If you suffered severe physical harm in an accident that resulted from someone else’s negligence, you might wonder about a possible legal recourse. Fortunately, a personal injury lawsuit is a civil litigation option available for the victims of unfortunate accidents like car crashes, slip and fall accidents, and more. Besides physical injury, your accident might result in an unexpected financial burden related to the costs of treatment and lost wages, among other expenses. Since it can be nearly impossible to bear these finances yourself, filing a personal injury lawsuit can help you recover compensable damages. Reaching out to a competent legal team can alleviate the stress this injury might have caused you.

An experienced personal injury lawyer in North Carolina can help you recover your financial losses and obtain compensation for your physical and emotional pain and suffering through a personal injury lawsuit. Legal representation is crucial to ensure justice for your injury claim, and it is necessary to prove the negligence of the defendant and your resulting damages in a court of law to obtain said compensation. Without a legal team, it’s hard for your case to be taken seriously, let alone make it to court. Understanding how a personal injury lawsuit works and what goes into it, is the first step.

What Does ‘Personal Injury’ Mean?

Personal injury is an all-encompassing legal term that refers to the damages a person might acquire in an accident, including physical injury, emotional suffering, and financial losses. A personal injury lawsuit enables a victim of an accident to seek compensation for damages by proving that the accident resulted from the defendant’s negligence or reckless conduct. In such a lawsuit, the victim of the accident is named the plaintiff and the negligent party is labeled as the defendant. Another ground for a personal injury case to stand on is strict liability. Here your attorney needs to understand who is at fault here. An example would be if an injury occurred due to a faulty product, then the manufacturer must take responsibility. Even if they did not intend for that injury to happen.

When your case is won in your favor, you can gain compensation for your injury damages. These damages include medical expenses, lost wages, and other values lost. Your attorney will make sure that these damages are brought to justice, and that you receive the money that you may have lost due to your injuries. Once you have provided the right amount of evidence necessary, you can present your case to a competent legal team who will review it.

Does Your Injury Qualify for a Lawsuit?

Although any victim might contemplate filing a lawsuit against the alleged offender responsible for their damages, whether their injury would qualify for a successful outcome depends on the proof of negligence and subsequent physical harm. It also depends on physical, emotional, or monetary losses. It’s important to have a good understanding of your situation before reaching out to a legal team. When your case makes it to trial you need to be able to prove to a jury that you require compensation for these damages from the offender. Having all the evidence will make it more likely that the court will be in your favor and make your attorney’s job easier.

Proof of Negligence

Proof of negligence is a core component of any personal injury lawsuit. You need to be able to bring a case that states that the offender breached their duty, which resulted in your injury. This means that someone’s disregard for following the rules caused another person to get hurt. This is an important element to bring to your case. Establishing liability in a personal injury lawsuit depends on multiple factors that vary according to the nature and circumstances of each accident. If the plaintiff shares part of the blame for the accident, they still might be able to obtain compensation through a lawsuit, albeit with lesser compensation.

Evidence of Harm

Besides providing proof of negligence, you must also present evidence of physical, emotional, and financial harm resulting from the defendant’s negligent behavior. A common way of providing evidence to a legal team is by providing a police report on the incident. This report will easily back your case up better than word of mouth. Medical records are just as helpful as actual testimonies from medical professionals. The violation of the civic duty of care or public safety standards can result in significant physical harm to a person and contribute significantly to a defendant’s liability for the incident. Keep track of everything that happened to you so you can present your case to your attorney. The more evidence you have, the better chance you have of getting financial compensation.

Damages

To obtain financial compensation, you must provide an estimate of the damages resulting from the incident. These damages are events that were out of your control due to your injury. Such as losing wages from your job because you were not physically able to work. While physical damages and financial losses are quantifiable, emotional suffering cannot be calculated easily. It’s hard to pinpoint when these emotions started as these kinds of suffering are not as obvious. Your estimated damages are written in the demand letter sent by your legal team to the defendant’s lawyers. It’s still good to bring these up within your case and talk about your damages with your attorney. They want to back you up as much as possible so the more information you provide for them the better chances your case has.

Conclusion

The process of determining whether a particular injury would qualify for a personal injury lawsuit is complex and requires legal assistance. The process can also be extremely overwhelming so it’s always best to research a legal team that is right for you. If you find yourself in a position where you need to make this determination, you should enlist the help of an experienced personal injury attorney. Make sure you have all the evidence you need to support your claims. Once you have a strong enough case then your injury attorney will do all the work for you.