Preventing Winter Accidents – Personal Injury Law
While some people enjoy the cold weather, it is a huge inconvenience for the majority of people. We all need to go for a stroll now and again, and the presence of snow and ice can make something as simple as navigating parking lots and walkways a tremendous hardship. One of the top causes of avoidable injury in the United States is falling, with a high proportion of falls occurring during the winter months.
Slip and fall incidents can result in a variety of injuries, depending on several circumstances. For example, elderly victims and those with pre-existing medical issues such as back and neck pain are at a significantly higher risk of suffering catastrophic, life-altering injuries.
Prevention of Winter Slip and Fall Injuries
The key to avoiding injury in a slip and fall disaster is prevention. Knowing the dangers and taking precautions to keep yourself and the people you care about safe is one of the most effective strategies to avoid a slip and fall accident in the winter.
- Watch where you go: Unshoveled walkways and roadways can endanger workers and others who enter the business or facility. After a snowfall or ice storm, sidewalks and roadways should be treated to enhance walking traction and avoid falls. Examine your surroundings to ensure that any snow, ice, and debris is cleared from pathways and common spaces at your business or neighborhood.
- Use the appropriate gadgets: Wearing sturdy boots or shoes with textured bottoms can provide you with additional grip on ice and slippery surfaces throughout the winter season. Another useful tip is to use supporting items, such as handrails if they are accessible. This may help you retain your balance, stay upright, and recover from a potential fall. You also may not be able to detect risks in your way if your eyesight is impaired. Wear proper eyewear, such as sunglasses, to protect your vision and allow you to identify potential risks.
- Walk Smart and Take your Time: When walking outside during the winter, try to use less risky routes wherever feasible. Consider taking fewer steps, walking gently with a flat foot, and avoiding sprinting on slippery surfaces. Try not to rush if you are walking to your destination. Allow for extra driving time in case your route has slick weather. Stay cool and relaxed if you start to fall. If you fall forward, try to roll, and if you fall backward, try to get into a sitting position.
What to Do If You Have Been Faced with Slip and Fall Accident?
Property owners, homeowners, and company owners all have a legal duty to keep their premises in good condition so that visitors and guests are not put in danger. Removing prospective danger and removing recognized hazards are critical components of keeping people safe from harm. If you are hurt in a slip and fall accident, you may be able to claim against the property owner or another individual who is responsible for maintaining the area where you fell. Autrey Law firm’s slip and fall attorney would gladly sit down with you, analyze your accident, and advise you on your legal options.
- Published in blog
What a Personal Injury Lawyer can do for You During Covid 19?
It’s reasonable to be concerned about COVID-19 and the numerous ways it has affected your life. Regardless of COVID-19, an accident can happen on your way to work or at the grocery store.
In the following essay, we will discuss how the Coronavirus may influence your personal injury case. During the COVID-19 Pandemic, you should still seek legal counsel. Please do not put off filing an accident or personal injury claim because of COVID-19.
Even if we are amid a pandemic, injury claims must still be handled. Even if your claim takes longer to complete than it did before the epidemic, the stringent deadlines and statute of limitations on when to launch a lawsuit remain the same. That implies you might lose your right to take legal action and seek compensation if you wait to submit a complaint due to COVID-19. And, during this epidemic, you should anticipate insurance companies to fight back even harder against your injury claims.
Your claims are more likely to be undervalued, which is why contacting a North Dakota personal injury lawyer is more vital than ever during this epidemic.
Personal Injury Law Case and Insurance Companies during Covid-19
The COVID-19 pandemic has had an impact on nearly every aspect of our lives, including the personal injury claims procedure. Your personal injury lawyer, insurance companies, and the courts, like you, have had to adapt new habits and methods. However, many of the modifications that have been implemented will have the greatest impact on you as the claimant.
The Coronavirus might be influencing your case in a variety of ways, including:
- Added pressure to resolve your case
- Delays in the courtroom
- Medical treatment for injury unavailable or inconvenient
- Insurance premiums are being paid late or not at all.
