Gadsden, SC Personal Injury Lawyer
Injury claims are among the most common types of lawsuits filed nationwide. People can be injured in all kinds of different situations, sometimes resulting in serious injuries that require expensive medical care, home nursing care, physical therapy, and months or even years of recovery. These care costs and lost wages can all rack up huge damages, leaving victims in dire straits.
With the help of an experienced injury lawyer, you can take your claim to court, fight the at-fault parties, and seek monetary damages from them and their insurance companies. This can help you and your family move forward and get you the medical care and financial support you need.
For a free case evaluation, contact the personal injury attorneys at Burriss Ridgeway Injury Lawyers today at (803) 451-4000.
How Do I Know If I Have a Personal Injury Case?
Personal injury claims are most often based on accusations of negligence. To prove negligence, you must show that the at-fault party (the defendant) did something wrong that resulted in your injuries and other damages. Simply by having an injury, you have already met one of these elements.
Along with the physical injuries, the damages in your case can include any monetary damages, like lost wages and medical expenses, as well as other non-economic damages, like mental anguish and emotional distress. But there must also be some kind of mistake or breach of legal duty that led to the accident for you to be able to sue someone.
In assessing whether the defendant did something wrong, you have to look at what a reasonable person should have done in the same situation. This can mean analyzing what other doctors would do to determine whether a doctor’s care was up to standards or simply looking at the practices of reasonable grocery stores in how they deal with spills and other hazards. In some cases, specific laws on point – such as laws requiring handrails on stairs or laws against drunk driving – dictate the legal duty.
If you can show that the defendant’s wrong actions caused your injuries, then you have met all the elements for an injury claim. If you are unsure about who legally caused the accident or have other questions about how strong your case might be, our personal injury lawyers can assess your case and help you understand whether you have a claim or not.
Damages for Injury Victims in Gadsden, SC
As mentioned above, “damages” in a personal injury case can involve more than just your injury itself. All of the harms – both monetary and otherwise – that result from an accident should be claimed as damages in your case. Damages are typically broken down into three categories:
Economic Damages
The medical expenses, lost earnings, property damage, and other expenses that stem from an accident can all be claimed as “economic damages.” Proving how much these damages cost you is often somewhat simple, as there are receipts, pay stubs, and other financial records showing how much you spent or how much you lost. However, some damages are harder to calculate, such as a projection of your lost earnings if your injuries were totally disabling and you can no longer return to work.
Non-Economic Damages
Often lumped together as “pain and suffering” damages, non-economic damages pay you back for the experiences, feelings, and personal harms you face. Injuries themselves result in physical pain and mental suffering, which have no receipts, bills, or prices attached to them. Nonetheless, you can claim damages for these experiences, along with emotional distress, lost participation in activities you enjoyed before your injuries, mental anguish, feelings of depression or hopelessness, the fear of reinjury, the distress of seeing your permanent injuries and scars, as well as other intangible harms stemming from the accident. Our lawyers can help you put a value on these damages that fairly compensates you.
Punitive Damages
Punitive damages are issued to punish the defendant instead of being issued to pay you back or compensate you like the other damages you claim. These damages are rare and only come up in cases involving serious wrongdoing. Even so, when they are available, they can help you get additional money in your pocket, all in the name of trying to punish the defendant and prevent them and others in their position from doing similar things in the future.
Common Types of Personal Injury Cases in Gadsden, SC
Most accidents are not serious, with victims perhaps not even considering that what happened to them could have been dangerous. But for those who face serious injuries, even something simple like a slip and fall could be a life-altering event. Our lawyers help with all kinds of personal injury cases, but the following are some of the most common cases we see:
Slip and Falls
As mentioned, slip and falls do not always result in injuries, but hitting your head or hurting your back and spine can result in very serious injuries. Slip and falls also commonly cause broken bones, especially in older adults.
Car Crashes
Car accidents can be deadly, but even low-speed crashes can still leave you hurting. Whiplash, back injuries, broken bones, cuts and scrapes, and other injuries are quite common, with more serious injuries like paralysis and traumatic brain injuries also being possible.
Workplace Injuries
You need to work to live, but if you get hurt working, it might make it impossible for you to get the wages you need to support yourself and your family going forward. Serious workplace injuries can often lead to lawsuits, though there are complex restrictions that might require you to file with insurance instead of suing your employer. Even so, our lawyers can help you understand your options after a work injury.
Call Our Personal Injury Attorneys in Gadsden, SC Today
If you were hurt in an accident, call (803) 451-4000 for a free case evaluation with Burriss Ridgeway Injury Lawyers’ personal injury lawyers.
