Accidents of various types can lead to severe injuries or even loss of life. When the respective accident was caused by a person’s negligent actions, the injured party has the right to file an accident claim and obtain financial compensation from the at-fault party. This monetary compensation is owed for medical expenses, lost wages, and other economic and non-economic damages. If you want to recover most of the damages you are entitled to by law, you should secure legal representation from an experienced injury lawyer in New Orleans at Wright & Gray law firm.
Many people are thinking twice before hiring personal injury lawyers. They fear that they will lose their case and be saddled with the attorney’s fees in addition to the other expenses they’ve already incurred. For this reason, we will start by saying that personal injury attorneys at our law firm work on a contingency fee basis. This means that you do not have to pay any upfront fees. We will collect our fees out of the compensation we manage to negotiate on your behalf. Also, without experienced legal counsel by your side, the liable party’s insurer will most likely be able to reduce the value of your claim, leaving you with medical bills and other expenses related to your accident that you have to pay on your own.
Types of Accidents an Injury Lawyer in New Orleans Can Handle
Personal injury law covers various instances of incidents resulting in a person’s injury and economic damages due to responsible parties’ negligence. The most common instances are:
- motor vehicle accidents, including truck accidents, bus accidents, and motorcycle accidents
- bicycle accidents
- pedestrian accidents
- premises liability (getting injured on someone’s property)
- medical malpractice
- workplace accidents
- product liability (getting injured by a defective product)
In each of these instances, an experienced injury lawyer in New Orleans can help you take appropriate legal action to recover your financial losses and even collect exemplary damages, if applicable.
A skilled attorney will get sufficient information from you during the initial consultation to give you an outline of the amount of monetary damages you may recover and the average duration of the entire process.
How the Comparative Fault Principle Impacts Your Case
Let us envision one of the most common personal injury cases – a car accident. In this circumstance, there is an at-fault driver and an accident victim. Yet, legal experts know that in reality, even the injured party may have a small contribution (slight negligence) to their accident.
Yet, this does not mean that you are not entitled to financial recovery. Personal injury law in Louisiana uses a version of the comparative negligence principle, called comparative fault. This principle states that you can recover part of your damages even if you are more than 50% at fault for the accident. However, your final settlement amount or jury award will be reduced by your percentage of fault. For example, if you were found to be 80% at fault for your accident and your economic damages and non-economic damages amount to $100,000, you will recover $20,000.
During the legal consultation with your injury lawyer in New Orleans, you should disclose every aspect and circumstance which may have an impact on your proportion of fault. Remember, client-attorney discussions are confidential. Plus, even the best legal assistance can do little for your case if various facts come to light during settlement negotiations or during a personal injury lawsuit.
Ways in Which a Lawyer Can Obtain the Maximum Recovery Amount
As we explained above, working with an injury lawyer in New Orleans can help you recover the maximum compensation you deserve. First of all, each legal issue has a complex nature and you need to know various Louisiana laws to justify your demands and counter an insurance adjuster’s claims.
Secondly, legal professionals know how to calculate eligible damages, leaving nothing out. Moreover, from the investigation of the accident, lawyers can identify the elements of extreme negligence or intentional torts (acting with the intent to do harm), which qualify you for receiving punitive damages at the end of a personal injury lawsuit.
In order to get the best results, an injury lawyer in New Orleans will:
1. Investigate the Circumstances of the Accident
Your version of how the accident happened is not sufficient evidence for a personal injury claim or lawsuit. An injury lawyer in New Orleans with a proven track record of success will also analyze the circumstances of the accident, to understand exactly how it happened.
This will help your attorney assess the negligent party’s proportion of fault for the traffic accident or other kinds of negligent tort. In some cases, personal injury accidents can be reconstructed by professional accident reconstructionists.
2. Collect All Relevant Evidence
From the accident report prepared by law enforcement officers in case of an auto accident to the initial emergency care report and your doctors’ progress reports to CCTV camera footage and eyewitness testimonies, your lawyer will look for all the pieces of evidence that support your claim for damages.
3. Handle All the Legal Procedures on Your Behalf
Many personal injury victims suffer devastating injuries which require spending a lot of time in the hospital and rehabilitation centers undergoing physical therapy. Yet, in Louisiana, the statute of limitations (the deadline to file a legal claim against a negligent driver or other kind of fault party) is only 1 year after the date of the accident. An experienced attorney needs time to prepare your case, taking into consideration even the scenario in which an insurance company refuses to settle.
Thus, the legal procedure must start as soon as possible after your accident. Once you hire an injury lawyer in New Orleans, they become your authorized representative, able to submit documents, pay filing fees and perform any other required action.
4. Tracking Expenses and Recoverable Damages
Many people have no idea how much they stand to lose from a financial point of view after a personal injury accident. You may think of the hospital bills, costs of rehabilitation and physical therapy, and various out-of-pocket expenses. But many incidents also result in substantial property damage (in a car accident), lost wages during the weeks when you are in the hospital, and even loss of earning capacity if you are left with a permanent injury that prevents you from returning to work.
Moreover, you deserve compensation for additional damages of a non-economic nature: physical pain, emotional distress, loss of consortium, and loss of enjoyment of life. An injury lawyer in New Orleans will make sure that you get fair compensation, which covers all these damages.
5. Negotiate with the Insurance Company
One of the most difficult parts of a claim after any type of accident is getting to an agreement with an insurance adjuster. The adjuster will try to increase your proportion of fault as much as possible, in order to reduce the compensatory amount the insurance company has to pay.
An experienced injury lawyer in New Orleans knows exactly what arguments to use and how to present the evidence in order to show how the matter truly stands. In most cases, the insurance company will agree to settle. If they don’t, professional accident law firms are not afraid to take big insurance companies to court and file a personal injury lawsuit on your behalf.
Reach Out To a Skilled Injury Lawyer in New Orleans
Wright & Gray is a dedicated personal injury law firm where you can find professional legal representation and effective solutions if you suffered injuries and economic damages due to another person’s negligence. We work aggressively to win the maximum compensation you deserve and hold responsible parties liable for their negligence.
Since you only have 1 year available to take legal action, we encourage you to schedule a free case review with us as soon as possible: 888-912-4944!