- Income or job loss
- The majority of your interactions with your lawyer will be over the phone
Moving forward, it is predicted that insurance firms will be forced to guarantee their survivability by decreasing the compensation sums they give. This will make out-of-court settlements more difficult to negotiate; if the victims believe they are being under-compensated, they will most likely allow the case to proceed to trial.
Another issue that has arisen as a result of COVID-19 is that many defendants are uninsured. This is because they have stopped paying owing to a business slump. Others may have been compelled to declare bankruptcy. This makes obtaining settlements for plaintiffs’ claims more challenging. Judgment rewards may not be met as well.
So, What Should You Do?
Whether you were in an accident or believe that reckless and irresponsible activity contributed to your getting the new coronavirus, you must seek the compensation you are entitled to. The Autrey Law Firm specializes in personal injury cases and can guide you through the tough terrain.
Throughout the COVID-19 epidemic, we have been fully active, dealing with both existing and new patients. Our team is ready to answer your queries.
- Published in blog
What is Negligence in a Personal Injury Lawsuit?
Every citizen, whether a lawyer, a doctor, a business owner, or a homeowner, is expected to follow certain rules of conduct. These guidelines are in place to safeguard them and others. Failure to adhere to these guidelines, such as when a pharmacist provides the incorrect medicine, can result in needless bodily injury and is illegal. This type of action, known as negligence, is by far the most prevalent reason for initiating a civil, or tort law, personal injury case.
The claimant or plaintiff in most personal injury lawsuits depends on the legal notion of “negligence” to show the other party’s culpability for the event that gave birth to the case. So, what exactly is negligence? We’ll go through some of the major features and examples in this post to help you understand this liability idea.
A Reasonable Person in Law
Legal norms of conduct are based on what a “reasonable” person, rather than the “average” person, would behave in a given scenario. First and foremost, it is critical to recognize that the requirements for a “reasonable” person and an “average” person are not the same. Those for the reasonable person are based on the community’s assessment of how a person should behave, whereas those for the average person are based on how the normal person could behave. The reasonable person criterion is the only one considered in court, and what the average person would have done in that scenario is irrelevant.
Elements of Negligence
The first step in establishing that another person was negligent in a personal injury claim or a lawsuit is to prove that he or she had a duty of care in the scenario that caused the harm. The injured person (the plaintiff) must next demonstrate precisely how the other party (the defendant) failed to satisfy that obligation. Once this breach has been proved, the last stage in proving negligence is to demonstrate that the plaintiff incurred actual harm as a result of the breach.
Negligence and Duty
“Duty of care” is a legal phrase that relates to one person’s obligation to prevent inflicting damage to another. When the law recognizes a relationship between both the defendant and the claimant, it compels the defendant to behave in a certain way toward the claimant, usually in accordance with a level of conduct. A judge normally evaluates whether a defendant has breached a duty to the plaintiff, and will often rule that a duty arises if a rational person would think a duty arose in identical conditions. A motorist has a legal obligation to operate his or her vehicle with reasonable care at all times, which includes taking into account circumstances such as traffic, weather, and visibility.
Even if you believe you have all of the components of a negligence lawsuit, it requires a qualified lawyer to build a convincing case and eventually win. Autrey Law Firm has a team of skilled attorneys that understand which evidence can make or break your case, how to correctly assess damages such as mental anguish and medical costs, and how to negotiate a settlement.
- Published in blog
Why you Must Hire Personal Injury Lawyers from Autrey Law Firm?
When an accident happens, individuals involved are frequently wounded or impacted in some manner. Whether it is a car accident or the death of a loved one as a result of carelessness, the measures to heal and strive to become whole again can be difficult and stressful. You may be feeling overwhelmed as a result of emotional distress, medical costs, and dealing with insurance claims. You also want to ensure that you can be returned to the position you were in before the injury. As a result, you must contact a personal injury lawyer to assist you in navigating this procedure.
Here are 4 reasons why you should hire a personal injury attorney from Autrey Law Firm
1] Dedicated Personal Injury Law Attorneys
Lawyers frequently practice in more than one field of the law. As a result, at an Autrey law office, you will be assigned an attorney who specializes in personal injury law – that is, the firm’s lawyers focus only on personal injury law. Personal injury attorneys specialize in assisting those who have been injured as a result of the negligence of others. While personal injury law has numerous components, a lawyer who specializes entirely in personal injury law is more likely to be extremely experienced than a lawyer who focuses on many areas of law.
