The attorneys of Hull & Zimmerman, P.C., understand that being injured in an accident can leave you with many unanswered questions about your options. You may be left wondering how you can go about getting the financial compensation you need to pay for your medical bills, reimburse you for lost wages, and more. That is why we have provided the answers to some of the questions we are asked most frequently. We hope you find them helpful.
A: A personal injury claim is for an injury caused by the negligence of another party. The victim has the right to file a civil lawsuit and seek compensation for their losses from the at-fault party.
Some common personal injury claims include:
Q: What kind of compensation am I entitled to for whiplash?
A: With the growing popularity of metro areas comes more people, more cars, more cyclists, more of everything, including more accidents. We see several whiplash cases, and while most are not serious, they can be debilitating. Seek medical treatment as soon as possible after any vehicle accident.
A: You do not need a personal injury attorney to file your case. If you have the time and resources to take care of it yourself, you are legally able to do so. However, the process is complicated and can be very confusing. If your matter involves losses in excess of $2000.00, we recommend speaking to a lawyer to learn of your options, rights, timeframes, and the process so you can make an educated decision about hiring an attorney or taking care of the matter on your own.
A: After seeking medical care for your injury, you should reach out to an experienced vehicle accident attorney to hear your options. You do have rights, and if your injuries were sustained due to another’s negligence, you can seek compensation. You may also have insurance benefits available to you through your own car insurance and from the car insurance covering the car in which you were driving.
Do not speak to the attorney of the at-fault party or their insurance adjuster without speaking to your own attorney first. The lawyers at Hull & Zimmerman, P.C. will advise you on how the process works so you feel confident and can receive the fair amount you are due.
A: You should never agree to terms or sign anything that is unfair or that you don’t understand. If you are approached to settle and are unsure if the damages are adequate, speak with a personal injury lawyer. Note that insurance companies have their best interest in mind, not yours. They are going to try to pay you as little as possible, so even if the amount is more than you expected, you likely deserve more.
Depending on the circumstances of an injury, these two fields of civil law may overlap. While there are some benefits to filing for workers’ compensation, doing so limits the type of damages that may be sought following a traumatic incident. In particular, workers’ compensation does not generally permit emotional or psychological damages to be pursued by claimants. On the other hand, personal injury law gives claimants the freedom to press these damages if significant emotional damage occurred. However, a work-related personal injury lawsuit can only be filed under certain circumstances.
The idea of standing in judgment before a judge and jury can be extremely stressful for some, leading many to question whether or not they want to pursue a lawsuit. However, it is difficult to say with any certainty whether or not your case will go to court. Many personal injury cases do not ever make it to a courtroom, as a settlement is reached prior to that point. For others, however, it may come down to the decision of a jury to settle the matter. In either situation, discussing the legal process and what options may be available along the way can help you learn more about your own situation.
More information on Lawsuit Claims:
Although American consumer goods are regulated by the federal government, there are situations in which a defective or malfunctioning product may reach the marketplace, injuring a consumer. To file a claim against the manufacturer, a claimant must prove that they were using the product appropriately, that the product was unsafe, and that the product was the cause of his or her injuries.
Even pharmaceutical companies can be negligent in the manufacture of their products and even intentionally mislead the public about what they can and cannot do. If you have sustained an injury or developed an illness after taking a defective pharmaceutical product, you may be able to seek financial compensation for the resulting damages.
When a consumer purchases a product, he or she has a right to expect that product to function safely. From a legal standpoint, the product’s manufacturer is held accountable for any form of defects, which includes defects caused during manufacturing and assembly. Manufacturers are responsible for poor design, insufficient warning and labeling, and shoddy construction. Failure to provide safe products for consumers can have wide-reaching consequences and can ultimately result in injuries and suffering.
When a person is injured on someone else’s property, the owner of that property may be held responsible for those injuries. Known as premises liability, a land or building owner can be held liable for injuries that occur on their property. Generally speaking, the owner of that property has a requirement to maintain basic safety standards on their property that reduce the impact of accidents or criminal attacks. Failure to do so allows injured individuals to file a claim against that owner.
The term personal injury refers to damage that is done directly to an individual. The damage could be physical—such as broken bones or long-term injury—or it could be emotional or even mental. In this way, it is distinguished from property damage, which is another field of law altogether. Personal injuries are caused by the negligence of another party. Reckless driving and failure to properly maintain property are two common examples of negligence.
A common maneuver for defendants in a personal injury case is to offer an out-of-court settlement to plaintiffs. These settlements often involve a figure that reasonably covers some of the cost of damages, but will exclude others. For the defendant, this keeps the case from proceeding into further litigation. The final decision to accept this amount is up to the plaintiff. While accepting the settlement can bring closure to the suit, it may also leave out funds for emotional damages and other contentious compensations. However, accepting the sum also rules out some of the uncertainty of going to court.
More information on Lawsuit Claims:
The IRS has a policy of not taxing personal injury settlement funds. Although these funds may be viewed as additional income in layman’s terms, the government’s more specific definition of taxable personal income does not include personal injury settlements. However, this may become more complicated if a person receives funds for back or lost wages, which can be taxable.
If you are considering filing a lawsuit, you are almost certainly concerned about how much money you may be able to receive from your case. Unfortunately, without discussing your case with you in detail, it is difficult for us to ascertain exactly how much your case is worth. There are numerous factors to consider, including medical expenses, damage to belongings, psychological complications, and lost wages.
