Facing an injury in an auto accident or any other kind of accident can leave you with expenses you may not be able to afford. It can also keep you from going back to work, putting the rest of the bills and expenses you normally face out of reach.
Our attorneys work to help injured victims get damages from the responsible parties. These cover your medical costs, your lost wages, and, importantly, your pain and suffering. Do not enter this fight alone; let us represent you and work to get you the compensation you need.
For a free case evaluation, call Schoenfeld Law Firm’s personal injury lawyers right away (504) 688-7760.
Who is at Fault in a Personal Injury Case?
Getting compensation means filing a claim against the party who hurt you. That can be a person, a company, or even multiple parties.
Anyone who injured you by breaching a legal duty can be held responsible for what they did. That can include any of these parties, which are common defendants in injury cases:
- Another driver who caused your crash
- The owner of a property with slippery floors or other dangerous conditions
- A trucking company or bus company whose driver hit you
- A manufacturer of a defective product
- A company causing toxic chemical exposure in your area
- A ship or boat operator who caused an accident or had unsafe conditions on board.
No matter who caused your accident, our personal injury lawyers can look for the evidence to hold them responsible and file your claims.
What Constitutes Fault?
To hold someone responsible in a personal injury case, you need to show that they committed negligence by breaching a legal duty they owed you. This can be obvious or a bit complex, depending on the case. You can also be held partially liable for your own fault in some cases.
Negligence Per Se
This duty is often supplied by explicit safety laws, such as these:
- Drivers have a duty to follow traffic laws
- Employers have OSHA and state safety guidelines to follow
- Trucking and transportation companies follow FMCSA and state transportation regulations
- Property owners have building codes and other local and state safety rules.
If they break rules that are meant to keep you safe, and you get hurt because of it, that is considered negligence per se.
Reasonableness
Alternatively, the relationship between the defendant and the victim – and what reasonable actions would look like in that situation – can supply the duty:
- Doctors must abide by the standard of care when treating patients
- Babysitters and camp counselors watching your children must take reasonable steps to keep them safe
- Property owners must reasonably warn of or clear up dangerous conditions that could injure guests.
Any time “reasonableness” comes into play, it is usually judged from an objective standard, based on what a reasonable person in that situation would do.
Comparative Fault
Lastly, Louisiana’s “comparative fault” rules say you can be held partially liable for your own accident and still get damages. If you also breached a duty, the court assigns a percentage of blame to each party involved. As the victim, you lose out on your percentage of damages, but the defendants still pay you for their fair share.
How Do You Prove Fault?
Evidence of fault can come in many forms, and our lawyers can take full advantage of any records, photos, or other evidence you might already possess. We can also seek out medical records, camera footage, witness statements, and other reports and evidence that might help prove your case.
Ultimately, we need evidence of what happened, how the defendant caused the accident, and what damages you suffered.
After the accident, if you are well enough to stay at the scene, take pictures, and get contact info for witnesses, that can be a great help. Otherwise, there may be evidence we can obtain on our own and through the discovery process. That is a stage of the case where both sides exchange evidence, take depositions, and lay everything they have on the table so there are no surprises.
Do I File an Insurance Claim or a Lawsuit?
Many injury victims start their case with an insurance claim but end up having to go to court in a lawsuit. Just because you do go to court does not mean you have to go to trial; the vast majority of cases still end up settling before trial.
In an insurance claim, we present the basic evidence to the insurance company and demand damages from them for the full value of your medical bills, lost wages, and pain and suffering. However, they may only want to pay a small amount to end the case quickly, and you should reject that initial offer.
From there, we can negotiate for full payment by showing them how strong our evidence is and persuading them to avoid a lawsuit by settling now. If they will not pay, we can take the case before a judge and jury to decide.
Often, that pressure of a lawsuit does push them toward settling, as it would be more expensive for them to lose in court. A lawsuit also gives us access to discovery, where we can demand evidence and records in the defendant’s possession, potentially exposing even greater negligence, recklessness, or other wrongdoing.
How Long Do I Have to File My Injury Case in New Orleans?
Under Louisiana law, the deadline to file is called a liberative prescription (essentially the same as what other states call a “statute of limitations”). This law gives victims 2 years to file a claim in most cases.
This “prescription period” (also known as a limitations period) starts on the day of the injury.
Do I Have a Case?
If your case meets all of the elements discussed above regarding the defendant injuring you by breaching a legal duty, then you have a case. As long as you were injured and face things like medical bills and pain and suffering from an injury, there are damages we can fight to help you recover.
Call Our New Orleans Personal Injury Attorneys Right Away
Reach out to the personal injury attorneys at Schoenfeld Law Firm today at (504) 688-7760 for a free case evaluation.
