5 Types of Cases Handled by A Personal Injury Lawyer
Lawyers play a vital role in society by representing different parties in law courts to seek justice. There are different specialties in the legal profession, each dealing with a different type of law. One such specialty is personal injuries.
Product Liability, word cloud concept on white background.
A personal injury claim is filed by a party claiming to be physically, mentally, or emotionally injured by another party because of negligence or by accident. Should this be you, you need the services of a personal injury lawyer. There are different cases that these lawyers can handle, and it’s important to know them. This will assist you in gauging whether you need the services of a personal injury lawyer.
The cases personal injury lawyers handle are:
1. Car Accidents
You probably see car accidents regularly as you go to work, take a stroll, or visit your local store. However, their frequent occurrence doesn’t mean they aren’t serious and can cause severe consequences. You could break your arm or leg and end up in the hospital.
The consequences of car accidents make them the number one cases handled by personal injury lawyers like Boland Romaine and others. Besides the physical harm of breaking your arm, this lawyer can seek compensation for other side effects. You might have lost your job due to a prolonged stay in the hospital and incurred medical expenses to cater to the injuries, among others. These are part of economic injury, and you need compensation.
2. Workplace Accidents
In the course of executing your duties in your workplace, you might get injured. You could be using malfunctioning equipment and end up cutting your hand, or a building or its section could collapse and injure you. Suppose you work in a company that uses poisonous chemicals to arrive at its final product. Over time, you inhale this gas, which puts you in the hospital. It’s an injury in its own right.
Therefore, if you’re in the above situation, you can and should seek the services of a personal injury lawyer. However, to get these compensations, you have to prove you were in the right safety gear while working and were adhering to all the company’s policies regarding safety.
3. Product Liability
In most states, manufacturers are bound by various quality standards that depict their products are fit for human use. They shouldn’t be defective—if a given product has side effects, the company should highlight this clearly on each product as a warning. Should they fail to do so, you can hold them liable if you use one of their substandard products and it causes harm to your body.
You can also seek compensation if they wrongly advertised their product, and you relied on this information to buy their product. For instance, a company can say that a given product does A, B, and C. You proceed to buy it since it can solve A, B, and C. However, after using it, you realise it does D, E, and F, which harm your body. You could get burns, or your skin could peel as a result.
If you’re in any of these scenarios, hire a personal injury lawyer to represent you accordingly in court and get you the compensation you deserve.
4. Municipal Liability
The municipal council is often in charge of public infrastructure within its area of jurisdiction. Being in charge means they’ll maintain, repair, and replace them as needed. However, not all municipal councils take this responsibility seriously, which often leads to accidents. For instance, a damaged road can cause you to trip, fall, and break your leg. Had the municipal council done its job, there’d have been no hole to trigger the fall. You can seek compensation for this through your personal injury lawyer.
Besides roads, unkempt public swimming pools and recreational facilities could also cause injuries.
5. Medical Malpractice
As the name suggests, medical malpractice involves health professionals like doctors and nurses. These parties are bound under the law to offer their services following a code of conduct and standards of procedure. Therefore, should they fail to do so, you can sue them through a personal injury lawyer if their actions cause you harm and injury.
For instance, a doctor could give you a wrong diagnosis and prescription, and you suffer serious side effects that worsen your condition. Besides worsening your condition, their negligence could cause death or disability, which is physical, emotional, and mental injury to you and your family.
Points To Note
Proving negligence isn’t an easy thing to do. Even though you’re right and deserve compensation, you can fail to secure it should you make simple mistakes that the other party can use against you. For instance, you could fail to take your medication after visiting the hospital.
The other party can claim your injuries resulted from not following the doctor’s instructions on taking the medication and not their actions.
Therefore, it’s important to do as you’re told from when the accident occurs until you get your compensation. Also, it’s important to note that you can’t seek compensation after two years since the accident occurred. This timeframe differs from state to state. Find out what applies in your state and act accordingly.
Conclusion
The discussion above shows the cases personal injury lawyer’s handle. Hire a personal injury lawyer if you are in any of the discussed situations. As you do so, know that not all personal injury lawyers will handle the cases mentioned above. Most have specialised in given fields. Do your due diligence and find a lawyer that handles your specific case type. It’ll make the process easier.