Need Legal Help? Connect with a Houston Personal Injury Lawyer
Sometimes it seems that accidents happen when one least expects it. If you have become injured as a result of someone else’s negligence, you may require expensive medical attention and become unable to work due to your condition.
In these situations, you may have a strong claim for compensation. In order to understand whether your injury was the result of someone else’s negligence, it is important to know what that entails. An experienced personal injury lawyer in Houston can stick by your side and provide you with comprehensive assistance throughout the claims process.
A personal injury is a legal term for an injury to the body, mind, or emotions as a result of someone else’s carelessness or intentional misconduct. This can include injuries that arise from accidents at work, motor vehicle accidents, dog bites, physical assaults, defective products, medical malpractice, and slip-and-fall accidents.
A Houston personal injury attorney is a legal professional who focuses their practice on cases involving accidents stemming from a party’s negligence or misconduct. If you have been injured because of someone else’s fault or negligence, you are well-advised to seek the services of an experienced personal injury lawyer to help you file a claim for the damages that you have suffered. It is important not to delay, as it can be harder to file a claim as time passes.
Negligence In A Personal Injury Claim
What exactly is negligence? This refers to a party failing to act carefully and prudently in certain circumstances. If they fail to do this, and you suffer an injury as a result, you may file a claim for compensation against them. In order to win your case, however, it is important that you can prove negligence or carelessness on the part of the other party.
In some cases, injuries occur due to no fault of anyone. When they do occur, it is unlikely that you would file a claim for compensation. There are certain “accidents,” however, that occur because of the carelessness or recklessness of one party. These are referred to as “negligent accidents.”
Negligence can take many forms. Some examples include:
- Driving too fast in conditions in which it is dangerous to do so
- Driving while under the influence of alcohol or drugs
- Omitting or not having proper safety equipment, such as a seat belt when driving an automobile
- Not wearing appropriate protective gear, such as a helmet when riding a bicycle or motorcycle. If someone has been injured in a motorcycle accident due to another’s negligence, they may have a strong case for compensation.
- Working in an unsafe work environment. You are more likely to suffer injuries at work if the working conditions are dangerous or hazardous. If you have been injured as a result of your employer’s negligence, you may be entitled to compensation. Workplace accidents are very common.
Proving Negligence
Negligence can be a tricky thing to prove in a legal sense, but it is actually pretty easy to explain. When we talk about someone being negligent, we’re talking about them not doing what they were supposed to do. To prove that someone else was negligent, you need to show that the person owed a duty of care, breached that duty, and caused an injury.
Duty of care. “Duty of care” is a legal term that refers to how much responsibility someone has for what happens to other people. If someone has a duty of care, that means they have an obligation to take care of other people and make sure they do not get hurt. The law says this duty includes an obligation to do three things:
- Act carefully
- Supervise
- Provide a warning
Breach of duty. A breach of duty occurs when someone does something they should not do or does not do what they should have done, failing to uphold their duty of care. Breaches of duty can happen if someone fails to meet the standard that other people would normally take in the same situation.
If you have been injured as a result of someone else’s carelessness or negligence in Texas, it is important that you file a claim for damages with a Houston personal injury lawyer help if you wish to pursue compensation.
The negligent party may not always be held liable right away; the victim or their family must provide evidence that demonstrates their fault. This can make proving your claim more difficult without the help of an experienced accident lawyer.
The challenge in any case that requires proving negligence is that it must be proven by a preponderance of the evidence. A preponderance of evidence means that it is more likely than not that someone was negligent and this caused the injury, as opposed to there being absolutely no proof. A good lawyer can help you prove a claim against someone else, even if it seems that it would be hard to prove their negligence.
Common Types of Injuries
After an accident, you may feel lost and not know whom to contact for help. Understanding your rights or the process of making a claim can be difficult.
The road to getting compensation can be long and complicated, but it can be important to act as quickly as possible. It is also important that you keep everything related to the accident, especially if it was another person’s fault (e.g., police report, written statement from a witness, photographs).
Some of the most common types of incidents for which people can pursue a personal injury claim include:
- Unsafe property or premises that result in slips, trips, and falls
- Vehicle accidents, such as car accidents, motorcycle accidents, bicycle accidents, and pedestrian injuries
- Dog bites and animal attacks
- Mental cruelty claims (anxiety, depression) resulting from domestic violence
- Medical malpractice cases, in which a medical provider does not follow the appropriate standard of care, resulting in an injury
- People harmed by dangerous drugs or medical devices
When pursuing a personal injury case, you should hire a personal injury lawyer in Houston who has handled these types of claims before. An experienced attorney will prepare your claim so that it is ready to file with the insurance company or court as soon as possible. This makes it easier for the insurance company to determine the value of your claim, so that settlement negotiations can begin immediately.
Personal injury claims are based on physical, emotional, and financial damages. Depending on the circumstances of your claim you may be entitled to none, one, or all three types of damages. These can be further broken down into economic losses (medical costs, missed work time), non-economic losses (pain and suffering, mental anguish), and punitive damages (meant to punish the defendant for willful or reckless misconduct).
The purpose of compensatory damages is to make the injured party whole again by restoring them to their position prior to suffering an injury or loss, or as close to that position as possible. In a personal injury claim, the plaintiff may be able to recover damages for lost income and loss of future earnings due either to diminished earning capacity or inability to work in the same field, pain and suffering, past and future medical expenses, and property damage.
Punitive damages may be awarded when the injury the victim suffered is particularly egregious or can be characterized as an isolated incident of wanton behavior. It is usually much more difficult to prove the need for punitive damages.
How A Hoston Personal Injury Lawyer Can Help You?
A Houston Auto Accident Lawyer should also be able to answer any questions you have about the personal injury claim process. For example, if you were in a car accident, your attorney can tell you what kinds of damages are recoverable and how your injuries affect your eligibility to receive damages.
Having an experienced Houston injury attorney by your side during the personal injury claims process is key to maximizing your settlement and minimizing your stress. A personal injury lawyer can help people who have suffered damages in an accident by filing a claim on their behalf to see the compensation they deserve. A personal injury lawyer can be of great assistance in such cases, which often involve both physical and psychological injuries.
If you have been injured due to the negligence or carelessness of another party, you may call now to speak with one of our experienced personal injury attorneys for a free consultation on your potential case. Our Houston personal injury lawyers can help. We have a team of highly experienced accident and injury attorneys who have handled countless cases for victims just like you.
We will review your case and help determine whether there is enough evidence to prove that someone else was negligent. If this is the case, we will guide you through the next steps and do everything we can to make sure you receive justice in court and compensation for your injuries.
Contact an injury attorney about your potential claim, call us today or fill out the contact form on our website to get started. A representative from the firm will be happy to discuss the merits of your potential case and determine whether you have a strong claim.