Personal injury claims can help you recover damages that could otherwise send your family into debt. When you are injured and someone else is responsible, they should pay you back for the injuries, medical care, lost earnings, and other expenses, plus pain and suffering.
Getting these damages is not always easy. Insurance claims may be stalled by companies worried more about their bottom line than your recovery. Our lawyers file lawsuits against individual defendants and companies to get you the damages you need.
For a free case review, call our personal injury lawyers at The Reiff Law Firm at (215) 709-6940.
Getting Paid for Injuries in Jim Thorpe
The process of getting you payment for your injuries usually starts with an insurance claim but often moves onto a lawsuit when the defendant’s insurance company refuses to pay in full.
Insurance Claims
Our lawyers can help you file a claim and assess any settlement offers. However, insurance companies usually leave off areas of damages like pain and suffering, trying to pay you instead for the economic damages only. Plus, these companies will often deny their policyholder’s fault or offer such a low settlement that it basically costs them nothing.
Our personal injury lawyers can stand up to these insurance companies and show them you mean business. Often, this means taking the case to court instead of handling the case on their terms.
Lawsuits
When you sue, you take the decisions away from the insurance company and give them to the court. The judge determines what laws apply and the jury determines whose side is more believable and how much the damages cost.
To prove your case, we will find evidence of what happened and proof of damages. Your testimony is vital because you probably saw the whole accident (unless you were knocked unconscious). Additionally, security camera footage, other witness testimony, and photos of the accident scene help corroborate your story. Proof of damages can come from medical bills, other financial records, and your testimony about the pain and suffering you faced.
When we present your case in court, the defense can still try to offer a fair settlement at any point. If they do not, we will let the jury decide your case and award you damages.
Determining Fault in Various Accident Types
Different accidents have different circumstances, but they usually fall into general categories of accident. Cases in the same category tend to happen the same way, with facts pointing to particular parties to hold liable.
Most injury lawsuits are based on “negligence.” This means the defendant owed you a duty, and they injured you by breaching that duty. Negligence works differently in different situations.
Car Accidents
Drivers who cause crashes by violating traffic laws are usually the ones at fault for car accidents. When the other driver speeds, tailgates, runs a red light, or drives drunk, we can use that violation as proof of their negligence.
Trucking and Commercial Accidents
When crashes involve a commercial driver or trucker, they are usually working for a company when they crash. The accident could be the driver’s fault, as with most car accidents. However, the company they work for could share liability.
Employers can be held liable for accidents their employees cause while working, but trucking and transportation companies make other mistakes, too. This can involve negligent hiring, negligent upkeep of the vehicles they own, regulatory violations, and more.
Property Injuries and Slip and Falls
Accidents on someone else’s property can usually be blamed on the property owner or the tenant who operates the property. This means suing a homeowner or business – or, if they rent a commercial or residential property, suing the business or tenant.
These people and companies owe a duty to guests and visitors to keep the property safe or at least warn about hidden dangers. Failing to mop up a spill or put up a “Wet Floor” sign is a classic example of this breach of duty, as is failing to clear snow from sidewalks and parking lots.
Defective Product Injuries
Issues of fault with defective product injuries are often streamlined, and any defect, manufacturing error, or missing warnings can be the basis of a lawsuit. Companies ranging from electronics producers and toy manufacturers to automakers and pharmaceutical companies can be held liable for selling people dangerous products.
Medical Malpractice
When a care provider makes a mistake, they can be held responsible. However, proving they were at fault often requires help from experts.
Medical malpractice cases usually require an expert with similar qualifications as the defendant to explain what the doctor did wrong. This supplies the duty and breach elements of your case, and jury trials often focus on these issues to prove a doctor is at fault.
Fault can also be divided among the hospital and the individual doctor, depending on whether they were a hospital employee, what hospital resources they were using, and who exactly caused your injuries.
Work Injuries
Injuries at work are often complicated because you cannot sue your employer directly. Instead, we look to outside parties to hold liable.
If your work accident happened in one of the ways above, the same kinds of parties might be liable: drivers, product manufacturers, property owners, etc. We can also potentially sue suppliers or vendors who injured you during deliveries or contractors who injured you while servicing your work site.
Time to File an Injury Case in Jim Thorpe
In Pennsylvania, injury victims get 2 years to file their claims. There are some reasons you can extend the deadline, but they are situational.
There are exceptions for victims who were children when they were injured, giving them into adulthood to file. The other major exception is for people who could not discover the injury and its cause right away. This commonly applies to medical malpractice, where a patient might not know they were wronged until they get a second opinion.
Call Our Personal Injury Lawyers in Jim Thorpe Today
For a free case evaluation, call The Reiff Law Firm’s personal injury lawyers at (215) 709-6940.
