Personal Injury Lawyers

Just because you are injured in an accident, it does not automatically mean you have a personal injury case. When attorneys speak about personal injury cases, they are referring to something known as a “tort.” This is a type of legal action where one party (a person or business) is directly responsible for hurting someone else and causing them a financial loss. A tort can be intentional such as an assault or based on negligence such as in a car accident or slip and fall.

The key in a personal injury case is proving that your injuries are the direct result of someone else’s conduct. You must also prove that you suffered damages such as incurring medical bills, lost time from work and other out-of-pocket expenses. In some cases, the defendant in a personal injury lawsuit may deny liability and challenge the amount of damages sought, or the defendant may admit liability and contest only the amount of compensation.

Personal injury law allows you to be compensated for physical and emotional injuries that someone else causes due to his or her intentional, reckless or simply careless conduct. Through the years, our attorneys have worked with clients who suffered a wide range of injuries, including:

• Fractures – Falls and car accidents are the most common reasons for broken bones caused by others. A fracture may take only a short time to heal, or it may require extensive care and rehabilitation. If complications arise, a person may need surgery or other treatment.
• Sprains and strains – Don’t let anyone tell you that a sprain or strain is a “minor” injury. These injuries can be extremely painful and difficult to heal. This is especially true when the injury occurs in the neck or lower back. These injuries are often called “soft tissue” injuries because they involve damage to muscles, tendons and ligaments.
• Severe burns – Motorcycle accidents often lead to road rash injuries and friction burns that can leave permanent and disfiguring scars. Some car accidents can result in fires as well, leaving victims with lifelong reminders of the trauma they endured.
• Neck and back injuries – These injuries are among the most common ones that people suffer in car accidents. They are usually caused by the back and forth motion of a vehicle that is impacted from the front or rear. Even low impact rear-end crashes can cause painful and debilitating whiplash injuries.
• Spinal cord injuries – A spinal cord injury is one of the most serious and life-changing injuries we see as personal injury attorneys. While our bodies are very durable and resilient, they can also be quite fragile. Permanent damage to a spinal cord often results in paralysis and can lead to a lifetime of expensive medical care.
• Brain damage – Traumatic brain injury (TBI) can occur in several different forms. It can be minor such as a concussion without loss of consciousness, or it can be an injury that causes extensive physical damage to the brain. Any time that the human brain is shaken about inside the skull, it can create small fissures and bruises to the brain, which can have a dramatic effect on a person’s motor skills, cognition and personality.

No two personal injury cases are the same. Injuries affect people in different ways. For that reason, the type of compensation – and the amount sought – will depend on the specific facts and circumstances of a case. However, generally speaking, a personal injury claim will pursue damages such as:

• Past and future medical bills
• Lost income and diminishment of future earning ability
• Pain and suffering
• Emotional distress
• Loss of consortium
• Punitive damages (if the defendant engaged in exceptional misconduct).