FAQs

A personal injury lawsuit is a legal cause of action that is filed in court and seeks to hold a person or entity liable for an injury. When this lawsuit is successful, the one who has suffered damages will be compensated by the responsible party or that entity’s insurance.

What compensation does the law provide in personal injury cases?

Plaintiffs can receive payment for the following in personal injury lawsuits:

• Pain and Suffering
• Lost Wages
• Uncovered Medical Bills
• Property Damage
• Loss of Consortium

You will have to prove that the defendant was negligent. In other words, that the defendant owed you a duty of care and failed to act as a reasonable person would. As a result, the defendant’s actions caused you some type of injury.

A bellwether trial is a case that is selected as part of a multidistrict litigation (MDL) to be one of the first cases to go to trial. The results of a bellwether trial give plaintiffs and defendants an idea of how juries will view their arguments and aid in streamlining the process for successive lawsuits and settlements.

Damages will depend on the specifics of your claim. For example, if you have high earnings capacity, your claim for lost wages will be valued higher. Pain and suffering damages represent a wildcard, as jury assessments in this category of damages tend to vary greatly. Essentially, a jury will attempt to award a damage sum that rectifies the impact of the defendant’s actions.

Personal injury lawsuit cases include any type of proceeding where physical harm is suffered in an accident or results from any other type of event. Typical personal injury lawsuit cases include (but are not limited to) car accidents, falls, and product liability cases.

There will most likely be some sort of legal proceeding. Some cases may settle after discovery is complete (which includes depositions) when the defendant wants to reduce their legal risk. If there is no settlement, there will be a trial conducted in front of a judge or jury

You may need to meet frequently with your lawyer, but this will not be a full-time job while the case is proceeding. More time will be required around major milestones in your case such as depositions or trial. Anticipate that there will be a time commitment necessary and that you will need to be present and prepared when your lawyer needs it.

The precise time you have to file a case depends on the state where you are located and the type of case that you are filing. Statute of limitations laws restrict the time frame you have to file your lawsuit. If you miss the deadline, you will not be able to file a lawsuit unless certain limited exceptions apply.

The settlement/trail decision is made by the client in consultation with their attorney. The lawyer is not allowed to make the decision on their own, but rather must give the client their opinion of the settlement offer. Presumably, the decision will hinge on the chances of success at trial versus the value of the settlement offer. Many defendants attempt to make a low-ball settlement offer when they expect that a jury will assess large damages.

While family and personal relationships are important, your legal rights are also important. In many cases, the settlement or damages will be covered by the defendant’s insurance, substantially reducing the impact of the suit on the defendant.

Medical bills are only part of the potential compensation in a personal injury claim. First, some of your medical bills may have been unreimbursed which you can be compensated for in a case. Second, there are other things like pain and suffering damages and/or lost wages that the defendant can be required to pay in a personal injury case.

There is no difference in the eyes of the law whether one is a citizen or an undocumented immigrant. One’s immigration status has no bearing on the merits of their case. Many states have laws that protect an undocumented immigrant’s ability to file a lawsuit.

Most people will have insurance which will cover their medical bills. However, insurance may not cover everything, and the balance is your responsibility. If you successfully file a personal injury claim, your insurance will be reimbursed for what it paid out. It will likely be the other party’s insurance that will cover your lost wages, but the defendant may be responsible if they have inadequate coverage.

One of the most effective ways to choose a personal injury attorney is to rely on the recommendation of someone you trust. People who have obtained effective results using a specific lawyer will often be more than willing to recommend that attorney to someone else. Outside of that, you should look carefully at the outcomes of similar cases in which the prospective attorney has been involved.

There is no absolute legal requirement to be represented by counsel, but hiring an attorney will certainly be helpful to your case. The defendant will likely have counsel, and the complexities of the legal system will be difficult to navigate on your own. Some cases may also require expert knowledge and testimony that you will have a hard time introducing without a legal background. You can proceed on your own, but you will be best served by hiring legal counsel.

It takes time to effectively prepare a personal injury case. You will want to engage an attorney as soon as possible in order to provide them the time necessary to develop your case. If you wait too long to retain an attorney, your chances of recovery may be impaired.

For most attorneys, the answer to that question is “no.” Personal injury attorneys typically work on a contingency basis, meaning they are only paid if you achieve some sort of financial recovery. In this case, the attorney will be paid a percentage of your settlement or jury award.

