The 3 Most Common Personal Injury Cases: When to Consult an Attorney
Personal injury occurs more commonly than you’d imagine and insurance companies have made billions of dollars minimizing claims due to be covered or just out right denying coverage. And at times, hiding coverage by denying claims for pretextual reasons. Car accidents, workplace and residential accidents and medical issues all can lead to lawsuits and are your legal right to protection and compensation.
Personal injury law, a type of tort law, allows for those injured to gain compensation for someone’s wrongful conduct that leads to an injury or death. Many different situations can lead to the filing of a personal injury claim, but some are more common than others.
Here is a look at three of the most common types of personal injury claims.
1. Car Accidents
Car accidents are one of the leading contributors to personal injury cases being filed. Just because you do not feel immediately injured, give it a day or two, then evaluate whether you need medical attention. Many people days later feel discomfort which leads to immobile pain given a disc has herniated or a bone has fractured. The body’s natural responses internally often mask the pain. But days later many individuals have reported feeling pain and obtained MRIs and new age x-rays that reveal an actual injury. If you have been injured, consider waiting no longer than three days if you believe medical attention but do not rule out needing medical attention to obtain medical treatment.
Consider the frequency of car accidents. According to the National Safety Council, in 2019 there were 38,800 people killed in motor vehicle accidents. That’s in addition to 4.4 million people injured seriously enough to need medical attention.
While those statistics reflect a slight decline in accidents over the past two years, the numbers are staggering.
A deeper look at the statistics shows that 50 percent of car accident fatalities were drivers, 17 were passengers, 16 were pedestrians and 14 percent were motorcyclists.
Why so many car accidents? There are many reasons. Newer teen drivers and elderly drivers with poorer reaction times account for large numbers of accidents. In addition, distracted driving, often by those looking at smartphones while behind the wheel, also factor into the large numbers.
2. Unsafe Business Premise Cases & “Slip and Fall” Cases
If you are at someone’s home, inside a business or workplace, or in a public location, there are many situations that can cause you to slip, fall, stumble or otherwise injure yourself. Like with car accidents, these injuries can mean expensive medical bills, long rehabilitation periods and emotional distress.
If the property was not clearly marked where defects exist or if there was an unsafe condition which can include being injured at a business by a lack of security, there is likely insurance coverage available. Big companies like Chubb, Chubb & Sons, Federated Insurance, AllState, Hartford and the like try to hide or minimize insurance that is available for medical bills, lost wages and pain and suffering for those injured at a business.
Property owners have a legal obligation to keep their properties safe, protected and free of hazards that could lead to injuries.
While not every injury or accident that occurs on someone else’s property necessarily leads to a personal injury claim, the owner’s responsibilities and obligations are different than a homeowner being one level elevated. They have an actual duty to keep the premise safe which means they are required to remove known defects or warn of the same and keep the premises safe from any temporary or exigent circumstances such as a spill, broken handrail, dangerous nearby neighborhood with safety concerns on site and the like.
Again, the statistics are alarming. In 2018, there were 36,600 deaths due to falls in the home and community. Yes, the vast majority of them — 27,280 — among those 75 and older but even they may be entitled to insurance money for a claim on medical bills, pain and related suffering.
Personal injury lawsuits largely depend on clearly defined safety standards and usually require an architect or premise expert to testify as to deviations from the safety standards at the time of the accident. If the property was unreasonably or unexpectedly unsafe to those using it, the likelihood of success increases. But premise cases are often difficult and thus require special attention to detail and the right expert.
3. Medical Malpractice Cases
When a physician, surgeon, nurse practitioner or other medical practitioner fails to deliver the proper level of treatment or makes a mistake in caring for you or a loved one, a medical malpractice case can arise. While a bad outcome alone is not enough to file a medical malpractice case, there are still many instances — a misdiagnosis, poor treatment or ‘medical error’, medical mistake or, error in surgery, medication or pharmacy error or birth injury — all of which are much more common than lawyers are even able to file lawsuits for.
While Big Insurance has done a good job at masking the frequency of medical mistakes and the medical community refuses to self-police, there are still causes of action which bring about redress. But the cases are more tedious and thus not any lawyer or expert will prevail and many may not maximize the value of a case for the damages caused by medical neglect and medical mistakes. Be mindful that doctors in most all states have a hush agreement or sorts and deny patients reasonable access oftentimes by refusing in just about every state to testify against another medical board member.
But there are ways to prove medical neglect and doctors should help their patients and provide access to the company insurance when they do not meet the minimum standards. These cases are often complex and require a skilled medical malpractice attorney.
If you feel as though you have been injured wrongly, do not hesitate to contact us. Or if you are an attorney seeking to refer a medical malpractice case, please feel welcome to reach out.
