Dog Bite Personal Injury Law

You may be surprised to find that dog bites are a very common form of injury – especially if you’re a dog owner and your dog is perfectly docile.  Even docile dogs have been known to bite at certain times, so dog bites are not just a case of pit bulls or rotweilers that have been trained to be vicious – though these types of dogs are the most common dog bite personal injury cases.

What this should tell you is two things:

1. If you’re a dog owner, you should be very careful with your dog around strangers, as dog bites can lead to personal injury claims.
2. If you have been bitten by a dog it’s well within your right to contact a personal injury lawyer to handle the case.

As with other personal injury cases, the severity of the injury is most paramount.  If a nip from a dog leads to a mere scratch that easily heals, it is not worthwhile to go through the claims process.  However, if you have a very serious injury, the dog owner can – and should – be held accountable.  This is quite common with children, unfortunately, who often retain the worst injuries.

If you have been bitten severely by a dog, you should file a police report as this is a criminal matter. You should, however, make a statement to the dog owner or the owner’s insurance company and instead privately consult with a personal injury lawyer first.  Of course, your first recourse should be to seek medical attention – and your medical records will be vital for trying the case.

Each state is different, but California has a dog bite statute which holds dog owners accountable, so if you are bitten you should consult with a local personal injury attorney.

Personal Injury Law: Dealing with Insurance Companies

Often the payout for personal injury claims comes from insurance companies – for example, in cases of car accident.  This can be the case as well if you are injured on a business’s property.  The business should be covered in the event something like this happens.  So filing claims with an insurance company is a part of the personal injury law process.

Before you file a claim, you need to notify all the people who are involved in the claim.  Hiring a personal injury lawyer is important to ensure that all of these notifications are handled in a legal manner and this will ultimately help you claim to be settled faster.  It will also ensure that your claim won’t outlast the statute of limitations for making a claim.  It’s important to enter this process as quickly as possible.

Next, once you’ve contacted affiliated parties, determined the claim’s worth, as well as establishing fault, then a formal demand letter will be sent to insurance companies.  Sometimes this can be handled from insurance company to insurance company.  For example, this is the case with many automobile accidents, where the insurance companies are in contact with each other to determine the amount of the claim, including interviewing witnesses to establish fault.

If, however, your claim cannot be handled through insurance companies, you should call a personal injury lawyer to act on your behalf.  Also, if a claim involves a business, rather than an individual, getting a lawyer involved can be to your advantage.  This is the case in an automobile accident with a delivery truck representing a business, where the delivery driver was at fault.  If you are unsure whether or not you need a lawyer, you can seek a free consultation to determine if the matter can be handled privately or requires representation.

What Makes a Good SF Personal Injury Lawyer

OK, so you’ve got a viable lawsuit: a person or company was at fault that has led to medical, personal, and financial distress.  How do you select a lawyer who will get you a good settlement for your claims?  There are a number of personal injury lawyers in the San Francisco area, so what makes one better than the other.  The two main factors are experience and cost.  Sometimes there be a conflict between the two.

For example, a personal injury attorney who has gotten huge settlements in the past is in a bargaining position to ask for a higher monthly rate.  However, this does not mean that the San Francisco lawyer has explicit experience with your type of personal injury lawsuit.  There is a large difference between workman’s comp law, auto accident law, libel law, and so on.  You want to find a personal injury lawyer who has specific experience with your type of claim, while also not charging high hourly fees, which can drain the amount you’ll eventually get from the settlement.

A lawyer will also be able to be paid on a “contingency basis” – meaning that the lawyer will be paid based on if there is an eventual cash settlement.  A lawyer will only enter into this arrangement if he or she is confident that a settlement can be made.  You should feel confident in this arrangement, as it is in the lawyer’s best interest to get the largest settlement possible from a contingency arrangement.

Otherwise, you should ask a lawyer for references and examples of past personal injury law cases.  There’s also the more subjective assessment: are you comfortable with this person?  Do you trust her?  This is just as important as experience, as you will be working with the attorney during a potentially difficult time.  You want to be “on the same side” and have ample confidence in the attorney’s abilities.  In your initial meeting with a personal injury attorney, you should be assessing both the attorney’s knowledge or personal injury law, as well as your general comfort level.

How Much is Your Personal Injury Case Worth?

