.: A Personal Injury Story
By:Jay Stockman
The crisp winds of fall brush by your face, it is Sunday morning, and you are feeling REAL good. Strolling down Main Street, you are mesmerized by the beauty of the quaint architecture. Several steps more, and disaster! Looking elsewhere, you trip on a broken sidewalk, tumble down with a huge thud. The ambulance comes, takes you to the hospital, a storybook Sunday turns into a complete nightmare. Was the City negligent by not fixing the sidewalk? Who is going to pay for your lost earnings while you are healing? A situation like this requires an experienced attorney, who will evaluate the facts, and determine whether a personal injury action should be brought forth. Specifically, this requires the expertise of a Personal Injury Attorney.
In the above scenario, there is a very good chance an attorney will secure you more monetary compensation than you can do for yourself. Personal injury, however, is a specialized field that requires a qualified personal injury attorney to handle the case.
Before you contact an attorney I suggest you prepare the following documents:
1) Write down as much as you can about the accident itself, your injuries, and any other losses (such as wages) you've suffered as a result of the accident.
2) Make notes on anyone who may have seen the accident, or whom you may have spoken to, or who helped you.
3) Go back and try to gather evidence, pictures, eye witness statements, any other information, or materials that may help your case.
Once you establish whether it was a result of negligence, it is in your best interest to file your claim as soon as possible. There are time limits if you plan on suing a government, or municipality. Each state has their respective statutes of limitations, so check with your own state on this one.
Personal injury victims with a strong case should not have to pay any out of pocket expenses. Any attorney worth his salt will take on a personal injury case on a contingency basis. This means that the attorney will cover all expenses during the trial, and take his fee as a percentage of the recovery. Typically, this ranges from 1/3 to 1/2 of the total damages. The best place to find the appropriate personal injury lawyer, is through referrals. Ask friends, or relatives, professional lawyers who do not specialize in personal injury cases, however they should guide you in the right direction. In addition, most local bar associations have referral services in which the names of lawyers are available, arranged by legal specialty.
As with anything, prevention is the best medicine. Try to avoid situations that could be potentially dangerous, or harmful. In the rare cases when this is unavoidable, be sure you follow the appropriate procedures, and don't be intimidated by insurance companies, or government agencies, hire a personal injury attorney, and receive the compensation you deserve.
Article keywords: injury, personal injury attorney, personal, plaintiff personal injury, attorney
Article Source: http://www.articles32.com
Dr. Jay B Stockman is a contributing editor for Personal Injury Online, and has extensive experience with Personal Injury cases. For more information, please visit our Personal Injury Forum
.: New Legal Articles
1). Who Can Make An Accessibility Claim Under the ADA
Who Can Make a claim under the ADA for lack of accessibility to a public business or facility.
2). A Loophole in Landlord Tenant Law in California
Basic housing standards required for residential property and a the loop hole that allows landlords to legally harass tenants.
3). Asbestos Settlements Help Victims Breathe Easier
The term asbestos settlement is used to describe all legal settlements reached where asbestos exposure has caused serious medical problems for an individual who worked in an environment now known to cause several types of 100% fatal cancers.
4). Choosing the Right Mesothelioma Lawyer Means Everything
Recently, have you or a loved one been diagnosed with Mesothelioma?
5). Mesothelioma And Getting Legal Representation
Filing a Mesothelioma lawsuit can be a long and arduous road.
6). Mesothelioma Lawyers In High Demand
Mesothelioma is a rare, deadly cancer that strikes nearly 3,000 people in the United States every year.
7). What Constitutes Nursing Home Neglect - Help for Nursing Home Abuse Victims
In America today, we have placed nearly 2 million elderly family members under the direct care of a nursing home.
.: Top Legal Articles
1). What does it take to be a Lawyer?
When you see all these handsome Lawyers in TV series like LA Law, sitting in their fancy offices, driving these flashy cars, have you ever realized what they have been through in terms of time, years of education, money, Certifications etc’.
Let me Describe to you the Lawyers course of training. Formal educational requirements for lawyers include a 4-year college degree, 3 years in law school, and the passing of a written bar examination.
2). Crime Never Pays
Crime is a bad thing. And the previous sentence was an understatement, and an inaccurate description of the concept of Crime.
3). The New Bankruptcy “Means Test” Explained in Plain English
With the new bankruptcy law in effect as of October 17, 2005, there is a lot of confusion regarding the new "means test" requirement. The means test will be used by the courts to determine eligibility for Chapter 7 or Chapter 13 bankruptcy. The purpose of this article is to explain in plain language how the means test works, so that consumers can get a better idea of how they will be affected under the new rules.
4). Estate Planning - No Contest Clause in your Will
Copyright 2006 Ronald Hudkins
There is value in the story of an older client who had seen a very interesting clause employed in a will. There was a great deal of money at stake and the many family members had little reason to love each other, because they had never met and never knew of each other’s existence. It was expected that the will would be heavily contested on several different fronts in every conceivable way.
5). DUI Law Punishments
It’s no surprise that current DUI Law mandates that DUI punishments cause problems in your personal life in the short term. With punishments such as t
6). Employment Law - Unfair Dismissal - Constructive Dismissal
The case of Thornley v Land Securities Trillium Ltd [2005] concerned a claim for unfair and constructive dismissal by an employee who alleged that her employer imposed a new job description on her and she contended that her contract of employment was fundamentally breached by such changes to her duties imposed by her employer. The Tribunal upheld this claim.
7). Employment Law - Excessive Working Hours - Breach of Duty of Care
n the case of Mark Hone v Six Continents Retail Limited (2005), a pub landlord having collapsed due to overwork successfully sued his former employers in the County Court for breach of duty of care.
Mr Hone, the claimant, started working for Bass (now Six Continents) as a pub manager in 1995 and in 1998 was awarded "Pub Manager of the Year". However, in 1999 he started working at The Old Moat House where he found himself working 13 hour days.