Most Common Types of Personal Injury Claims

Injuries are caused due to some accidents. Accidents may be of two types: one that are caused due to personal negligence or secondly, due to someone else’s negligence. Personal injury claim can be defined as insurance a person can claim, if he has suffered some damages in an accident due to the negligence of the other person. 

Types of Injuries
Injuries are mainly of two types: physical and financial. A person can file a law suit in any one of the above conditions or even a combination of these types. Because it also may be the case sometimes that one type may affect the other, and the damage may be a sum total of their damage.

Physical or bodily injury
Bodily injury is most often associated with personal injury claims. This type of injury claim is caused is caused by someone’s negligence. Most often, there is a bodily injury involved in Personal Injury Claim.
The injury may be as a result of highway or road traffic accidents.

The injuries caused in a work place, not necessarily by himself but due to a co-worker, supervisor, employee also entitles one to claim this insurance.

Industrial disease injury is not less common. A person may be employed in a factory where he is exposed to hazardous chemicals. Over a period of time, when he is in close contact of the chemical he may develop a disease. This can be a reason for the claim as well.

Due to slippery surfaces especially like in malls, stores, etc., one might sustain slip and fall injury. This can also be claimed under personal injury suits as it will be considered to be the negligence of the other party. Same could be the case if there is a collapse of a stadium, stage or for that matter bungee jumping and sky diving,

Financial injury
An injury can cause total or partial disability that may affect the person’s ability to work. As a result, the injured suffers financial losses. But it is not always necessary that a physical injury has to be attached to bodily injury. Though rare, financial injury may be independent of the above reason and may be caused due to other’s negligence. This includes the devaluation of the property, false law suit, defamation and, economic instability. Even this condition leads to personal injury claims.

Whatever be the reason of injury, it is important to take it up with a good attorney who will sail you safely and help you claim the maximum benefit possible. The only obligation though is that you should quickly respond to such situations and file a claim immediately.

An Injury Lawyer Helps Victims Understand Their Legal Rights

Many people make the mistake of putting themselves at a disadvantage by negotiating with insurance companies on their own. Insurance adjusters are not out there to award policy holders full compensation for their losses. Their goal is to minimize settlements for injury claims so that they can increase the profit margins of the insurance company that they work for. To avoid being duped by your insurance company in the event of a serious injury, it is important to present a strong case with the help of an injury lawyer.

An injury lawyer understands how insurance companies work, and will be prepared to take on any challenges that an insurance adjuster throws their way. If you don’t believe that you are being fairly compensated for all of the immediate and long-term costs associated with your injuries, it may be time to seek the counsel of an injury lawyer.

If you have been involved in an accident or have suffered injuries that were caused by another person or an organization such as a nursing home, then you may be entitled to compensation for the following:

• Medical Expenses. Your injury lawyer will assess all medical bills, such as hospital treatment and medications, to determine the medical costs associated with the injury you are filing a claim for. Rehabilitation. Individuals with serious injuries may require ongoing medical treatment. In some cases, this may mean lifelong rehabilitation and medical costs.

• Lost Wages. Your injury lawyer will fight for your right to receive fair compensation for lost wages that are directly caused by your injury.

Property damage, psychological pain, and other associated damages will also be carefully considered by an injury lawyer. It is important that all of these immediate and future expenses are included in the equation and presented by your injury lawyer. You can get your case underway right away by contacting an injury lawyer who will perform a professional evaluation of your case, and work assiduously to achieve the very best outcome.

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Help! I’ve Fallen and I Can’t Decide If I Should Press Charges

Slip and fall accidents can happen anywhere. When a fall results in a severe injury, it’s important to know who’s responsible. In short, the answer will be situational. Sometimes the property owner is responsible for the accident, and sometimes he or she is not. Slip and fall accidents are a personal injury and are considered a tort. There are four general types of slip and fall accidents:

Trip-and-fall: When there is a foreign object in the walking path.
Stump-and-fall: When there is a barrier in the walking surface.
Step-and-fall: When there is an unexpected hole or malfunction in the walking surface.
Slip-and-fall: When the combination of the shoe/foot and floor fails, oftentimes involving a slippery substance on the floor surface.

It is the duty of the property owner to keep their facility safe of hazards. They must take the appropriate amount of steps to ensure that their property is free of dangerous conditions. The property owner can be at fault if they knew there was a permanent hazardous condition (such as broken flooring) but didn’t do anything about it.

Comparative negligence is also considered when a slip and fall accident occurs, and is often a significant hurdle in making claims. This means that you, in some way, contributed to your own accident.  You may have fallen because you were running on a slippery floor when there was a warning sign by it. Because of your own carelessness, you may have a lessened award for your injuries or none at all.

Most often the issue of comparative negligence arises because the property owner will say the cause of the fall was “open and obvious.” In other words: the person who fell should have seen what caused their fall, but as they didn’t, they are at fault themselves.  This can be tricky to balance against a property owners duty to keep their premises safe.

