Why Do I Need a Personal Injury Attorney in CA?
A personal injury lawyer can help you identify and pursue the best sources of financial compensation after a preventable accident, whether through insurance claims or lawsuits.
The testimonials you see on TV commercials for personal injury law firms are usually from people who received a settlement of six figures or more after years of litigation. The plaintiffs in these cases tend to have severe, permanent injuries that make it impossible to work. Therefore, the amounts of money they received in damages include decades of medical bills and lost income, as well as noneconomic damages for pain and suffering. Compared to their ordeal, your mountain of medical bills from an accidental injury from which you eventually recovered starts to look more and more like a molehill. The law is on your side if you suffered financial losses because of injuries resulting from a preventable accident, but exercising your legal rights takes some expertise. The Murrieta personal injury lawyers at Gibbs & Fuerst, LLP can help you get the compensation you deserve for your accident-related losses.
When Accidents are Not Just Bad Luck
A key concept in personal injury law is negligence. Outside of a legal context, negligence means being careless. In the context of personal injury law, negligence means that you knew or should have known that you were engaging in behavior that carried a serious risk of injuring someone, and you did not take reasonable measures to prevent the accident. These are some common examples of negligence by people and companies:
- Drunk driving
- Mopping the floor of a supermarket and not placing a “wet floor” sign
- Running a red light
- Not testing car airbags enough times to make sure that they will deploy in a collision (but not deploy unless there is a collision) before sending them to factories to be installed in cars
If someone gets injured because of any of these types of negligence, the injured person can sue the negligent party and request compensation for their financial losses. These damages usually include compensation for medical expenses and lost income.
Personal Injury Law is Not Just About Lawsuits
Personal injury lawsuits are not the only time when negligence matters. It is also important in insurance claims after a car accident; it is usually called “fault” instead of “negligence” in this context. Car insurance companies try to assign as much of the fault to you as they can, so they can pay you the smallest possible settlement. California is a comparative fault state, so fault is about percentages; it is not a yes or no question. A personal injury lawyer can help you negotiate for a better settlement, as long as you have not already signed the original settlement offer. Even better, a personal injury lawyer can give a recorded statement to the insurance company on your behalf, so the insurance company cannot mislead you into admitting to more fault than you should actually bear.
Contact a Murrieta Personal Injury Lawyer
A personal injury lawyer can help you if you have been injured in a preventable accident. Contact Gibbs & Fuerst LLP in Murrieta, California to set up a consultation about your personal injury case.