Personal injury lawsuits provide victims with an effective tool for recovering damages from other parties; however, the legal process involved can be intricate and the outcomes vary widely between cases.
Success depends on several key elements, from medical records that provide details on injuries sustained to witness testimony that provides insights into accident circumstances. Learn more about personal injury law.
Definition
Personal injury law offers individuals who have suffered an injury an avenue for seeking recompense for their losses, such as medical costs, missed work income or property damage.
Personal injuries may result from accidents like car wrecks and slip and falls, as well as intentional acts like assault or battery or defective products. A primary basis of personal injury claims is negligence; when one party acts without taking reasonable precautions under the circumstances.
Negligence cases typically encompass four elements of liability: duty, breach, causation and damages. A claimant must also demonstrate how their injuries were caused by defendant actions; additionally they can receive both special and general damages as compensation – special damages include costs such as medical expenses, lost earnings and property damage while general damages include pain and suffering damages as well as possible defamation claims.
Statute of limitations
The statute of limitations is a legal deadline that determines how soon after an accident you can file a lawsuit and pursue compensation for injuries suffered. It aims to encourage victims to act quickly while shielding defendants from indefinite threats of litigation and conserving judicial resources. Furthermore, this deadline helps preserve evidence which might otherwise deteriorate over time.
New York law dictates that personal injury claims have three years from the date of injury to file suit; otherwise they will be dismissed by court. If this deadline passes without your submission being accepted as valid, then your claim will likely be disallowed and will no longer be validly pursued in court.
There are exceptions and extensions to the statute of limitations in certain situations, including: (1) discovery rule which permits an extended deadline if an injury was not immediately evident; (2) cases involving minors wherein time stops until they reach age majority, and (3) incapacitated plaintiffs wherein their statute may be tolled until they regain capacity to make decisions independently.
Damages
When the negligence or intentional actions of another cause harm, victims can receive compensation for both physical and financial losses sustained as a result. Such compensation amounts are known as damages.
Damages awarded in personal injury lawsuits depend on several factors. Common types of compensation awarded to personal injury plaintiffs include:
Special or economic damages can include tangible costs such as medical expenses, lost wages and property damage; while non-economic or general damages are less easily quantifiable and include pain and suffering, loss of enjoyment of life and emotional distress like anxiety and depression.
Non-economic damages include any effects on relationships such as loss of consortium and defamation, while punitive damages (rarely awarded) serve to punish and deter those at fault from engaging in similar reckless or intentional wrongdoing in the future. Our attorneys can assist in your pursuit for fair compensation as well as helping determine how it’s best delivered – either as one lump sum payment or over time.
Litigation
Litigation is the process of taking legal disputes to trial, from pre-trial preparations through trial itself and beyond. Civil litigators require skills such as conducting thorough legal research, meeting court filing deadlines and concluding their cases to completion.
Personal injury cases typically begin with a victim filing a lawsuit; however, most are settled prior to litigation when their lawyer negotiates with insurance providers and makes an offer of settlement demand.
Plaintiffs seeking compensation must establish that the defendant breached an applicable legal duty in order to be successful in seeking reimbursement of injuries and damages sustained as a result. Depending on the specifics of each situation, this could involve driving safely, adhering to medical standards of care or refraining from placing dangerous products onto the market. Special damages can include costs such as medical expenses, property damage costs, lost wages and diminished earning capacity while general damages such as pain and suffering, loss of consortium, emotional distress or defamation cannot always be quantified accurately.