How Do I Know If I Have a Personal Injury Claim?

For most people, personal injury lawsuits and claims are unfamiliar affairs. If you only read the headlines, it may sound as if anyone who is injured by someone else’s negligent actions can file a personal injury claim. While this is partially true, there is much more to personal injury law than simply being unnecessarily injured.

If you have been injured in an accident caused by another’s negligent actions, a personal injury lawyer can determine if you are eligible to pursue an insurance claim for your losses. Here are some of the factors that we consider when analyzing your accident injury case.

There Must Be a Relationship Between You and the Defendant

Negligence in personal injury law is typically broken down into four parts. The first of the four is referred to as the duty of care. For someone to be responsible for your injury, they first must owe you a duty of care. This means that they are, by law, obligated to prevent harm to you. There are many circumstances where duty of care is expected, including the following:

• Medical Professionals: Doctors have a responsibility to their patients. This responsibility extends to nurses, technicians, administrators, hospitals, and facilities.
• Property Owners: Property owners have a responsibility to maintain a safe environment in and around their buildings and properties. This responsibility may extend to tenants and building managers, depending on contractual obligations.
• Drivers: All drivers have a responsibility to operate their vehicles according to traffic laws to ensure the safety of everyone on the road, including pedestrians.
• Manufacturers: Manufacturers carry a strict liability to the products they supply to the public. Regardless of intent, if the customer is injured while using their product, the manufacturer is responsible for the injuries. This responsibility also includes distributors selling the product.
• Employers: Most employers carry workers’ compensation insurance for workers injured on the job. Under workers’ compensation laws, employers are exempt from lawsuits. However, there are circumstances when the employee may file a lawsuit against their employer.

The Defendant Must Violate Their Obligation to Your Safety

Once we establish the relationship between you and the defendant, we must determine if they violated their responsibility to your safety. This is known as a breach of duty. A breach of duty is any action or inaction that is contrary to accepted standards of care or violates the law.

For example, a breach of duty could include:

• The doctor failing to order a test
• A property owner neglecting to fix a handrail on a staircase
• The driver tailgating and driving aggressively
• The manufacturer failing to thoroughly test their product
• The employer not supplying safety equipment or training

The Breach of Duty Led to an Accident and Your Injuries

Known as causation, the defendant’s actions are the cause of the accident and your injuries. Using our analogy, this could be:

• The doctor misdiagnosed the patient, and the patient’s condition worsened.
• The resident slipped and fell down the stairs, injuring herself.
• The at-fault driver caused a rear-end collision, and the other driver suffered injuries
• The product caused a chemical burn on the customer’s skin.
• The employee fell from the roof because they lacked proper equipment and training.

Your Accident and Injuries Have Created a Hardship for You

The final element of negligence is damages. Damages is the legal term for the financial, physical, and emotional losses you have suffered in the accident. The amount you may demand in compensation varies based on the circumstances in your case.

Types of Damages You Can Demand

Damages are typically broken down into one of two categories: economic and noneconomic.

Economic damages are easier of the two to define. They are your financial losses, such as:

• Medical bills
• Lost income while you recovered
• Property damage

However, you may require further medical care throughout your life. This care may include future surgeries and therapy. For those suffering from a debilitating injury, victims may require ongoing healthcare.

Noneconomic damages represent the impact the accident has had on your quality of life. They are more subjective but no less important to your recovery. These damages include such things as:

• Pain and suffering
• Loss of enjoyment
• Loss of consortium
• Permanent Disfigurement
• Mental Anguish

These damages are harder to prove, but your lawyer will collect evidence and present it with your personal injury claim.

You Must Prove Negligence With Evidence

Your personal injury attorney and their law firm will investigate your accident and collect evidence. The evidence they collect must prove all four elements of negligence in your case. Such evidence could come from a wide range of sources, but most often, evidence would include the following:

• Incident and police reports
• Medical records
• Photographs from the accident scene
• Photographs of your injuries
• Video footage of the accident
• Financial records
• Eyewitness statements
• Expert witness testimonies

The less evidence available in your case, the more difficult it may be to pursue a personal injury claim.

Laws That Could Affect Your Personal Injury Claim

There are numerous personal injury laws that could affect the strength of your case. The first and most significant would be the statute of limitations. The statute of limitations is the deadline to file a lawsuit against the liable party in your case. The deadline varies based on the state and type of case. For personal injury, you generally have the following deadlines:

• In Georgia, injury victims must file their personal injury lawsuit within two years of the accident, per O.C.G.A. § 9-3-33
• In Alabama, injury victims must file their personal injury lawsuit within two years of the accident, per AL Code § 6-2-38.

If the deadline in your case has expired, you may not be able to pursue compensation through the courts.

Call the Law Office of Dwayne L. Brown to Learn More About Your Personal Injury Claim

If you have been injured through negligence and have suffered significant financial damages, it is always worth making a call to a personal injury lawyer. Even if you think you may be partially to blame, you may still be eligible to file a personal injury claim for compensation.

If you think you may have a personal injury claim in Alabama or Georgia, do not hesitate to call us. Contact our Montgomery, AL or Atlanta, GA office for a free legal consultation.