If you are injured in a slip and fall accident, you may receive compensation. Compensation may include damages already incurred and those in the future that may be incurred for: medical bills, time away from work, and pain and suffering.

If you have been injured in a slip and fall accident, and are not sure who is at fault, McCullough & Associates will be there to answer any questions you have.

Recovering for Personal Injury Caused By A Loaner Car Crash in California

Recovering for personal injury caused by a loaner car crash in California can be tricky!  As a California car accident attorney, this is one of the most common traffic collision scenarios that I see.  The registered owner of a motor vehicle loans their automobile to a third party who then wrecks the car, causing property damage and bodily harm to the victim.  What are the accident victim’s options for recovery of medical bills, lost wages, pain and suffering and all the other remedies to which they may be entitled.  As we know from my prior posts, every person in California is responsible for their own actions or in actions and can be held liable if they fail to act reasonably (i.e. if they are negligent) but, as we also know, we need to find a pocket from which to collect damages, if we hope to successfully obtain compensation and that usually comes in the form of automobile insurance coverage.  The first thing a good personal injury attorney would explore in this situation is if there was insurance coverage for the driver themselves that may apply.  Oftentimes, however, there is no coverage or limited coverage and the lawyer must also analyze the following:

California Liability for the Permissive Use of an Automobile

California Vehicle Code section 17150 provides as follows: “Every owner of a motor vehicle is liable and responsible for death or injury to person or property resulting from a negligent or wrongful act or omission in the operation of the motor vehicle, in the business of the owner or otherwise, by any person using or operating the same with the permission, express or implied, of the owner.”  Therefore, if the injured person is harmed by a loaned vehicle, the owner is responsible so long as the following are proven:

•     The driver was negligent
•     The owner was on the registration to the vehicle at the time of the accident; and
•     The driver was operating the vehicle with the consent of the owner (which can be shown by words, conduct or factoring in any relationship between the owner and the driver)

The caveat here is found in CA Veh. Code 17151(a) which can limit the owner’s total liability exposure to $15,000 per injury (in the case of one claimant), $30,000 for bodily damages (in the case of multiple claimants) and $5,000 for damage to property.
Negligent Entrustment of a Motor Vehicle Under CA Law

Oftentimes, serious and catastrophic injuries with medical expenses and emotional tolls or, worse yet, a death occurs as a result of a freeway or surface street smash up.  Victims and their families in these instances are clearly entitled to more than just $15-30,000 in bodily injury compensation.  Can they ever recover more than this?  Depending upon the facts, the answer is YES.  In addition to simply showing that the car was being driven by a negligent operator with the permission of the registered owner, the plaintiff would need to show that the owner was also negligent in loaning the automobile to the driver.  This is what is known as a negligent entrustment theory of recovery and requires proving the following:

•     The driver was negligent
•     The driver was controlling the vehicle with the owner’s consent
•     The owner knew or should have known that the driver was incompetent or unfit to drive the vehicle
•     The unfitness or incompetence of the driver was more than just a trivial factor in causing harm to the injured party

This would allow for the wounded person to recover for beyond just the “permissive user” limits.  It would also invoke a duty on the part of the owner’s insurance carrier to defend the claim fully and to pay in excess of the 15/30 limits for injury if the negligent entrustment theory has merit.  Facts sufficient to prove this theory can come in many forms but, the most common is the “designated driver” scenario where an intoxicated vehicle owner allows someone else to operate their motor vehicle but, that person is also under the influence of alcohol or drugs and the owner knows or SHOULD know that they are drunk or “buzzed”.  Other instances may include an owner who knows or should have known a driver has no license, a bad driving record, a history of accidents, a disability such as being prone to seizures or having problems with their eye sight, hearing or other issues that affect their ability to drive.

Uninsured Motorist and Underinsured Motorist Claims

The other issue that should always be analyzed in the case of a loaner car crash is the ability to seek compensation or additional moneys from the injured party’s own auto insurance company.  Uninsured motorist coverage may apply where, for whatever reasons, the above theories do not apply and there is no insurance coverage for the loaner vehicle.  Additionally, if the facts are such that there is liability but, this is limited to the $15,000/$30,000, an underinsured motorist claim may be made if the policy of the injured person has coverage in excess of these amounts.  (e.g. if the person harmed has coverage of $100,000 for bodily injury, they would be able to exhaust the $15,000 in liability for the permissive owner and then collect an additional $85,000 assuming the value of their claim justified this additional recovery).

Importance of Hiring A California Personal Injury Lawyer Familiar With Loaner Car Accidents

These issues get tricky.  Full recovery in loaner auto crashes requires full and complete analysis of the facts surrounding the incident, investigation of the driver and the owner to determine the circumstances and scope of the permission to use the car and the relationship between the driver and owner (e.gs. Are they relatives? Did the owner know the person to whom he loaned his car?  Were the driver and owner out drinking or partying that night?).  Competent legal counsel can also fully analyze coverage for the driver, the owner and the injured party (in the case of UM and UIM claims).  This makes it critically important to hire a good attorney and to do so sooner rather than later!

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