2] Your Health is our First Priority
If you require the services of a personal injury attorney, it is most likely because you have been hurt. You will most likely be dealing with doctor’s appointments and therapy sessions to assist you to return to your former self. As a result, you will most likely be too preoccupied to deal with the legal side of things. Furthermore, resolving a lawsuit can be a lengthy procedure. Our injury attorneys make certain that you are fairly paid and, more importantly, that your rehabilitation goes as easily and fast as possible. We will investigate, advocate, and litigate to guarantee that you are made whole again while you are healing.
3] Insurance Companies are a Hassle
While there are regulations that govern how insurance firms function, motivation is uncontrollable. Insurance firms are concerned with their well-being. They have teams of attorneys on retainer to assist them in reducing the amount of money they payout. Shouldn’t you have an attorney working for you if the insurance company has one?
4] Knowledge of Limitation in Law
Statutes of limitation govern the maximum length of time that you have from the moment an accident happens to the time you may commence the legal process to file your claim. If you miss this date, you may be unable to collect any compensation for your losses. Our skilled and experienced attorneys are aware of these deadlines and will ensure that you do not lose out on your chance to obtain compensation for your injuries.
For many individuals, personal injury law is a distinct and quite often difficult legal subject. You have the right to make the best possible decision, and we wish these “4 Reasons Hire Personal Injury Lawyers from Autrey Law Firm” have all been beneficial to you.
- Published in blog
Facts you Must Know about Product Liability Claims!
Anyone injured due to hazardous or faulty items may qualify for compensation. When a product is faulty and causes harm, the designer, producer, or distributor may be held responsible.
Although the variety of faulty product instances is vast, the claims often fall into three product categories:
- Poor production
- Defective design
- Lack of sufficient warning or guidance regarding the correct use of the product.
Let’s dig a little deeper into what personal injury due to product liability implies:
Defectively Manufactured Products:
This is the most prevalent and apparent form of claim. This claim should be filed if an injury is caused by the issue resulting from the manufacturing process of the goods. The injury product had a defect due to some mistake in its production, for example, the failure in the factory in which it was manufactured, which led the injury to be different from all the other products on the market.
To prove such a claim, the manufacturing fault must have caused harm. If you were the victims of an accident as a consequence of a tire blowout, you would only have a claim if you could establish your accident was caused by the defective tires — not by neglect.
Defectively Designed Products:
Sometimes a whole line of items suffers from an unacceptably risky issue. In other words, no mistakes were produced throughout the production process, and no deviations from the original design occurred. It’s possible that the individuals or entities that created the product’s blueprint or specifications are to blame for neglecting to account for foreseeable hazards.
The legal standard for demonstrating a design flaw varies by jurisdiction, and in most cases, a victim will need to hire an expert. Some evidence of the dangerous design might include demonstrating that a safer alternative could have been produced at a fair cost.
Failure to Provide Adequate Warnings or Instructions:
If somebody suffers an injury by a product and the product has not received sufficient or strong warnings or instructions as to how to use the product with caution, they may have a claim of product liability for failure to warn. This sort of claim occurs when the product is harmful in a way that is not apparent to the customer, or if the consumer is to be particularly cautious in using the product.
Breach of Warranty:
If a product has a written guarantee and fails to meet the warranty requirements a victim might claim based on an infringement of an explicit guarantee. In the publicity of a product or in the handbook which comes with a product, you can discover a warranty on the labeling or packing. A claim for breach of implied warranty may arise if your state’s law extends a warranty to a certain type of goods even if the manufacturer or distributor does not. Typically, this would include an implied warranty of merchantability, which indicates that the product is fit for the purpose for which it is sold.
If you or someone you care about has been the unfortunate victim of a defective product, contact an expert attorney to seek compensation for your loss. A skilled lawyer can analyze your case thoroughly and fight to defend your rights.
Autrey Law Firm has a team of experienced and skilled Personal Injury Lawyers who can offer you the best representation in a personal injury lawsuit!
- Published in blog
What Compensations can you Claim in a Personal Injury Lawsuit?
