What You Want to Know About Personal Injury Cases
What Naples Law Firms Want You to Know About Personal Injury Cases
If you’ve been injured in an accident, you may be wondering if you’re eligible to receive compensation for your injuries. The answer to that question will depend on how accident took place.
For example, if you were injured by a lithium ion battery that explode, for no reason, while it was in your pants pocket, you may have a case. On the other hand, if you were injured because by an exploding battery, because you tossed a pack into a bonfire, it’s unlikely you’ll find a lawyer that will want to represent you.
How personal injury lawsuits work
In order to be successful in a personal injury lawsuit, regardless as to whether it’s a car accident, motorcycle accident or slip and fall case, the injured party will need to show they were hurt as a result of the plaintiff’s negligence.
If your teenager was texting, ran a stop sign and crashed into a parked car, you wouldn’t be able to sue the car’s owner for damages. On the other hand, if your teen was rear-ended by a driver that was using their phone to email, text or check social media, it’s likely you’d have a case.
Similar factors hold true for slip and fall cases.
For example, if you’re shopping at a big-box retail store, and you skip, fall and break your ankle because the store failed to clean up an enormous puddle on the floor, you’ll probably find a personal injury lawyer that would be willing to represent you. If you slip and fall in a parking lot, because it’s raining outside and the ground is wet, and your shoelaces were untied, that’s a different story.
Other things to keep in mind
A key component of success in a personal injury claim is whether party A was injured as a result of the negligence of party B. Using the previous example, if you saw a puddle of water on the floor of a department store, you can’t file a lawsuit to recover damages for an injury you could have sustained.
You also can’t file for damages against a party that wasn’t involved in your injury. For example, if you want to file a medical malpractice lawsuit against a hospital because a doctor forgot to remove a surgical sponge at the end of your procedure, you can’t sue a different, bigger hospital because they’re more profitable and you think you’d get a better settlement.
For more information about how personal injury lawsuits work, call our office today to learn more.