Personal Injury

What is personal injury?

In legal claims, personal injury deals with individual harm., falling under the category of tort laws (which are always civil cases, meaning no criminal penalties will be attached). "Personal injury" is a broad term that means any kind of accident or occurrence that leads to bodily injury. The most common solution in these cases is monetary compensation, no one goes to jail in these cases.
     
The goal of a personal injury claim is to get compensation, or restitution, Personal injury can be almost any type of injury, even if very minor – a lot of times it depends on the context, and you also have to take into consideration that legal harm isn’t the same as physical harm. If a person trips over a broken curb, and sprains his or her ankle then he or she was physically harmed. Then, if the person does not require a doctor or doesn’t miss work/obligations because of the injury, then there is no legal harm or basis to ask for compensation; but if the physical harm leads to doctors visits and missed work, then there is legal harm.

Types of Personal Injury Cases

Personal injury cases brought against insurance companies are the most common, in which the insurance company is not at fault initially, but they are held at fault for not responding to or inadequate response to the harm upon the individual who was injured. Claims are usually against the insurer of the injured individual, but can also be brought against any other party believed to be at fault for the injury. For example, property owners or landlords can be at fault for having broken steps or a slippery walkway. Again, the desired end result is to get monetary compensation to cover medical expenses incurred due to any injury. These expenses may be paid by the responsible parties’ insurance companies.

Process

     
Most personal injury cases are settled out of court. The claims are settled by arbitration, which is when the parties involved sit down and negotiate (often with the help of a third, neutral party) to reach a settlement which is acceptable to everyone. Individuals do not necessarily need a lawyer to pursue a personal injury claim. The legal paperwork can be filed by anyone, although given the complexity of the legal issues legal representation is often advisable. It should be noted that time is a factor, as there are statutes of limitations set to define the time between when an injury occurs and when the claim can be filed – these statutes vary from state to state and sometimes depend on the type of injury. If a personal injury claim is not filed in time, the individual loses their right to sue.

Topics

We currently help with the following types of cases: