Personal Injury

A common example of a personal injury would be for a slip and fall. If you are injured by falling on a walkway to someone’s home or business, that other person might be legally responsible for compensating you for personal injuries you sustained due to the fall.

You might also hear this type of scenario referred to as a “negligence” action. The most common of these types of cases is a motor vehicle accident in which the other driver was negligent. They can also involve any injury suffered in which a home or business owner did not intend to cause the injuries you sustained but were negligent.

Yes, this is called the statute of limitations. If you’re filing a personal injury lawsuit against another person, the statute of limitations will typically be between 2 years and 6 years from when the injury is sustained, or when the injury is discovered. If you believe you have a viable personal injury lawsuit, you should contact your LegalShield provider firm as soon as possible, as you want to ensure you understand the applicable statute of limitations to bring a claim for your specific injury.

You must prove that the other party owed you a duty (conforming to a certain standard of care when acting in relation to other people), breached that duty, and the breach of this duty was the cause of the injury you suffered. A majority of cases refer to this the “reasonable person” standard. Generally, people are required to act as a “reasonable person in that specific situation” would act towards another. This is tricky, because what is “reasonable” can be subjective depending on the context of the situation. This is why we suggest you retain an attorney if you are going to bring a personal injury lawsuit against someone.

Certain people have such a relationship with each other where they are required by law to act with more care than what a “reasonable person” would. This might require a person to protect the one with whom they share this relationship, or it might require a person to protect third persons from the person with whom they have the relationship. Examples of this are:

• Jailer and detainee
• Landlord and tenant
• Parent and child
• Business and patron
• Hotel and guest
• Employer and employee

Comparative fault states take into account the evidence of the plaintiff’s actions or wrongdoings and may use them to diminish the defendant’s liability and damages owed.

In addition to negligence action, there are two other types of actions that a plaintiff can bring in order to recover for a personal injury. They are:

Strict Liability
This action holds someone liable for damages to another without the need to prove a duty and a breach of that duty. For example, designers and manufacturers are held strictly liable for injuries from defective products. In these cases, the injured person does not have to establish negligence of the manufacturer. Rather, you need to show that the product was designed or manufactured in a manner that made it unreasonably dangerous when used as intended.

Intentional Torts (or intentional wrong)
These actions address wrongdoings (not based on a breach of duty) that are intentional, rather than negligent. Examples of intentional torts include libel, slander, assault, battery, invasion of privacy, false imprisonment, and intentional infliction of emotional distress.

Medical Malpractice is a misunderstood area of law. You or your attorney must do more than show that a doctor, nurse, or hospital simply made a mistake in your medical treatment. You must prove that the medical provider deviated from the required standard of care and that you were injured as a direct result of that deviation from the standard of care.

In almost every case, to prove that a medical provider breached the standard of care, you must have another medical provider give expert testimony.

Medical malpractice cases are complex and typically hard-fought by medical professionals and their insurance companies.

Subrogation is the legal right of a party (such as an insurance company) to make a payment and then go after another party for reimbursement. Your health insurance company has a right to subrogate from an at-fault, legally responsible party that caused your personal injuries (e.g. an at-fault driver) and also has the right to see reimbursement for any monies you received in settlement from the at-fault, legally responsible party up to the amount the health insurance company has paid out on your behalf for the injuries caused by the other party; this amount is often referred to as the “subrogation lien”. You need to make sure that any settlement is sufficient to pay off the subrogation lien (which sometimes can be negotiated down) as well as to fairly compensate yourself.

You should at least consult with an attorney early on!

In most cases where the injury is anything other than minor, you should hire a personal injury attorney to make sure you receive fair compensation. Most personal injury attorneys work on a “contingency fee” basis, meaning typically they take a percentage of what you recover plus reimbursement for fees/expenses at the time that you recover through settlement or trial.

The settlement value of your claim is not based on any formula and is not easy to ascertain. It depends on many factors, including, but not limited to: how clear the liability is of the other party, how clear it is that your damages were caused by the other party, how much your pain and suffering is worth, how your personal injuries are going to unfold in the future, how much those future injuries are worth, and if juries in the county where your personal injuries were received tend to award high or low verdicts in your type of case.

There are many ways an attorney might charge a client for legal representation and work. These include a retainer, a flat fee, or a contingency fee.

A retainer fee is a sum of money paid by the client to the attorney up front before the attorney will begin working on the client’s case. This money is placed in an account that is separate from the attorney’s operating account, and then the attorney will bill their time against it as the case progresses. This should all be explained in a written retainer agreement, which your attorney should explain to you before you sign. This should state how you will be charged and what will happen if your retainer fee is reduced to zero before the case is completed.

A flat fee is a single amount of money paid by the client in return for a single legal service performed by the attorney. This is usually used for legal work that will not require ongoing representation, i.e. a one-time event such as will-drafting or handling a real estate transaction.

A contingency fee is a percentage of the “winnings” either awarded to the client by the court after a trial has occurred, or paid to the client from the defendant via a settlement agreement. The attorney will not get paid unless the client wins the case. Typically, contingency fess are charged for a personal injury case, where a client is suing someone for a wrong against a client. Contingency fees are not allowed in certain kinds of proceedings, such as criminal defense or divorce representation. Attorney fees cannot be contingent upon any specific outcome in those types of proceedings.