When you have been injured by someone else’s actions, you may be entitled to a substantial amount of financial compensation. You would need every dollar that you get to deal with physical injuries that affect you in all aspects of your life. It is crucial that you contact an experienced attorney as soon as possible after your accident with an eye toward starting the legal process. Contact the attorneys at Williams & Roche, LLC to learn more about your legal rights.
Examples of Personal Injury Cases
Personal injuries can affect practically every area of your life or daily activities. Some of the personal injuries that may require you to get a lawyer include:
- Car accidents
- Motorcycle accidents
- Slip and falls
- Truck accidents
- Rideshare accidents
- Pedestrian accidents
- Nursing home abuse and neglect
- Dog bites
- Premises liability accidents
- Bicycle accidents
Personal injury cases operate by a common unified legal principle. In any case, you need a lawyer to gather evidence that can show that someone else has a legal duty to fully compensate you. Then, your attorney would negotiate for you to receive the highest possible settlement or fight for a large award for your injuries.
Why You Need a Personal Injury Lawyer
In practically every single personal injury case, you are dealing with an insurance company that would rather do anything in the world other than pay you the full amount of your damages. To them, you are an expense, and one that they would avoid using any method and manner that they can. If you do not have an experienced attorney on your side, the insurance company will certainly get the better of you.
Claimants do not realize how badly their pockets have been picked until they run out of money in the future. They may never even know at all how much they could have gotten for their injuries.
Your attorney is your voice in the personal injury claims or lawsuit process. As soon as you hire your attorney, they begin by launching an immediate investigation, gathering evidence that can be used to prove your claim. Your lawyer then works to estimate your damages so they can help you maximize the value of your claim. When you hire an experienced attorney, they keep the insurance company from pushing you around and costing you money.
How Much Does a Personal Injury Lawyer Cost?
You do not have to worry about a personal injury lawyer in terms of how much it costs to get legal representation. The good news is that you will not have to pay any money out of pocket to hire the lawyer that you need. Personal injury lawyers work differently than other types of attorneys who are paid by the hour. Other attorneys will ask for a retainer fee at the outset of your case. Personal injury lawyers only ask that you sign a representation agreement that promises to pay them a certain percentage of the proceeds of your case should you receive money. If you are not paid anything for your case, neither is your attorney. Thus, it does not require any investment to hire a lawyer at the outset of your case. The real risk to you is when you try to go It alone, and you end up getting played by the insurance company.
How Does the Personal Injury Claims Process Work?
You must establish your legal rights before you can collect any compensation. The responsible party only owes you money when you can prove that they were negligent in the events that caused the accident. Once you decide to seek financial compensation, there are two potential Avenues:
- You can file a claim with the responsible party’s insurance company, and they would be responsible for paying your damages up to the amount of the policy limit when you can prove negligence.
- You can file a lawsuit against a responsible party in court, which the insurance company must defend based on their contract with the policyholder.
How the process goes down in your case depends on the facts and circumstances of your situation.
When you hire an experienced personal injury lawyer, they will assess the situation and help you determine the most effective route to financial compensation. Either way, the path to a full settlement check goes through the insurance company, and you may need to fight them at every turn.
Not every personal injury case will end up in court. In fact, only a very small minority of these cases will go in front of a jury. Most cases will settle at some point in the process, whether through an informal Insurance claim or an out-of-court settlement when you have filed a lawsuit.
How Do I Win a Personal Injury Case?
Someone else only takes on a legal obligation to pay you compensation when you are able to prove that they acted wrongfully. Most often, your responsibility is to prove that they were negligent in the events that caused your injuries. Negligence is a technical legal term which has a very specific meaning. There are four elements that you must prove in order to demonstrate negligence. They are as follows:
- The other party of the duty of care
- They breached the duty by doing something that would be considered unreasonable under the circumstances
- You suffered an injury
- You would not have been injured had it been for the actions or omissions of the other party
You have the burden of proof for every single one of these elements. If you fail to meet it, you will not be able to receive any financial compensation.
What Damages Can I Get in a Personal Injury Lawsuit?
Once you have proven that someone else was responsible for your injuries, they take on the legal obligation to pay you full compensation for your injuries. They must restore you to the position you were in before your accident, using money as a substitute for what they cannot physically accomplish (They cannot restore your actual health).
Broadly speaking, you can receive both economic and non-economic damages that you have suffered.
Your settlement or jury award can include:
- Medical expenses
- Lost wages
- Property damage
- Pain and suffering
- Loss of enjoyment of life
- Scarring and disfigurement
- Embarrassment and humiliation
- Emotional distress
In most personal injury cases, it is very rare for victims like you to receive punitive damages. When the other party is negligent, most often they lack the extreme degree of culpability that a jury needs to assess punitive damages. However, when the level of fault is extreme, you may be able to persuade a jury to award punitive damages that can greatly increase the size of your check.
Contact a Columbia Personal Injury Lawyer Today
Get in touch with the attorneys at Williams & Roche when you want to learn more about your legal options after you have suffered a personal injury. You can speak to an attorney about your case by sending us a message online or by calling us today at 803.784.0503. Money does not stand between you and getting the legal help that you need. A personal injury lawyer will never charge you anything upfront, and they are not paid until you win your case.
Frequently Asked Questions
If you have been seriously injured by the fault of another, you may have a case. Contact Williams & Roche for a free consultation.
Every case is different, but you may be entitled to compensation for medical bills, doctor’s visits, medications, lost wages, pain and suffering, and more.
It is possible to pursue a case without an attorney, but hiring a knowledgeable and experienced attorney can help to maximize your recovery. An experienced attorney can help with navigating the system, including deadlines.
At Williams & Roche, there are no upfront or hidden fees. If we don’t win, you don’t owe us anything. Initial consultations are always free. Contact us to see if we can help.
If you were injured while at work, which was caused by the negligence of a 3rd party, you may be entitled to pursue both a civil action claim, as well as a workers’ compensation claim. Contact Williams & Roche to see what your rights are.
