Injuries can alter your life, whether for a short while during your recovery or in the form of permanent disabilities. If you were injured in an accident and faced serious injuries, you could be entitled to compensation for medical bills, lost wages, and other effects on your life.
For help with an injury case, you should always work with a personal injury attorney. Your Sumter, SC personal injury lawyers can work to get you the compensation you need no matter what kind of injury you faced. Our firm fights to hold the responsible parties liable and get you the justice you deserve.
For help with an injury claim, contact the Sumter, SC personal injury attorneys at Burriss Ridgeway Injury Lawyers. For a free case review, call us today at (803) 451-4000.
Getting Compensation After an Accident in Sumter, SC
If you were hurt in an accident, you might not know what steps to take next to get compensation. After receiving treatment and racking up expensive medical bills, you may be left with multiple options to get those costs and other expenses paid. But it is often far from clear what route to compensation will be best. Our Sumter, SC personal injury lawyers can advise you of your options and help you choose the right path based on the specifics of your injury case.
Insurance Claims
In some cases, insurance can get you the damages you need quickly. However, it is important to always be wary of insurance companies and how they value your injuries. Even when filing a claim with your own insurance company, you could be misled and pushed into a low settlement that does not cover your needs.
Insurance is one of the most common ways to get compensation, especially for car accidents, injuries at someone’s home, or injuries in a store or business. Damages can often be paid quickly since you do not have to go to court to get damages paid. However, insurance companies often work to protect their bottom line. This means undercutting damages or excluding certain areas of compensation from your claim. When you file a claim with your own insurance company, out-of-pocket payments for deductibles are common.
Talk to an attorney before admitting anything to an insurance company or accepting any compensation from them. In many cases, our Sumter personal injury attorneys can negotiate for higher settlements by negotiating your case with the insurance company.
Lawsuits
When filing a lawsuit, you will need to go to court and prove your case before a judge or jury to get the damages you claimed. However, this process is decided by a neutral judge or jury rather than the insurance company. The judge and jury also decide the amount you ultimately receive, making this a fairer system in many cases.
If negotiations with the insurance company break down, we may have no choice but to take your case to court to get compensation. This means gathering evidence to build a strong case and presenting it to the jury. However, many cases do still settle before going to trial.
Settlement
The insurance company usually pays a settlement, so this is not much different than the negotiation and ultimate settlement you can get through an insurance claim. If there is no insurance company involved and the defendant is paying out of pocket, it is possible your settlement might look a bit different.
Regardless, most injury cases are ultimately settled one way or another. If your lawsuit is progressing through the court system, you can still negotiate with the defendant and their lawyers on the side. If you can reach a satisfactory agreement on damages before (or even during) trial, your case can settle instead of going before the judge or jury. This saves both parties time and money and often gets victims the money they need faster.
However, settlement sometimes means giving up some portion of your claim to convince the defendant to settle. This is unacceptable in some cases, and the case might be compensated more fully by going to trial. Talk to a lawyer about any settlement offers before accepting because settlement usually blocks you from claiming additional damages later.
Types of Personal Injury Cases We Handle in Sumter, SC
People are injured in several common ways. Some of the most common personal injury cases involve exactly what you might suspect, while others might be surprising. However your injury took place, our Sumter personal injury lawyers can work to hold the responsible parties accountable and get you the damages you need.
Auto Accidents
Car crashes and truck accidents are some of the most common ways that people receive serious injuries. If another driver hit you – whether you were in a car, on foot, or riding a bike – you may be entitled to sue them for the injuries they caused you. If you were hit by a commercial driver, such as a truck driver, then you might also be entitled to file a claim against the company the driver works for.
Premises Liability Injuries
Accidents on someone else’s property can happen in many ways. Slip and fall accidents are the most common, but electrocution, fires, and even dog bite injuries could also fall into this category. Filing a claim against a homeowner or business owner can get you the compensation you deserve.
Medical Malpractice
Being injured by a doctor who was supposed to take care of you can lead to catastrophic outcomes. Our Sumter personal injury lawyers can handle all sorts of medical malpractice cases, including those involving surgical mistakes, foreign objects left in the body, misdiagnosis, medication errors, and more.
Types of Personal Injury Cases We Handle in Sumter, SC
For help getting the compensation you need, call (803) 451-4000 for a free case evaluation with the Sumter, SC personal injury attorneys at Burriss Ridgeway Injury Lawyers.