Personal injury cases are legal disputes that occur when a person suffers injury or harm from an accident and someone else is responsible for it.
Personal injury claims include accidents while driving, medical mishaps, and injuries that occur while on public or private property.
Below we will feature some of the more common types of personal injury cases.
Types of Personal Injury Claims
Car Accidents: These accidents can be due to the result of drunk driving, speeding, reckless driving, and even being distracted by a cell phone.
Product Liability: Drownings, falls, burns, and poisoning can result from defective products.
A pressure cooker that opens before it is depressurized and causes burns is an example of this.
Medical Malpractice: Incompetence or negligence of a medical professional can lead to surgical errors, incorrect prescriptions, misdiagnosis, and childbirth injuries and are common reasons for these claims.
Leaving a surgical tool in a body during a procedure would be considered medical malpractice.
Workplace Injury: If you slip and fall, were not trained to use equipment properly, or were required to use defective equipment or products and are hurt on the job, you might have a case for personal injury.
Failure to train an employee in the proper use of a forklift yet allowing the employee to operate it, causing harm to themselves or others, is an example of this.
Premises Liability: This particular claim can be made due to unsafe or defective conditions on someone’s property.
Someone who falls and breaks a leg because the owner failed to issue a warning about an unstable staircase can file a personal injury lawsuit.
Other Examples: The above examples are common personal injury claims, but there are many more.
Assault, repetitive strain injury, and dental accidents can lead to personal injury lawsuits as well.
The Numbers
The U.S. Department of Justice has reported that there are over 400,000 personal injury claims each year.
- 52% of personal injury claims were due to motor vehicle accidents
- 17% were due to premises liability
- 15% were the result of medical malpractice
- 5% occurred due to product liability
Alabama has a two-year time limit from the date of injury to file a claim and does follow a “contributory negligence” rule. This means that if you are at fault for any part of your accident you might not receive any financial compensation.
Victim’s Rights
Personal injury lawsuits are meant to protect the rights of the victim. It is important that you do not hesitate to contact a lawyer to safeguard those rights.
Generally, with the help of an attorney, you will also recover more financial compensation because your case was presented by a professional who understands the laws relevant to your case.
If you or a loved one have been injured due to someone else’s negligence, give the attorneys at Siniard, Timberlake & League a call to schedule your free consultation. We can help.