Determining how much you will get from your personal injury settlement depends on a number of factors.  Each case is different, but there are a few basic rules that contribute to the final ruling.  It’s not just based on the amount of your medical bills, but also possible future loss in money as well.  To determine financial loss, a San Francisco personal injury lawyer will ask you about:

• Your career
• What you do for recreation
• The permanence of injuries
• If there’s a loss in earning capacity
• If the injuries are visible are pronounced
• Number and age of children

These are just a few of the issues that will be covered.  Let’s look at an example case: a man who works in a factory has arm seriously injured due to faulty manufacturing of a factory machine.  The man now can no longer work in the factory in the same capacity, nor coach his son’s little league team.  In this case, there’s both financial and emotional hardship.  This is often the case, but it is important to determine how an injury affects you personally, as well as financially.  As mentioned, every case is different because the financial and emotional hardship will vary, as well as the severity of the resulting injury.

In many ways, deciding the potential cash settlement is the most difficult part of the a personal injury lawsuit.  Once you prove that someone else was at fault for the injury, it takes additional proof for financial hardship, as the financial settlement will revolve around lost payment and diminished way of life for years into the future.  There is no given that a plaintiff will get all damages, and it is certainly important for a plaintiff to have realistic expectations, as well as realistic claims, in any personal injury lawsuit.

The Personal Injury Law Process

If you’ve been a part of an accident or slander case, you’re going to want to meet with a personal injury attorney to determine if your case has legal basis.  The most important part of a personal injury lawsuit is who was at fault for the accident.  For example, another driver, a company that manufactures a faulty product, or a newspaper that prints false information.  The personal injury attorney will determine what kind of damages can be filed – not only in terms of medical bills for an injury, but also for emotional upheaval, and for lost wages due to the accident.

Though a personal injury attorney can’t promise a cash settlement upfront, it’s the attorney’s job to determine if the case is winnable.  It is the plaintiff’s job to provide as much information as possible in order to complete the claim.  While an attorney will try to gather information – such as witnesses, medical reports, police reports, and the like – the client should be a proactive part of this process by supplying pictures, extensive contact info, a detailed explanation of the case, and more.  This can actually save the client money, as some of the legwork for trying the case will have been done ahead of time.

The personal injury attorney’s job is also to determine if the damages are truly a reflection of the accident, as asking for too much in damages can risk damages being rewarded.  If the damages are reasonable and fault has been determined, a personal injury attorney will take your case forward.

All in all, there are a number of variables to consider, so it is important to contact a San Francisco personal injury lawyer as soon as possible if you believe to have a viable claim.

Personal Injury Law and Defamation of Character

People don’t often think of defamation of character or libel cases as falling under “personal injury.”  Unsurprisingly, the perception is that the injury must involve bodily harm.  If this were the case, there would be far fewer personal injury cases brought to fruition, as “injury” can apply to a number of different issues, including emotional abuse and slander.  As slander can often lead to monetary loss, these cases can have a large settlement.

What is Slander?

1. A false statement about another person.
2. The statement is published leading to broad consumption – i.e. a person can’t just insult another person, the defamation can be accessed by other people.

Note that slander does not have to be broadcast or put in print.  For example, if someone lies about job performance leading to termination, this is a form of slander, even if it was done in private.  Examples of defamation include:

• An untrue statement about a person’s health.
• An untrue statement about a married person’s chastity.
• An untrue statement about a person’s professionalism.
• An untrue statement about a person committing a crime.

The burden of proof rests on the accuracy of the statement.  If the statement is proven to be true, it is harder to claim defamation.  A personal injury lawyer will also help determine the monetary conception for a defamation case – such as lost wages, both present and future.  In some defamation cases, emotional anguish can also be figured into the proceedings, which is why “injury” has such a broad definition and does not only apply to bodily harm.

Personal Injury Law: Negligence and Torts

Personal injury law is separated into two main categories: negligence and intentional torts.  Negligence refers to any accident that was due to someone else’s negligence – be it a manufacturers defect or personal negligence, as in the case of a care accident.  If any resulting injury is a result of your own negligence then you will not have a valid case.  Other negligence cases arise out of malpractice claims and a lack of proper maintenance – such as slipping and falling on a floor in a business where there is no caution sign.

The fault of the negligent party is paramount, in addition to the severity of injury.  For example, slipping and falling on the floor of a business may be due to negligence, but no claim can be made if there is no outright injury.  Faking these injuries has a very shaky legal basis and will not lead to a completed claim.

