Personal Injury FAQs

It’s always important to report your accident to the police, no matter how minor it may have been. Make sure to write down the contact information and names of witnesses to the crash, and make sure you get a copy of the driver exchange information form from the police officer at the scene. It’s also important to contact your insurance company to inform them of the collision.p>

Yes, you need to inform your insurance company of the accident even if you weren’t at fault.

If you do not report the accident, the insurance company may deny payment of any claims you file subsequently. Your insurance company must notify you within 30 days of receiving proper notice of the claim whether it will pay or deny your claim, or inform you that it is still in the investigation stage.

The situation depends if the accident was not completely your fault. You can still recover damages from the other driver for the portion of the accident that was his or her fault.

If you were injured as a result of a defective, dangerous, or hazardous condition on someone else’s property, including a city, state, or the federal government, you may be able to bring a claim and/or lawsuit for money damages. This includes compensation for your pain and suffering, medical expenses, and lost wages arising out of the accident.

A property owner may be legally responsible for injuries to others caused by defective, hazardous, or dangerous conditions on their property. This includes injuries to tenants and visitors from conditions in common areas in buildings they own, like lobbies and stairways, and even conditions in a tenant’s apartment, under certain circumstances. They may also be responsible for injuries caused by conditions on the sidewalk in front of their building or property, although in certain circumstances only the city, state, or other municipality is responsible for sidewalk conditions.

This is a question you should consult with an attorney about, but, we must prove that they had either “actual notice” or “constructive notice” of the condition and did not take reasonable actions to fix or remedy it. “Actual notice,” means that the owner of the property knew about the hazard before the accident, either because they created it themselves, found it themselves, or because someone else told them about it. This becomes more complicated to determine and prove with temporary hazards. In these cases, like spills, it is important to show that the condition existed in a location for a long enough period of time that the owner should have known about it. Under the law, this is called “constructive notice.” The amount of time that passed since the hazard was first created is important to know. If minimal time passed between the creation of the hazard and the accident, it is less likely to hold the property owner liable for your injuries. If a large amount of time passed, or if hazards frequently occur in the area, then the property owner is more likely to be found liable for your injuries.

The following are some examples of defective, dangerous, and hazardous conditions:

• Holes and other openings
• Slippery floors, from water, ice, food, or other slippery substances
• Broken, cracked, and uneven steps
• Broken, cracked, and uneven sidewalks
• Foreign objects sticking out of the floor, steps, or sidewalk
• Stairs without railings and without proper lighting

Property owners will almost inevitably insist that they did not have “notice” of the hazard or condition, meaning they didn’t know about it so they could not have done anything about it. For example, if you were injured after slipping and falling on a wet spot, they may argue that they were not made aware of the spill in time to clean it up. They may also argue that you acted negligently and failed to observe the hazard in an attempt to have the case thrown out or substantially reduce the compensation you receive.

The family members & survivor of victims may be able to secure damages for economic loss, pain and suffering the victim went through before their passing, loss of parental guidance, and the loss of services the deceased provided.

This type of claim can be filed by the survivors of an individual who has died due to another party’s negligence or misconduct.

Relatives of the deceased may file a wrongful death claim. However, if the person filing the claim is a minor, they may require an adult guardian in order to file a lawsuit. Depending on the situation, other legal dependents and members of the victim’s family may be able to pursue claims.

Our law firm can help victims recover medical expenses for treating the injuries caused by the malpractice; damages for pain and suffering; disfigurement and disability damages; lost wages and ability to earn wages in the future. In certain circumstances, spouses, children and parents of negligently injured people may recover damages for the loss of the love, care, affection, companionship and other pleasures of the family relationship lost due to medical malpractice.

Law defines medical malpractice as negligence committed by a professional health care provider – a doctor, nurse, dentist, hospital, hospital worker, etc. – whose performance fails to meet the standard of care expected of those with similar training and experience, resulting in harm to a patient. The profession itself sets the standard for medical malpractice by its own custom and practice.