More information on Lawsuit Claims:
If you are considering bringing litigation against another individual or company, you may be concerned about how long the case will take to litigate. The short answer is that it is impossible to say with any certainty how long your particular case will take, especially without discussing it with you in more detail.
Generally speaking, the complexity of the case determines how long it will take to litigate. Simple cases may be over within a matter of months, while bigger cases may take significantly longer.
More information on Lawsuit Claims:
Known as the Statute of Limitations, there are special laws that forbid claimants from coming forward after a specified period of time has passed since an accident. As with many other states, Colorado allows injured individuals two years to file a personal injury claim after the original date of injury. In cases when injury may have developed over a vague period of time, this is generally specified as when the claimant reasonably should have known they were injured. For minors, the statute of limitations does not begin to apply until they reach the age of 18.
However, longer and shorter Statutes of Limitation (SOL) may apply depending on the nature of your case. If it is a car crash, the SOL is 3 years. If it is an assault, the SOL is one year. Special rules also apply if the injured person is a child or was incompetent during the time that one normally measures the SOL expiration date. To avoid your claim being barred by the Statutes of Limitation, you should contact an attorney immediately.
More information on Lawsuit Claims:
In the simplest terms, personal injury law helps injured people get compensation for their losses. This means that successful personal injury claims can provide funds for medical treatment or therapy sessions that might otherwise be prohibitively expensive or left uncovered by insurers. In addition, the law recognizes that injuries require time to heal that might have otherwise been spent working, and that compensation should be provided for lost wages in these cases.
Legally speaking, you do not need the representation of a lawyer to bring a lawsuit against an individual or business. However, the legal field is often complex, and novices can easily be overwhelmed in a courtroom. A committed Northglenn personal injury attorney can help you by providing you with experienced legal advice and tenacious representation, making you more likely to get the financial compensation you need.
A: Anyone who has been injured in an accident wonders if they potentially have a case. It is difficult to say without first discussing the particulars with you in detail. However, you may well have a case if the incident in question meets the following criteria:
Q: Whose insurance pays for damage in a car accident?
A: he answer to this question is not necessarily simple. The liability policy of the at-fault driver covers medical bills and property damage to people other than the policyholder, up to the limits in that driver’s policy. The at-fault driver’s own damage is covered only if he or she has additional optional coverage. Other drivers may also have additional coverage to cover costs if they exceed the limits of the at-fault driver’s liability coverage.
Q: What happens if the insurance company disputes the validity of my claim?
A: When it comes to the kinds of large claims that can result from a serious car accident, this is, unfortunately, relatively common. Some insurance companies will automatically deny large claims, knowing that some people will not understand how to protect their rights. Fighting an insurance company can be daunting and it can be difficult. You need to be sure that you have someone experienced with these issues on your side.
Q: My insurance company wants me to sue the other driver in my car accident. Can they do that?
A: Yes. In fact, this is fairly routine. When a driver is considered to be at fault in a serious accident, the insurance company may make you sue the other driver, so that they can then try to recoup the money that they are paying out. If this happens, the insurance company should provide an attorney, but that lawyer’s job is to protect the insurance company, not you! It is still a good idea to consult with your own lawyer to make sure that your interests are being protected, as well as those of the insurance company.
Q: Someone told me that you can only sue a rich person because “You can’t squeeze blood from a turnip.” Is this true?
A: It is true that obtaining a judgment in a lawsuit does not guarantee that you will ever see that money. If you sue someone who can’t pay, the court can’t force them to pay. But something that insurance companies don’t want you to know is that, in most car accident cases, there is an insurance company that is liable to cover the driver’s costs. This means that when you win a judgment against the at-fault driver, the money doesn’t come from the person; it comes from the insurance company, so whether the driver is rich or not is immaterial. This is a bit of a “dirty little secret” because no one is allowed to mention the insurance company at trial.
If you have been seriously injured in a car accident that was caused by the negligent or reckless driving of someone else, contact a dedicated lawyer immediately to discuss your options. There are a lot of “dirty little secrets” that insurance companies don’t want you to know, that can make recovering financial compensation from your accident very difficult. The right attorney can help protect your rights, and recover financial compensation for medical bills, property damage, and lost wages.
Before any notion of awards can be considered, a person’s involvement in the accident or incident must first be determined. As few accidents occur entirely because of another person, Colorado uses what is known as a comparative negligence system. Under comparative negligence, an injured individual cannot collect compensation if their mistakes were the major cause of the accident. This is determined according to the percent of blame, meaning that anyone bearing more than 50 percent of fault for the accident cannot claim compensation. Otherwise, amounts are given according to the individual’s level of fault.
In short, once a claim is settled, it is closed. Most cases cannot be revisited following settlement, meaning that a claimant needs to be especially careful before agreeing to a settlement. Although the statute of limitations gives a person a limited amount of time to file a claim after an injury, there may be unexpected injuries that arise in the future. This is why a claimant should confer with his or her attorney before accepting any settlement.
If you have any additional questions, we would be happy to talk to you in more detail. To talk to our compassionate Northglenn personal injury lawyers today, please contact Hull & Zimmerman, P.C., by calling (303) 647-1999.