Intentional torts, on the other hand, are injury resulting from intentional aggression.  The difference between tort and negligence is that there does not necessarily have to be evidence of an injury.  If someone had the intent to cause injury, this is enough of a legal basis to file a claim.  There is an overlapping area where tort and negligence can cross paths.  If someone is hurt due to certain types of negligence, it can possibly fall under tort legislation.  The most common tort cases are for child abuse, general assault and battery, and defamation of character.  For the latter case, the injury is not physical, but results in financial or emotional harm.  “Emotional distress” needs firm grounds in order to win a settlement.

Basics of Car Accident Litigation

Yesterday, we talk about general steps you should take whenever an accident has occurred that is not your fault.  Today, let’s discuss automobile accidents specifically, as these compromise a majority of personal injury claims.  These tips are helpful for you to be prepared if you ever have the misfortune of getting into an auto collision:

Stay at the scene.  You should never leave a scene of an accident until the police arrive, write out a full report, and declare that it’s OK for you to leave the scene.  This police report will be vital for determining damages later.

Be careful with injured people. Do not make a bad situation worse by administering unnecessary care to an injured person.  You may believe that you are helping, but it can sometimes cause more harm than good.  If you are not a licensed professional, call for an ambulance immediately and report the number of injured and nature of the injury.  You should seek medical attention for yourself as well and have this documented.

Get as much information as possible.  In addition to getting information from the other driver, you need to get information from witnesses as well.  Not everyone will volunteer this information, so you should conduct interviews with those in the surrounding area and get their contact information.  Taking pictures is also highly advisable.  With today’s cell phone technology, it’s easier than ever to document the scene of a crash.

Do not admit fault to anybody.  If you’re looking for witnesses to the crash, you should remain objective about what has happened.  Ask, “What did you see?” not, “Did I do wrong?”

Personal Injury Claim Basics

Yesterday, we talked about how frequently there are accidents in the U.S.  While a great many of these do lead to personal injury settlements, some do not, if there is no cause for a settlement.  Basically, if someone else is at fault for your injury, there is cause for a settlement.  If you were the cause of your own accident then you are not eligible for a personal injury claim.

Additionally, the severity of the injury has to come into play.  If a product scratches you, this is not a reason to file a claim.  A personal injury claim should be filed when there is gross negligence on the part of a manufacturer or individual that results in dramatic physical harm, requiring medical attention and payments.

With any personal injury claim, it is important to have as much evidence as possible. Wounds heal, so it is a good idea to take any relevant pictures of the incident and the results.  Filing a police report is also important, as this will come up during the claim.  An emergency room or doctor’s visit is paramount to have a professional medical assessment as part of your personal injury claim.

You should even think about writing down as much as you can remember about the experience.  Your memory will fade with time, and a traumatic experience can often lead to memory loss and/or distortion, so quickly record what happened so you can reference this material later.

These are important steps because you will likely go through these steps before you even meet with a San Francisco personal injury lawyer.  A lawyer will no doubt ask you to take these steps, but in the case of medical attention, a police report, and photographs, it is important to document these things as soon as possible.  If you are unable to document the process due to injury, have someone you know complete the process.

Introduction to Personal Injury Law

Personal injury lawyers may sometimes get a bad rap – called “ambulance chasers” by some – but that is only a small subset of actual personal injury attorneys.  In true fact, hiring a personal injury lawyer is common, as there are hundreds of thousands of legitimate personal injury cases a year.  While there are some people who try to profit by suing a business or company for unfounded reasons, there are many more people who need a personal injury attorney for legitimate reasons.

Here are the facts about personal injury.  These are unsettling figures, but they are a fact of life.

• 31 million people a year visit emergency rooms because of an accidental injury.
• Car accidents are the leading cause of death for people under 34 years of age.
• 600,000 people a year are injured due to bicycle-related injuries.
• A dog bites a person every four seconds in the U.S.
• There are 200,000 playground accidents a year.
• Almost 50% of car accidents involve alcohol.
• There are more than 10,000 accidental injuries an hour.
• The most common injury for older people, children, and certain occupations, such as construction work, are falls.

That’s just a few of the many statistics associated with personal injury. All of these issues aren’t the result of a faulty product or somebody else’s fault, but a majority are.  If you have been the victim of an accident, it is well within your right to contact a personal injury attorney.  Why suffer through financial loss when you’re already suffering through injury?  Given the frequency of accidental injuries in the U.S. and abroad, you’ll know that you’re not alone.