Filing a personal injury lawsuit requires evidence and the proving of four essential elements. Only then can victims claim the compensation they deserve for the damages they have incurred in Levittown.
A victim of another’s negligence must prove duty, breach, causation, and damages to recover compensation in a personal injury claim in Levittown. This is done using evidence, such as medical records, witness testimony, surveillance camera footage, and photographs. If all four essential elements are not proven, no case for injury can succeed.
To have our Levittown, PA personal injury lawyers review your case for free, call The Reiff Law Firm now at (215) 593-2981.
Knowing When to Sue for Personal Injury in Levittown, PA
Because the subject of personal injury is so broad and because it is not always clear whether or not another person’s negligence caused a victim’s injuries, victims in Levittown may be unsure if filing a personal injury lawsuit is the right course of action.
In most cases, a person can sue for personal injury if they incurred real damages as a result of injuries caused by another person. Sometimes, accidents happen, and another party is not liable for the injuries a victim sustains.
For example, if there is a leak in your apartment and you slip and hurt yourself, your landlord might not be at fault. Conversely, if there is ice on your apartment steps and you slip and get injured, your landlord may be at fault. That is because landlords and typically responsible for maintaining common areas, not individual units. Similarly, fault in work injury cases is often difficult to determine.
Once you have established that suing is an option for you, it is best to act quickly. In Levittown, injury victims have just two years to file a claim. Included in that timeframe is the process of preparing a claim and gathering evidence against a negligent party.
Dealing with Insurance Companies After Accidents
For compensation, your first thought might be to file an insurance claim. When you do, the insurance adjusters decide who was at fault and how much they should pay. This often means they will protect their policyholder and their revenue instead of paying you, and they will twist your words to help their goals.
Talk to a Lawyer First
You should only consider filing with insurance after speaking with a lawyer. When you accept money from the defendant’s insurance, it is a settlement that stops you from getting additional damages in court. Wait for your lawyer’s help assessing settlement offers.
Do Not Admit Anything
You should not say anything to the insurance adjusters that might hurt your case. However, it can be hard to know how they will use your words or admissions against you. As such, you should only speak to insurance companies through your lawyer or with your lawyer’s advice.
Do Not Accept Money
Do not accept the insurance company’s valuation of your case. Insurance companies want to save themselves money, so their settlement offers will usually be calculated with that in mind, not your actual damages. Our lawyers can calculate what your damages are really worth so you can compare the insurance company’s amounts against this.
Do I Have to Go to Trial to Win My Injury Case?
Most injury cases are ultimately settled out of court, but this is not always the best route to success for your case. Our lawyers can assess the insurance company’s settlement offers and help you decide whether your case should go to trial or not.
When you go to trial, the judge and jury – neutral parties – decide the case. This takes away the insurance company’s pressure and gives you a fair chance at winning.
Before a jury, it is also possible your damages could be higher. When insurance companies set the damages, they may hold back. Juries are everyday people who understand where your damages are coming from and see your need to get paid for your injuries.
In some types of cases, Bensalem and Bucks County jurors might even be statistically more friendly toward injury victims’ cases than in other areas of the country.
All this is to say that you might not have to go to trial to win your case, but going to trial could give you significant advantages that you give up by settling too early.
What is My Injury Case Worth?
Our lawyers can evaluate your specific case to help you understand its worth. Most cases involve these damages, so if you can estimate their value, you can give yourself a general preliminary estimate of your case’s value:
Medical Bills
All of the bills for treating your injuries should be claimed in your case, including the cost of follow-up care and therapy.
Many injury victims face ongoing care costs, especially when it comes to paralysis, traumatic brain injuries, and other ongoing disabilities from accidents. You can take into account both the bills you were already charged and the bills you will face going forward.
Lost Wages
If your injury stops you from working, you can claim compensation for all lost earnings.
This starts with the damages from work you missed during recovery. If you spent a week in the hospital, you would claim that weeks’ damages. However, disabilities and long recovery times often mean more lost wages going forward.
Many injury victims have to take lower-paying jobs, work fewer hours, or step away from work because of disabilities. We can calculate future lost earnings by subtracting what you are projected to make going forward from what you were expected to make before the accident. However, we may have to hire financial experts to assess how much longer you would have worked, raises and promotions you will now miss out on, and more.
Non-Economic Damages
Other damages for pain and suffering and other “non-economic” harms are based on the overall severity of your injuries.
