Accidents happen. But if someone was negligent in causing your accident, you may be able to claim damages. Personal injury law protects you from harm to your person or property caused by someone else’s mistakes.
Personal injury is a broad classification. It covers everything from traffic accidents to slip and falls to medical malpractice. It covers both injuries and death.
To recover compensation, you must establish that the other party was negligent. If you have a personal injury claim and need a Union City personal injury lawyer, contact Glugeth & Pierguidi, P.C., as soon as possible.
How Common Are Injuries Requiring a Union City Personal Injury Lawyer?
Personal injury is the area of law that encompasses injuries caused by the careless or wrongful conduct of someone else. These types of injuries are more common than you think.
Some of the most common personal injuries result from vehicle accidents. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has recently estimated that, across the country, traffic accidents injure five people every minute and kill one person every fifteen minutes.
But personal injury isn’t limited to the roads. Injuries can happen on the surgeon’s table, at a construction site, or at a neighbor’s home. Regardless of what caused your accident, you need a skilled Union City personal injury lawyer to negotiate with insurance companies or bring claims on your behalf to court. Contact us today!
What Is Negligence?
A personal injury attorney handles claims that involve damage to your person or property. Personal injury claims for accidents have one thing in common. They require a showing of negligence, which requires proof of the following elements:
- Duty of care. You must establish that the person who caused the damages had a duty to the person they injured. For example, all drivers owe a duty to other drivers to drive reasonably.
- Breach of the duty of care. The person with the duty must breach the duty through some action or inaction. For example, if a person was texting on their phone while driving, this would breach the duty to act reasonably.
- Causation. The breach of duty must have caused your injury. So continuing with our example, you would need to show that texting while driving caused the accident and the injuries.
- Damages. Damages must have resulted from the injury. Without damages, there would be no reason to go to court. Damages, as explained in detail below, can be economic or noneconomic.
Proving negligence is the key to recovering compensation through a personal injury claim. A personal injury attorney will gather the evidence to prove these elements.
Does It Matter If the Other Party Had Insurance?
Yes, it matters. Unless the party causing the accident has deep pockets, your attorney will look to an insurance company for payment. Automobile drivers are required to carry insurance, and insurance is available for homeowners, renters, and businesses. Malpractice insurance is available for doctors. If you are injured in an auto accident, you may collect under your uninsured/underinsured policy if the driver doesn’t have enough insurance. Consulting with an attorney can help you identify all potentially liable parties and the various insurers that may be responsible to pay.
What If We Are Both Responsible for Damages?
To receive damages for an accident in New Jersey, your share of responsibility must be 50% or less. So if the jury determined that you were 70% at fault for the accident, you couldn’t recover any of your damages. But if you were only 30% responsible, the court would reduce the damages you receive to 70% of the total damages.
This restriction on recovery is not the same in New York, which does not bar recovery no matter how great your share of responsibility is. There, the court would reduce your damages based solely on the percentage amount of your contribution. So if you were 70% at fault, you would still get 30% of your damages.
What Damages Can I Receive in a Personal Injury Case?
You can typically receive two types of damages in a personal injury case. The first type is economic damages. These include, but are not limited to:
- Medical expenses,
- Lost wages (past and present),
- Property damage, and
- Burial expenses (for wrongful death).
The second type is noneconomic damages. These include, but again are not limited to:
- Pain and suffering,
- Disfigurement and scarring,
- Loss of consortium, and
- Loss of enjoyment in life.
Punitive damages—those that seek solely to punish the person who caused the injury—are available only if the person’s action was intentional or grossly negligent.
What If I Can’t Afford an Attorney?
Personal injury lawyers typically work on a contingency basis, meaning a percentage of the settlement or verdict goes to the lawyers. You pay the attorney nothing upfront. Cost should not prevent you from hiring a lawyer for personal injury in Union City, New Jersey.
Do I Need to Prove My Case “Beyond A Reasonable Doubt?”
No. Because a personal injury case is a civil action as opposed to a criminal one, the standard of proof is lower. You need only prove your claim by a “preponderance of the evidence,” which means that the evidence shows what you are trying to prove is more likely true than not. If you can make this showing, the jury should return a verdict in your favor.
Also keep in mind that there is no possibility of jail for the other party from the civil action you bring. If criminal charges arise from the conduct, a court will adjudicate those charges separately.
Contact a Union City Personal Injury Attorney Today
You shouldn’t have to pay for injuries caused by another person. Personal injury law exists to protect you from the negligence of others, even if you were also at fault. At Glugeth & Pierguidi, we have obtained many settlements and verdicts amounting to a million dollars or more, including an $8 million settlement for an injured construction worker in New Jersey. Please contact us to discuss your potential personal injury lawsuit today.