In most personal injury cases, victims are unaware of the different types of damages they are eligible for. It has been observed that in most cases, the plaintiff in the case is only aware of claiming compensation for medical bills. But the fact is that several other damages can be claimed in such cases.
Compensatory damages and punitive damages are two primary forms of personal injury. In nearly all injury cases — including car accidents, medical malpractices, and slips and fall cases — compensatory damages attempt to repay the injured person for the harm that they incurred. Punitive damages, on the other hand, are given in just a few situations. Punishments have nothing to do with the kind of injury they sustain, but they are given the penalty for specific kinds of disgusting behavior.
Here are the different types of compensations given in Personal Injury Law:
Special Compensatory Damages:
Special compensatory damages are also known asT”economic damages,” comprises measurable out-of-pocket expenditures. In other words, you get paid for the items that you had to pay for or lost due to your injury. They are unique to each person and vary considerably from party to party.
There is no limit to the kinds of specific injury claims that could be claimed, or to the amounts that might be claimed by a person who is harmed. Some of the most frequent harmful kinds are:
- Medical Expenses
- Property Damage
- Loss of earning
- Loss of irreplaceable damage
- Expenses related to trips
General Compensatory Damage:
General compensatory damages might be hard to calculate, as they include damages related to pain, suffering, and loss of consortium. Pain and suffering damages generally involve reimbursement of genuine physical pain and mental anguish recompense. Further, many injuries can also lead a person to change their quality of life. This can also include not being able to enjoy activities that brought them joy in the past. In these cases, they can also argue loss of enjoyment of life.
Wrongful Death Damages:
The meaning of wrongful death is, death caused by neglect or irresponsibility of the other party. These kinds of damages are a combination of special and general damages. The compensation is given to the family members of the deceased. Some of the compensations include:
- Covering funeral costs
- Cost of medical care before the death
- Loss of companionship
- Loss of bread-earner
- Emotional distress caused to the family members
Punitive Damages:
As stated before, you are not compensated for your loss by punitive damage. The party responsible for your bodily injury or the false death of a loved one is punished. If the Court thinks that they are not deterred sufficiently by the compensatory damages granted, the Court may award them punitive damage. If the person or institution acts with malice or gross carelessness, has carried out criminal conduct such as an act of fraud or violence, or has created major financial problems, chances will increase for court establishing reasons for damages.
A qualified lawyer with a broad background in personal injury helps the client to evaluate his damages. You can assess all kinds of damages to ensure that you reach a fair and full case value. Autrey Law Firm has the best and experienced team of lawyers in the Personal Injury Law field.
- Published in blog
Stages in a Personal Injury Case
You might wonder what to expect in a typical personally injured case, including how long it takes if you were wounded in a type of accident that seems like it was someone else’s responsibility.
Learn about each stage of a personal injury lawsuit by reading this article.
Get Medical Treatment:
After an accident or injury, the first thing someone should do is seek medical help right away. If you’ve been hurt in any way, go to the hospital or see a doctor. Make an appointment to get your injuries treated and recorded. An opposing attorney may claim that your injuries may not warrant compensation if you do not seek treatment after being wounded or injured.
Initial Consultation:
If you believe you have been injured as a result of someone else’s carelessness or failure to offer reasonable safety accommodations, you should contact a personal injury attorney. Your damage may entitle you to compensation as a consequence. To find out, you’ll need the help of a qualified personal injury lawyer. They know their stuff and will assist you in building your personal injury case.
Investigate:
If you hire an attorney, they should do a thorough and impartial investigation into your personal injury claim, including reviewing police reports, pictures, witness testimony, medical records and bills, your job history and earning ability, and more. Your lawyer may also call accident witnesses to gather statements.
Issue Demand and Negotiate:
Many lesser claims for personal injury are resolved before the filing of a lawsuit. If the lawyer believes the matter can be resolved, they will make a demand on the opposing attorney or the other party’s insurance company. The opposing party, whether an individual, or a corporation, or an insurance company, usually will evaluate the letter. In most cases, the opposing party will either reject the demand, or make a counteroffer, or accept it in response to the letter.
