Having the unexpected happen can either be a joy or a travesty. The downside is, we never quite know what we’re getting when the unexpected happens. Unfortunately for us, the likelihood of finding a million dollar scratch ticket just laying on the ground is quite low.
Accidents caused by the negligence of others, what are often called personal injury cases, happen quite often. The most common types of these accidents take place due to auto accidents, medical malpractice, premises/product liability, and wrongful death claims.
Consider an auto accident: It’s highly unlikely that both parties are too blame for an accident. This sometimes happens, where both drivers are distracted and happen to make a mistake, but it more often than not takes place because of the negligence of one driver. This happens due to speeding, texting while driving, distracted by something besides the road ahead, and drunk driving. There are nearly 6 million car accidents in America each and every year, and it leads towards nearly 3 million injuries per year — just in 2015, distracted drivers cause 3,477 deaths. Similarly, with drunk driving, there are nearly 300,000 cases of drunk driving each day in the U.S., but only 4,000 of these offenders are ever caught and arrested. That’s a great deal of room for error, ones in which you and your family could easily be hurt, maimed, or killed due to the gross negligence of someone else.
In such cases, if you are involved in an auto accident or injured physically, emotionally, or mentally by the negligence of someone else, you should seek out the help of a personal injury lawyer.
What is a Personal Injury Lawyer
A personal injury lawyer is someone who is connected to a professional law firm and has an expertise in personal injury law. They will understand both the national and state law when it comes to personal injury claims, along with the validity of your case based upon injury. They have the astounding ability to be able to take your injury and effectively create a sound claim out of it, one that they can, most often, settle outside of court, ensuring that (if you have a strong claim) you receive the reparations deserved.
When Do I Need a Personal Injury Lawyer
If you are injured due to the negligence of someone else, then you might have a personal injury claim on your hands. Consider the car accident again: If you are hit by a distracted driver and your car is damaged but you are personally unaffected, well, you don’t have a personal injury claim. That is simply a claim that must be handled through your insurance company. However, if you are physically, emotionally, or mentally injured by the auto accident, one that requires subsequent medical attention, followed by large medical bills, then you might have a claim.
What Can a Personal Injury Claim Cover
A personal injury lawyer will create a claim that seeks to garner reparations from the negligent party for the physically, emotionally, or mentally injured party (or, at worst, for the families of those killed due by negligence). Personal injury claims can cover the following:
- Medical bills from treatment needed to treat injury
- Payment/salary missed from being unable to work
- Coverage for funeral and burial costs in the event of death
The fact is that these costs are ones that you never should have dealt with — they were unexpected and unwarranted, and they are something that you shouldn’t have to have paid for. In such cases, you should seek reparations from those at fault, protecting yourself from those that decided to act in a careless manner.