Personal Injury FAQ

Legal Help For The Injured

An injury can affect your life in ways you might not expect. You will be left not only with pain and suffering, but also with medical expenses and lost wages from the time you are not able to return to work. In cases of serious injury, your earning capacity may be permanently affected.

If these damages are the result of another person’s negligence, you may be entitled to compensation through a personal injury lawsuit.

Personal Injury FAQ

Below are some answers to frequently asked questions about personal injury law.

What Kind Of Damages Can Be Compensated?

Damages are the costs the injured person has suffered due to the injury. These include purely economic losses such as medical expenses and lost wages, but may also include less tangible losses such as pain and suffering. To calculate all the damages that are fair and just, the court considers not just the losses the person has suffered so far, but all those the person will suffer in the future as a result of the injury. For example, the court may consider not only the wages the person has lost so far, but also how much money the person will lose in the future due to diminished earning capacity as a result of the injury. In the event that a loved one dies, the family may file a wrongful death suit on the deceased’s behalf.

The primary goal of a personal injury lawsuit is restitution. That is, the person who has suffered must be made whole. In some dog bit cases, a victim may have to undergo several reconstructive surgeries. This means that he or she should be reimbursed for all the damages suffered. In certain cases, a jury may award punitive damages, which are meant to impose a penalty on extreme conduct.

How Can I Prove Negligence?

Negligence is a legal concept similar to carelessness. To show that your damages are a result of someone else’s negligence, you must show that the other party had a duty of care to you, that they breached that duty, and that their breach was the cause of your damages.

Negligence is a key component of lawsuits involving car accidents. All drivers have a duty to others on the road to avoid accidents. If they breach that duty by driving carelessly, and injure someone as a result, then they have committed an act of negligence.

A skilled lawyer can investigate an accident and find ways to show what caused it. The lawyer then must show what damages his or her client suffered and show why the other party must provide compensation.

Who May Be Held Liable?

The negligent party may be held liable for the damages. In a relatively straightforward car accident case, the negligent party is a careless driver who caused the accident. Typically, the negligent driver’s insurance company can be held liable.

In other cases, other parties may be held liable. For example, if the accident involved a commercial truck, the commercial driver’s employer may be held liable in some cases. Under the theory of products liability, manufacturers and sellers may be held liable when a consumer is injured by a defective product. In premises liability cases, property owners may be held liable when someone is injured due to unsafe conditions that the owner negligently failed to repair.

Learn More

If you have been injured in an accident, or if a loved one has been injured, speak to an attorney to learn about your options for seeking compensation. Call the Woodbury, Minnesota, office of Coodin Law Office, LLC at 651-209-1155 or contact the firm online.