If the defendant is found to have been negligent and a cause of your injury, you will be able to recover damages. In many cases, you can also recover damages through a settlement even if the defendant has not been found negligent.

Try to give us enough information so we have a good idea of what happened. Use the five w’s – who, what, when, where, why –  as a guidepost for the initial conversation. We will need to have a good understanding after a conversation or two whether your personal injury case has merit.

Generally, if it relates to the case, the lawyer will advance the costs associated with the case and then will be reimbursed these expenses when there is a jury verdict or a settlement. If you are not successful in your case, you will not be obligated to reimburse the lawyer for these costs. This holds true when the lawyer has accepted the case on a contingency basis.

A claim is a request for money and damages that is made after an injury has been suffered. A claim can be made to insurance or it can be brought as part of a lawsuit.

Sometimes, there are either multiple plaintiffs in a case or there is a need for several lawyers because the primary lawyer is not licensed in the jurisdiction where the case is being heard. Co-counsel can be representing different plaintiffs or the same plaintiff in other circumstances. Co-counsel will work together for the benefit of the client to achieve the most effective result.

Compensatory damages refers to a payment that is meant to put the plaintiff in the same position as if the accident never happened. These will generally include pain and suffering, lost wages, and medical bills.

Punitive damages are rare in standard personal injury lawsuits. These are assessed when the jury is shocked by the egregious nature of the defendant’s conduct, such as when the defendant intentionally wronged the victim. These are assessed in nursing home cases, medical malpractice claims, product liability cases, and mass torts.

Sometimes, both parties will be motivated to avoid taking a case all the way to trial. The plaintiff will want to be assured of getting some type of financial compensation, and the defendant will want to reduce their legal risk. Under these circumstances, the defendant will settle the case, typically without admitting liability. In exchange for money or some other consideration, the plaintiff will withdraw their claim.

The statute of limitations is the timeframe imposed by law that serves to limit the amount of time that the plaintiff has to file a case. This will begin when the plaintiff knew or should have known of their injury.

A tort is an act or omission by a person that causes injury to another. There are various types of torts such as assault, negligence, intentional infliction of emotional distress and false imprisonment. Each tort will have distinct elements that must be proven in order for a claim to be successful.

A class action is a single lawsuit filed by commonly situated people who have been identically harmed by a defendant. For example, a manufacturer may have sold a defective product that inflicted the same damage to thousands of people. Instead of filing thousands of separate lawsuits, the plaintiffs file a single case to capitalize on the advantages of efficiency.

Simply stated, a class action is easier and more effective. One common legal strategy and representation among many plaintiffs stands a greater chance of succeeding at trial than thousands of smaller cases. When it comes to litigation, there is strength in numbers and considerable economic benefits result from economies of scale.

Multi-district litigation (MDL) has features similar to class actions, but are not consolidated and remain distinct cases throughout the process. For efficiency purposes, MDL cases will all proceed together during the discovery phase of the case. In other words, all plaintiffs will get the same information from the defendant. The judge will select some cases to go first (bellwether cases) so both the plaintiffs and defendants can get a sense of how their arguments are perceived by juries.

An injury claim is the only way to receive compensation for the damages that you have suffered. Filing a claim begins the legal process whereby you can be compensated.

Compensation depends entirely on the facts and circumstances of a case and a jury’s interpretation of those facts and circumstances. A lawyer is not allowed to make any guarantees of compensation.

Yes. Free case evaluations aid in figuring out the best way to proceed in your case. Obviously, you will want to know if you have a viable legal case. At the same time, taking your case is an investment of time and resources on our part and we will want to know that your case is a viable one because, like everyone, we hope to be paid for our work.

Most likely, the statute of limitations would bar your claim unless some limited exceptions applied. For example, you may have just learned recently that you were injured. Alternatively, the defendant may have taken steps to conceal certain facts from you. Regardless of the time passed, you should consult a lawyer to see if there is a possibility that you could file a case.

You can file a claim on behalf of the family member’s estate. Surviving family members may also be able to file a wrongful death claim to receive compensation for their loss.

If the lawyer has taken your case on a contingency basis, then the lawyer will only be paid in the event that there is a jury award or settlement. This means that the lawyer will not paid otherwise. This is the reason why a lawyer may be selective in the cases he/she accepts.