if you’re hurt in a car accident? Who do you call? You’re spouse, or a lawyer? Lots of attorneys advertise that they can get you big dollars in settlements, but what kind of service will you get? Since most of us don’t live next door to a personal

injury attorney, who do you call? How do you know if you have a case or not?

First of all, to win a personal injury case against someone, you have to be able to prove both 1) that the other person was liable for their actions & 2) you have suffered damages from their actions & your injuries. You need to get some advice from a professional attorney if you feel that this is the case. But how do you find one? There are two great places to start. First go to Google and do some searches for Personal Injury Attorneys in your city. This will give you dozens of qualified lawyers to help you with your case. Second, you can go to lawyers.com. This is a great site that allows you to find attorneys in your specific city, and looking for the area you want. Plus you can do your research on them right away and check on their credentials from their website. See if they are advertising that they have won any money for their clients in the past. This should give you a great starting point to go from.

Car accidents are very common, and also the most common occurrence of a personal injury lawsuit. To win your case, you need to establish negligence on the other party. If you are in a fault state, proving the negligence comes by establishing that reasonable care was not displayed by the other driver. When you get in a car to drive, every driver has a responsibility to exercise reasonable care. If the other driver injures you as a result of driving recklessly or breaches their responsibility to exercise reasonable care, then you can sue them under the law. Some states have passed no-fault laws, so make sure that you consult with an attorney to see what the personal injury laws are in your state.

Strict Liability is another basis for a personal injury claim. It is a growing area of tort law and is gaining importance. If a product is defective and you are injured by that product, you can sue the manufacturer or designer as they are strictly liable for any damages or loss caused by their product. Negligence is a different basis, but you do need to prove that the design of the product or its manufacturing process caused it to be dangerous when used normally.

Intentional wrongs are another basis for personal injury claims. But the filings of those cases are rarer. Examples of this are if someone hits you in the face, you might be able to win a lawsuit for battery. Or if you are suspected of shoplifting, and the store wrongfully detains you, you might be able to win a wrongful imprisonment lawsuit. Remember, this is civil damages not criminal charges.

Now we come to damages. Did you suffer any monetary or physical damages from your injuries? What type of accident were you in, was it intentional? What is the nature and extent of your damages? Just because you were hurt, does not mean that you automatically are eligible to collect a big payday. You need to prove this in court, and let the court decide the compensation for your loss. However, many lawsuits don’t make it to court, and are settled before that happens.

One thing to ask your attorney is what is the statute of limitations for this type of case? Your attorney will be able to let you know how long you have before it is too late to file a case in court. It can be as little as one year for an auto accident. Each state has different laws so be certain to find out so your case doesn’t get thrown out of court.

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