We can sometimes calculate this by multiplying the other “economic” damages by a number from 1.5-5, based on how “serious” your injuries are.
Another method involves finding a per-day value for pain and suffering and multiplying that by the number of days you have or will continue to suffer. To find a per-day value, we often start with your daily income amount and then adjust up or down based on how severe your injuries are.
Punitive Damages
It can be hard to tell when punitive damages are available, as courts require evidence that the defendant’s actions were beyond “negligence” to award them. Only when the defendant was reckless or harmed you on purpose can these damages be allowed.
Punitive damages could potentially equal double or triple the other damages in your case, and they are only awarded at trial. If punitive damages are available, it might be another reason to go to trial instead of settling.
Elements to Prove Fault in a Personal Injury Case
In any personal injury case, whether it is for a car accident or a defective product accident, four elements must be proven in order to establish a defendant’s fault and liability for compensating a victim. These elements are duty of care, breach of duty of care, causation, and damages.
Duty of Care
A duty of care is one’s responsibility to another person to act in accordance with whatever relationship they have with one another.
For example, a doctor has a duty to their patient to provide proper treatment. A driver has a duty to others on the road to uphold traffic laws. Homeowners have a responsibility to their guests to ensure their property does not pose a danger. Product manufacturers have a duty to their customers not to produce and distribute defective products.
Our personal injury lawyers can establish a duty of care based on the relationship between you and the person who caused your injuries. This is typically done based on each individual situation. For example, a leasing agreement between a tenant and a landlord can establish the duty of care owed to the tenant by the landlord to keep common areas safe and free from hazards.
Breach
The second element that must be established for a victim to recover compensation is in regard to a breach. A defendant must have breached the duty of care they owed a victim. Instances of breaches can vary, depending on each case.
For example, suppose a driver was intoxicated at the time they struck a victim. In that case, the driver would be in breach of their duty of care as it is against traffic laws to drive drunk in Levittown. Or, if a retail shop failed to place proper signage near a spill or wet floor and a shopper slipped and fell, that failure on behalf of the store would be a breach of its duty of care to its customers.
Proving this element allows victims to show exactly how a defendant acted negligently.
Causation
A crucial aspect of any personal injury claim is proving causation. It is not enough to say that a defendant acted negligently or in breach of their duty of care. You must prove that the defendant’s breach caused your injuries.
Typical evidence used to prove causation includes eyewitness statements, expert statements, surveillance footage, and photographs. A victim’s medical records can also provide insight into the cause of their injuries.
The link between a defendant’s negligence and a plaintiff’s injuries is typically the most challenging thing to prove.
Damages
Finally, you must show that you incurred real damages as a result of another party’s negligence. This is done by providing proof of damages, such as records of lost wages and medical bills.
Other out-of-pocket expenses, such as childcare or travel costs, can also be due to injuries sustained in an accident caused by a negligent party. Financial losses are not the only damages victims can incur, as pain and suffering are very real experiences for victims.
Testimony from friends, therapists, and victims can act as proof of emotional damages. Your damages are what are compensable in a lawsuit for personal injury, and without proof of them, you will be unable to recover compensation of any kind in Levittown.
Evidence Needed to Prove Your Injury Case in Levittown
Whether you are going to court or filing through insurance, you need proof of what happened. Insurance companies and juries will not believe your case unless you provide other evidence to back up what you are saying.
Basic Evidence
While your testimony will give a broad view of the story behind your accident, photos, videos, documents, and records will help prove your story is true. Other witnesses who can testify, photos of the damage you claim happened, and video of the accident itself are all excellent evidence to bring to the case.
Evidence Our Lawyers Can Find
However, our lawyers can also look for accident reports at the store where you were injured, security camera footage from the street where you slipped and fell, or medical records from your doctor’s negligent surgery to help prove your claim.
Evidence in Defendant’s Possession
If we can get evidence from the defendant’s cameras or records, that is even stronger because you had no chance to tamper with it or change it. We can obtain evidence from the defense through a process called “discovery,” where we ask the court to order depositions, subpoenas, and answers to our questions about what happened.
Evidence of Damages
Extensive evidence is also needed to prove your damages, so track your recovery process and save all bills, receipts, and letters/e-mails related to your accident.
Get Compensation for Your Injuries in Levittown, PA
Call The Reiff Law Firm at (215) 593-2981 to speak with our personal injury lawyers about your case today.