File Personal Injury Lawsuit:
When you and your lawyer file a personal injury lawsuit in court, the litigation process begins.
Discovery Phase:
During the discovery process, each party analyses the legal claims and defenses of the other. They send each other interrogatories and document requests, and they depose all necessary parties and witnesses, starting with the plaintiff and defendant. This procedure might take anything from six months to a year.
Pre-trial Mediation:
A judge or mediator will meet down with you and the defense party just before you enter the courtroom to settle your personal injury lawsuit. This is your last chance to reach an agreement before going to court.
The closer attorneys go to trial, the more likely both sides will be willing to make concessions. The settlement allows everyone to feel validated while avoiding total loss.
Trial:
If you and your lawyer are unable to find a settlement to your satisfaction, your personal injury case is brought to trial. While it may take time for the steps to proceed to a test, the trial itself is as brief as a day or a week. The outcome of your trial is final.
If you are looking to hire a personal injury lawyer, connect with the best lawyers at Autrey Law Firm.
- Published in blog
Personal Injury Law 101
Tort-based crimes in the USA as based on the negligence of a person that ends up causing harm or injury to another person. Legal remedies that are made available to the injured person are known as Personal Injury law. It also allows for defenses against personal injury claims.
Unlike in criminal cases, there is no governmental involvement or representation. These civil lawsuits are brought about between two private parties. These are usually settled amongst themselves via lawyers, or the courts do it for them. Most personal injury law remedies are given in the form of compensation for the harm caused. The idea is to restore things to the way they were before the accident occurred. Some of the examples of negligence are drunk drivers, medical malpractice, dog bites where the owner of the dog can be held liable, and many others.
As one of the main criteria is establishing a breach of negligence, it becomes important to understand “what is negligence?”
Negligence is a breach of a duty of care that one person owes to another. It is a basic requirement to act responsibly, to protect people in their vicinity. While it is important to establish a nexus between the person and the duty of care they owed, which has now been breached, sometimes some accidents are not the direct consequence of one person. In case of unavoidable accidents, it is required to show that the defendant could have acted towards the prevention of such accidents. Some categories like “strict liability” hold manufacturers and premise owners responsible for any mishap that happens under their supervision or ownership of the space. For example, if an insect is found in a mass-produced drink, which caused food poisoning, the owner or manufacturer can be held liable for negligence causing personal injury for designing and selling an unsafe product.
The plaintiff in such situations usually asks the defendant for compensation. This compensatory amount is used to compensate for the medical bills, emotional distress that is caused, and any loss in earnings ensuing from an injury that handicaps the capability to earn. If there has been harm to any property, compensation for those damages is also asked of the defendant. Apart from these, there is usually also an ask for punitive damages that are meant to “punish and deter” the person from ever being as negligent ever again.
Apart from negligent action, a person can also intentionally commit a tort. Personal injury arising from such intentional torts was caused with an intention to harm the plaintiff. Examples like battery, assault, and false imprisonment are some of the examples of intentional torts.
There are very few defenses available to a person that is defending a liability of personal injury. The first and most common is that the injured party also had a duty of care in the scenario, and they are partially or wholly to blame for the injury they incurred. The second most common defense is that of “assumed risk.” Under this, the defendant argues that the plaintiff knew that the injury is a possibility due to the nature of the activity itself, in a way consenting to the act. For example, participating in dangerous sporting activities.
Find the best personal injury lawyers at Autrey Law Firm!
- Published in blog
Injured? Consult a Personal Injury Lawyer!
A personal injury lawsuit is a legal dispute that arises from harm being caused after an accident or intentional injury. These accidents are usually the responsibility of another individual or an entity as they can be caused under their supervision or due to their negligence. Since someone else is legally responsible for the harm caused to you, you now have a right to claim damages as compensation for the personal injury that you have suffered. It is usually the insurance company of the responsible party that pays the injured’s medical bills and livelihood costs. Payouts are also given for the pain and suffering the injured party has suffered. A personal injury attorney, in this case, will help you with negotiation with these insurance companies, hospital attorneys and in ensuring that you get fair compensation for the harm that you have suffered.
