- September 20, 2022
As a Baton Rouge injury attorney knows, people get hurt in accidents all the time. Sometimes it’s a car or truck accident. Other times people get hurt while grocery shopping. Any time somebody gets hurt because of another person’s actions, it can be grounds for a personal injury case. Our Baton Rouge personal injury lawyers have handled some run-of-the-mill personal injury cases. But we’ve also handled some really interesting ones as well. The special thing about personal injury law is that we approach them all the same way.
Most of the cases we handle require us to prove negligence on the part of the defendant. We’ll discuss what negligence is in more detail below. The goal of every case is to get our clients compensation for their injuries. Depending on the facts of a personal injury case, that could involve anything from a few thousand dollars to a million dollars. Of course, there haven’t been all that many cases over the years that settle for that kind of money. Most cases somewhere in between.
If you think you may have grounds to file a personal injury lawsuit against somebody, give us a call. We can sit down and go over your case and figure out if it has merit. If so, you can choose to retain one of our Baton Rouge injury attorneys right away. Your attorney will handle the legal side of things while you focus on getting better.
What Are the Most Common Types of Personal Injury Lawsuits?
While we handle a variety of cases, there are certain cases we see more than others. If you think about it, you probably have friends or family members who has been involved in each of the types of cases listed here.
Some of the more common cases we handle include:
- Motor Vehicle Accidents – A lot of the cases we handle involve car accident cases. This shouldn’t be surprising given the number of traffic accident that happen in Louisiana every year. There are more than 71,000 car accidents in Louisiana every year. Many of these cases are resolved through the insurance companies. However, a good percentage end up in the hands of a Baton Rouge personal injury lawyer.
- Slip and Fall Cases – Every day, people fall and get hurt while on somebody else’s property. Thankfully, most of these are only minor and the victim walks away with little to no injuries. However, some slip and fall accidents are serious. Our Baton Rouge injury attorneys handle a dozen or more of these cases every year.
- Premises Liability Cases – These cases may seem similar to slip and fall cases. However, with premises liability cases, the victim can suffer any sort of injury. They may hit their head on a low-hanging light fixture. Or they could get hurt while swimming in a neighbor’s pool. These cases fall under premises liability.
Of course, these three types of personal injury cases account for a good number of the cases we handle every year. However, there are many others. It would be impossible to discuss every kind of personal injury case in one article.
How Does Your Baton Rouge Personal Injury Lawyer Prove Fault?
In order to get you damages for your injuries, your Baton Rouge personal injury lawyer must prove fault. One thing that all personal injury cases have in common is that the plaintiff must prove negligence in order to get paid. This is the case with your Baton Rouge injury attorney as well. To do this, they’ll need to demonstrate the following:
- The defendant owed you a duty of care – This just means they should have exercised a certain degree of caution. For example, drivers must follow all posted traffic laws. Grocery store owners must keep their property clean and safe for visitors.
- The defendant breached this duty – Here, your Baton Rouge injury lawyer must show that the other party didn’t honor their duty of care. What they do is take the duty of care assigned to the defendant and show how they breached it. In the car accident example, you could show that the other driver was speeding or texting at the time of the crash. In the grocery store example, you could show that the floor was wet and slippery without any caution boards up.
- Obviously, you need to prove that you were injured. This can include physical injuries as well as financial injuries. In a car crash, you can show that your car was destroyed. You can also show that you suffered a broken leg or neck injury.
- Finally, your Baton Rouge personal injury lawyer must demonstrate that your injuries were caused by the defendant’s breach. This means you must tie your injuries into the other party’s behavior.
Once your attorney has proven all four of these things, you can move on to discuss damages.
Your Baton Rouge Injury Attorney Will Also Demand Damages
The whole point of filing a personal injury lawsuit is to get compensation for your injuries. This compensation is referred to as damages. Your Baton Rouge personal injury lawyer must prove damages the same way they prove fault.
Some of the damages that we usually demand on behalf of our personal injury clients include the following:
- Reimbursement for any medical bills
- Compensation for any medical care you may need in the future
- Reimbursement for any damage to your vehicle
- Compensation for any pain and suffering you experienced as a result of your accident
- Compensation for any time you missed from work
- You can also demand compensation for any future income you will lose
In order to collect damages, your Baton Rouge injury attorney will have to prove each type of injury stated on your initial complaint. If you don’t list it on your complaint, you can’t demand compensation later on. This is why it’s important that you hire a seasoned personal injury attorney to handle your case. They’ll make sure your complaint is filed properly. They’ll also ensure that all potential defendants are named in the lawsuit.
Reach Out to an Experienced Baton Rouge Injury Attorney Today
If you or your loved one were hurt in any sort of accident, give us a call. It’s times like this that an experienced Baton Rouge personal injury lawyer can help. They’ll review your case and tell you what options are available to you. Since we offer our clients a free, initial consultation, there’s no reason to sit down with an attorney and see what they have to say about your case.
