UNDERSTANDING YOUR INJURIES AND DAMAGES

In personal injury law, the wrongdoer (sometimes known as a tortfeasor) is responsible for all of the injuries caused by his or her negligence, or by any other unlawful conduct. If you are injured as a direct result of that conduct, you are entitled to be fully compensated for all the injuries that you suffered. In the law, the goal is to make the injured party whole. That is, the purpose of monetary compensation is to try to restore you and your family to the position that you were in before your accident.

Once it is clear that the wrongdoer is at fault for your injuries, an experienced Atlanta accident lawyer can help you fully identify and understand your injuries. Your law firm will obtain and review your medical records and talk with you, your family and even your physicians to fully understand your injuries and how they have affected your life. Using prior experience with similar cases, your lawyer will then be able to predict the range of dollar amounts a jury could award.

In recent years, insurance companies, their lobbyists and greedy corporations have put forth a great deal of propaganda that casts personal injury victims and their Atlanta lawyers in an unfavorable light. They do this purposely to bias potential jurors against personal injury victims and in favor of the people and insurance companies they sue. Often, the media exacerbates this problem by highlighting bizarre or rare multi-million-dollar cases. This creates the mistaken perception that most people pursuing personal injury claims receive unjust windfalls, or do not entirely deserve the compensation they receive. Nothing is further from the truth. In reality, most people injured by careless wrongdoers are hardworking Americans who just happened to be victims of another person’s carelessness.

Follow Through With Your Doctors
The full extent of your injuries may not be obvious immediately after an accident. Some people may feel that they did not sustain a serious injury, only to discover weeks or months later that what they initially thought was a minor injury has worsened and may require significant medical treatment. Because of this possibility, Atlanta injury lawyers often recommend that one of the things you should do after an accident is see a doctor for a full evaluation. Depending on the type of injury, it may be best to consult with a specialist. Be certain to tell your doctor about all of your symptoms, no matter how minor they may seem. It is important that you be both accurate and complete. You should see this doctor as soon as possible after your accident, so the doctor can properly document the full extent of your injuries. This documentation is important because it creates a clear record of your injuries and treatment, which is important in a legal claim.

Immediately after the accident, it may be difficult even for the most experienced doctor to tell you how long you will require medical treatment. Depending on your injuries, you may need follow-up care for the first few weeks or months after you leave the hospital. For some extremely serious injuries, you may need long-term or even lifelong care. Because it is often difficult to predict your needs early in a case, it is important for you to be vigilant about your health. If you notice a change in your symptoms, you should be certain to tell your doctor about it. You should also, of course, actively participate in your own recovery by following your doctor’s orders, taking your medications and undergoing whatever rehabilitation or treatment your doctor recommends.

Your Atlanta attorney will also need to know about changes in your condition and how they affect your life, so he or she can explain the full extent of your injuries and damages to the insurance company and ask for the fairest settlement of your claim. To help your lawyer, you should keep a written record of your medical treatment and how your life has been affected by your injuries. This will also help you refresh your memory later, in case your claim goes to trial months or years after the accident.

When your treatment is completed or your doctor feels you have reached maximum medical improvement, your law firm may request additional medical records, to better understand how the injuries will affect you in the future.

Personal Injury Claims: Myths and Facts About Recovering Damages

Anyone who has sustained injuries caused by the negligence of another individual can recover damages by filing personal injury claims.

According to law, such legal claims are often used by people to recover both economic damages (e.g. loss of wages, hospital bills, diminished or complete loss of earning capacity) and non-economic damages (e.g. emotional anguish, pain, and suffering).

To have a better understanding, here are the myths and facts about personal injury claims:

Myth: Personal injury lawsuit is often tedious that involved parties have to wait years for the court ruling.
Fact: Usually, the aggrieved party will receive compensation within one year after filing personal injury claims. But in some special cases where the dispute is much complicated, it would take more than a year or so.

To avoid lengthy and expensive court battle, involved parties usually resort to out-of-court settlement where defendants usually pay the victims before the judge announces his ruling. According to lawyers, out-of-court settlement is usually better than litigation.

Myth: Victims have to pay expensive attorney’s fee or else they will not get any legal service.
Fact: There are many lawyers nowadays who agree with “no win, no pay” arrangement which means that victims can have a legal service without having to pay their lawyers, unless they will receive a settlement from the defendants.

Myth: The injured party can demand any amount of settlement they want.
Fact: The nature and extent of the injuries and the losses suffered by the injured victims will determine the amount of compensation they will receive. In computing the damages, economic and non-economic losses will be considered.

Myth: It is ok to file personal injury claim which is more than the amount of real damages.
According to lawyers, demanding an outrageous amount of personal injury claims may weaken a case because it may show that the alleged victim is only filing a lawsuit to make a profit out of this. This means that people should only ask the rightful amount of compensation to recover damages.

Meanwhile, a court may grant victims with punitive damages, which is more than the amount of the real damages. This compensation aims to deter companies from being negligent and to discourage others from committing the same reckless act.

Myth: Injured parties automatically recover damages even if they are “at fault”.
Fact: In some states, if the injured victim has contributed to his injuries (called as contributory negligent), he may not recover claims. However, in California and in most states, comparative negligence is used to determine if the monetary award is justified or not.

According to lawyers, comparative negligence considers the degree of carelessness and recklessness of the involved parties, allowing the court to decide if the injured victim really deserves to be compensated.

Myth: Victims can file personal injury claims any time they want.
Fact: In personal injury claims, victims should consider the statute of limitation which is the deadline in filing claims. In California, people should file their case within two years after the alleged negligence happens. However, a court may extend the deadline in some special cases.

Our expert Los Angeles personal injury claim lawyers are experienced in handling personal injury cases. For consultation, visit our website and avail of our free case consultation.