There are two ways to settle a legal dispute arising out of personal injury. The attorney can either represent you at the civil court or settle the matter informally outside of court. The route of approaching a civil court is to ascertain who was legally at fault and whether or not they owe a compensatory amount to the person suffering from the harm. The informal method of “settling “is usually a faster process in which attorneys from both sides negotiate a fair amount to be given as compensation, in exchange for the injured party’s decision to not pursue the dispute in Court.
A person or entity can become responsible for a personal injury if they were negligent, reckless, wanted to intentionally harm, or get covered under the umbrella of “strict liability”.
Personal Injury Disputes can Arise out of:
- Slipping and falling on someone else’s property due to water or ice on the floor
- Construction sites. Workers can get hurt if the managers of such sites do not implement safety measures on the worksite or are negligence towards Labor Laws
- Medical malpractice: there is a certain standard of duty of care attributed to doctors and nurses within the healthcare industry. If such standard is not observed as protocol and someone else ends up getting hurt due to such malpractice, the injured party will be able to sue the professionals for their negligence in providing healthcare services.
- Defamation: if someone injures or harms a person’s reputation injuring them mentally, physically, or financially, either by speaking or writing something untrue about them, the injured party will be able to claim compensation for the harm done, from the slandering party.
For anyone looking to pursue a personal injury case, it is important to note the statute of limitations on such cases. The period within which the injured party has a right to claim damages from the injuring party begins when a person is injured. The limitation on such a period varies from state and state. A suitable personal injury attorney should be contacted at the earliest to sue for any punitive damages for the suffering.
If you are looking for a lawyer to represent you in a personal injury lawsuit, consult the best personal injury lawyers at Autrey Law Firm!
- Published in blog
Do you need a Lawyer for a Case of Personal Injury?
A free country requires every individual to have the freedom to enjoy their life without any hindrances of being hurt. Personal injury laws in the USA protect this Right by allowing the injured to seek compensation for damage done by any other person/s. Any injury to the body, mind, or emotions can legally be called “personal injury”. Any person suffering any harm due to any action/ inaction by another person can claim compensation by bringing a lawsuit against them.
Harm can be caused in many ways, due to many reasons. The law recognizes harm caused due to negligence, recklessness or reckless conduct, and even intentional misconduct. The other States also recognize personal injury on the grounds of strict liability. Any injury arising out of these acts gives way to the injured person to ask for damages. These damages are meant to cover expenses like the injured person’s medical bills, loss of wages due to injury, any mental anguish caused due to the pain and suffering of the injury, and the loss of quality of life.
In the United States, any bodily injury is often covered by liability insurance. Many companies take out insurance policies to protect their business and their employees from being held liable in case of any personal injury claims arising during doing business. Most often, insurance claims in personal injury cases can be complex, along with the reluctance of insurance policies to pay up, a lawyer is a must-have for such cases. In many instances, insurance companies refuse to make any fair settlement entirely. Having a lawyer negotiate these terms and deal with them, reduces efforts on your part, especially when already suffering through a personal injury.
Injuries that make lawyers help extremely important:
Permanent injuries:
If any injury, suffered due to the actions of another causes life-long repercussions or disabilities, significantly affecting your way of life; assistance from an experienced lawyer is a must.
Grave injuries:
since the amount of compensation one can receive is directly linked to the severity of the injuries, it is important that an experienced lawyer be present to make a strong case as to the severity of the injury. These injuries are measured by the amount spent on medical bills, the time is taken to recover, the type of injury, and the loss of income due to the incapacity to perform work. Having a lawyer handle this claim will help in ensuring that the compensation received is the highest possible for the injury suffered.
Medical Malpractice:
Professional fields have a defined standard of care that they must incorporate in providing their services. Services provided by doctors, nurses, and other medical practitioners owe a duty of care to the patients under their supervision. If they act negligently or unprofessionally, patients have a right to seek compensation or damages due to the medical malpractice of such professionals.
No two injuries are the same and so legally also, they will not have the same outcomes. But broadly, the legal ingredients remain the same; being an injury to the plaintiff, determination of breach of a legal duty by the defendant, and settlement. But the first step is to engage a lawyer.
Find the best personal injury lawyers at Autrey Law Firm!
- Published in blog
