When you are injured in an accident, it can be hard to resume your life as you knew it. Another person’s negligence could be the reason you are facing high medical costs, serious pain, and major disruptions to your everyday life.
If you were harmed by someone else’s recklessness or carelessness, the skilled legal team at Tomeny | Best Injury Lawyers could help you handle your case and seek compensation from those responsible. We will never settle just to get you out the door- because we treat our clients like family. Talk to a Plaquemine or Iberville Parish personal injury lawyer today to learn about how we can help you get the payments you need and deserve.
How Negligence Creates Liability
Nearly all personal injury claims are built around the legal principle of negligence. Negligence occurs when a person causes inadvertent or accidental harm through reckless or careless conduct and breaches the reasonable duty of care that person owes to others. If these actions are found to have caused injuries to others, the person responsible is therefore negligent and is likely liable for compensation.
All of these important elements must be proven in order for an injury claim to be successful. Failing to prove even one claim by a preponderance of the evidence—the legal standard in a civil case—could mean the injured person is unable to collect damages. Our dedicated personal injury attorneys in Plaquemine and across Iberville Parish are aware of these required elements and could apply them to each specific situation.
Types of Personal Injury Cases
Personal injury is a very expansive area of law that encompasses many types of accidents, negligent conduct, and lack of care. Some examples of personal injuries that are commonly caused by another person’s negligence are motor vehicle collisions, child injuries, harm stemming from defective products, and fatal accidents.
Motor Vehicle Collisions
A frequent form of personal injury case involves truck accidents, car accidents, motorcycle accidents, and other transportation-related accidents, including injuries on buses, incidents involving cars striking pedestrians, and even train crashes.
Child Injuries
Injuries to children are devastating, especially if they are caused by a negligent adult. Playground injuries, child neglect, school injuries, and more could entitle the child and their parents to substantial compensation.
Defective Product Cases
When a manufacturer creates or builds a defective product, there is potential for that product to cause serious harm to consumers. An injured party might be able to hold the manufacturer financially responsible for the accident.
Wrongful Death Cases
If a mishap results in a person’s premature death, their surviving family members may be entitled to a large settlement or jury award. These cases require appropriate proof of negligence and the assistance of a skilled attorney to hold the responsible party liable. An experienced attorney in Iberville Parish or Plaquemine could help you take legal action and pursue the compensation you deserve.
Premises Liability Claims
Whether it involves an unexpected slip and fall or another type of accident caused by a hazardous property condition, skilled legal counsel can play a crucial role in holding negligent landowners liable for their substandard property management.
Dog Bites
“Man’s best friend” can be anything but friendly under certain circumstances. Fortunately, most dog bite victims have a right to hold that dog’s owner(s) “strictly liable” for their damages.
Nursing Home Abuse
Nursing homes and assisted living facilities have a right to receive compassionate, high-quality care, at all times. If a negligent or abusive nursing home employee violated those rights, the affected resident—or their family member acting on their behalf—may have grounds to file a civil suit against them.
Catastrophic Injuries
Certain types of injuries are so severe that money alone cannot completely erase the damage done. Guidance from a knowledgeable legal representative can be especially crucial to recovering fairly for “catastrophic injuries” like this, as well as for injuries with unique repercussions like knee injuries, neck injuries, and back injuries.
What Damages Are Recoverable Through a Personal Injury Lawsuit?
It is not hard to argue that a court imposing financial obligations on someone who causes another person to get injured through their own negligence qualifies as some measure of justice being done against the negligent person on behalf of the injured one. That said, the primary purpose of a personal injury lawsuit is not to punish anyone, but instead to restore an injured person to their pre-injury condition—or get as close to that condition as possible—by reimbursing them for specific “compensable damages” they have already suffered and can expect to suffer in the future because of their injuries.
“Special” Damages
Also referred to as “economic” damages, special damages are losses with objective financial values that can be established through quantitative evidence like bills, receipts, invoices, and pay stubs. The costs of medical care needed immediately after a traumatic injury occurs are factored into virtually every personal injury claim as special damages, but it is also possible—and often crucial—to recover for broader and/or more long-term losses as well, such as expected costs of future rehabilitative and maintenance care, expenses related to personal property damage, costs of long-term disability management, lost short-term work income, and lost long-term working and earning capacity.
“General” Damages
Conversely, general damages—or non-economic damages, as they are sometimes called—are losses which must be valued subjectively based on the injured person’s personal experiences, as well as on awards granted by courts for similar losses in the past. Physical pain and suffering is perhaps the archetypal example of a non-economic loss, but personal injury victims can also often seek restitution for things like emotional anguish, psychological trauma, and lost quality and/or enjoyment of life due to long-term disability.
“Caps” on Recovery in Certain Types of Claims
Fortunately, there are only two scenarios under which Louisiana state law “caps,” or limits, the maximum amount of money which an injured person can demand from the person or people responsible for injuring them. First, in “medical malpractice” claims against negligent physicians and/or healthcare facilities, there is a cap of $500,000 on recovery for general damages, with an exception made for future medical expenses until certain conditions. Second, there is an identical cap of $500,000 on recovery through any personal injury against a state or local government entity, once again with an exception made for future medical bills.
A skilled attorney in Iberville Parish can review your losses to help ensure any settlement amount or award adequately reflects the full extent of your needs.
Statute of Limitations for Personal Injury Cases
Louisiana Civil Code § 3493.1 requires most Louisiana personal injury cases arising after July 1, 2024 to be filed within two years of the damages or accident. This is a fairly recent change to Louisiana state law, so anyone who was injured prior to July 1, 2024 has just one year after the date of their initial injury to file suit, as per the now-outdated version of this law.
Filing late virtually always results in the dismissal of the case by the court, since at that point the case is “time-barred” and, in the eyes of the law, continuing to pursue the case after that point would be unfair to the defendant(s) named in that claim. Accordingly, waiting too long to file suit may result in the inability to receive any compensation, so it is important to speak with a seasoned Iberville Parish injury attorney as soon as possible after getting hurt through someone else’s misconduct.
Consult a Personal Injury Attorney in Plaquemine/Iberville Parish
Personal injury cases may help you reclaim what was lost following a serious accident. Whether you were injured while in a car, as a pedestrian, or in a similar situation, you may be entitled to financial compensation from the liable party.
A dedicated Plaquemine or Iberville Parish personal injury lawyer could help you earn the most favorable outcome possible for your case. If you or a loved one have suffered injuries due to someone else’s negligence, we are ready to help. Plaquemine or Iberville Parish personal injury lawyer today to set up your free initial consultation.
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