Recovering from a personal injury can be incredibly stressful. It often involves not just a visit to the hospital but also ongoing physical therapy, missed work, and even the potential for long-term disabilities. Accident victims need to stay focused on their recoveries, and that can be hard to do when they’re worried about lost wages, hospital bills, and the stress over how to pay for it all.
Hiring a personal injury lawyer is the best thing accident victims can do to ensure optimal recovery aside, of course, from attending regular doctor’s appointments and sticking to their physical therapy routines. It takes the stress of dealing with insurance companies and navigating complex legal procedures off victims’ plates so they can focus on moving on with their lives.
Read on to find out about some of the most common types of cases handled by personal injury attorneys.
Car Accidents
When most people think of personal injury lawyers, they assume the bulk of their cases are claims filed by car accident victims. In many cases, that’s true. There are millions of car accidents every year, and many of them result in personal injury cases.
Car accidents are almost always the unfortunate result of one or more drivers failing to follow the rules of the road. The good news is, negligent drivers in most cases can be held responsible for the injuries they cause. Accident victims can visit LawBoss.com to learn how to seek compensation for their injuries.
Truck Accidents
Accidents involving 18-wheelers tend to have even more serious consequences than ordinary car crashes. The size and weight of commercial trucks play huge contributing roles to not just increased rates and severity of injuries but also more serious property damage and higher frequencies of wrongful deaths.
While it’s usually fairly obvious who is to blame for ordinary car crashes, it can be difficult to determine liability in 18-wheeler accidents. In some cases, it’s not the driver’s fault, but the trucking companies, the mechanics, or even the truck manufacturer. A capable personal injury attorney will be able to determine liability and help injured clients seek just compensation from whoever is deemed responsible.
Motorcycle Accidents
Motorcycle riders don’t have the same level of injury protection as their car-driving counterparts. When they are involved in accidents, even at low speeds, the results can be devastating. It’s always best to find an attorney who has worked with other motorcyclists since the details of these cases are often different from those associated with traditional car crashes.
Slips and Falls
Not all personal injuries occur when victims are behind the wheel. Just like drivers can be held responsible for their negligence if it causes another person harm, property owners can be held liable for breaching their duties of care.
The most common type of premises liability case is the slip and fall. Slip and fall cases can occur indoors or outdoors and are most frequently caused by improper floor or sidewalk maintenance, lack of handrails, poor visibility, and failure to clean up spills promptly. These kinds of accidents can occur on both commercial and residential properties.
Dog Bites
Dogs may have a reputation for being man’s best friend, but that doesn’t mean all of them are friendly and well-behaved. In fact, there have been around 4.7 million recorded instances of dog bites in the United States.
Dog owners have a responsibility to train and control their animals. Most dog bite cases fall under one of two categories. If the incident occurred on the owner’s property, the case may be tried as a property liability claim. If it occurred in public, the owner may be held responsible for damages that occurred as a result of negligence.
In most cases, owners are only liable for dog bites if their animals have bitten someone before or have shown aggressive behavior. However, there are exceptions to the rule. Anyone who has sustained injuries during a dog attack should contact a personal injury attorney to discuss the specifics and determine the best path forward.
Other Premises Liability Cases
Slip and fall accidents and dog attacks are two of the most common types of premises liability cases, but there are others. Basically, if an invitee or a licensee is injured on someone else’s property as a result of the property owner’s negligence, the injured party may be able to seek compensation for damages. Other common examples of premises liability cases include injuries incurred as a result of:
- Porch collapses
- Stair collapses
- Unsafe swimming pools
- Elevator defects
- Escalator problems
- Fires
- Flooding
- Toxic chemicals or fumes
- Inadequate building security
When in doubt about whether it’s worth filing a personal injury claim after an accident on someone else’s property, it’s always best to consult a lawyer. If the lawyer can prove that the property owner owed a duty of care, breached that duty, and was directly responsible for material harm to the injured party, he or she will likely recommend pressing forward with the case.
What About Intentional Torts?
Tort law covers all personal injury and premises liability cases. All of the examples given above involve instances of negligence or unintentional harm. However, tort law also covers certain forms of intentional harm.
Examples of intentional torts include assault and battery. In these instances, the injured party sustains damage not by accident but as a result of the perpetrator’s direct, intentional actions. Most of the time, the aggravating party also faces charges in criminal court.
Not all personal injury lawyers handle these types of suits, so it’s best to ask if an intentional tort falls within the law firm’s purview before scheduling a consultation.
