Following an accident that has resulted in an injury to yourself or a loved one, you may be left confused or angry, and you may find yourself asking how you can hold someone accountable for what has happened.
Many of those who have suffered injuries turn to a personal injury claim, which is a civil lawsuit brought against the person or entity responsible for causing those injuries. These lawsuits are meant to help an individual recover financially for expenses related to those injuries.
It’s important to note that even if you were hurt very badly in an accident, that doesn’t mean that you have a viable personal injury claim. There are three important factors that determine whether or not you should file a personal injury claim, which we will outline here.
Suffering a Personal Injury
First, in order to file a personal injury claim, you must have suffered from a personal injury, which is something that is defined as an injury to your body, mind, or emotions.
In other words, these are injuries that are physical or psychological in nature, and this is wholly different from property damage. If you were involved in a minor fender bender but suffered no injury beyond a slightly dented bumper, then you have not suffered a personal injury.
Caused by Negligence
Secondly, these physical or psychological injuries must have been caused by the negligence or carelessness of another person or entity. Generally speaking, if someone has acted carelessly and caused the injury of another, that person will be held legally liable or responsible for those injuries.
In order to win a personal injury claim, the injured party must prove that the person responsible for their injuries failed to behave with a reasonable level of care that another person would have under the same circumstances and thus, directly caused their injuries.
Recoverable Damages
Finally, you must have suffered personal or financial harms that can be remedied by recoverable damages, which is the legal term for a sum of money awarded to an injured party.
These recoverable damages can include medical bills as a result of the injury and ensuing recovery, physical pain and emotional suffering, lost wages, diminished earning capacity, reduced quality of life, disability accommodations in your house or vehicle, and more.
The economic damages like lost wages or medical bills are easy to calculate, but the non-economic damages like pain and suffering or diminished quality of life are more difficult. An experienced personal injury attorney will be able to help make reasonable estimates.
Texas Personal Injury
In some personal injury cases, the person or business that you bring a claim against may actually argue that you are at least partially at fault. This is known as a shared fault injury case.
To put this in the simplest terms, this means that the amount of compensation you are eligible to receive will be reduced by an amount that is equal to your percentage at fault.
For example, let’s say you were rear-ended but one of your brake lights wasn’t working at the time. During a trial, the jury decides that you were 25 percent to blame for the accident. This means that your final compensation would be reduced by 25 percent.
Conversely, if you’re found to be more than 50 percent at blame then you can’t collect anything at all from the other at-fault party.
Every personal injury claim is different, which is why it is important to speak with a Houston personal injury firm like Fears Nachawati following your accident.
The experienced team at Fears Nachawati has handled all manner of personal injury claims and will fight to ensure that the law works for you, not against you. Give them a call at (866) 705-7584, or pay them a visit at their Houston office on Kirby Drive. Offices are also available in Dallas, Austin, Fort Worth, and San Antonio.