Have another person’s actions resulted in your mental, physical, or emotional harm? If so, you might have a personal injury case. Before you reach out to a personal injury lawyer, here are some factors to weigh before leveling a claim.
What Makes a Personal Injury Case?
Most personal injury claims involve motor vehicles and negligence. Keep in mind that it doesn’t necessarily have to involve a collision. For example, if you are clearing debris off the roadway and another car hits the debris such that it injures your person, a personal injury lawyer could likely take up your claim.
Duty of Care
Duty of care is the primary factor in determining negligence. In the roadway debris scenario, you could have a case because the other driver owed you, a pedestrian, a duty of care and breached this duty by striking debris close to your person, which resulted in physical damage to your person.
Duty of care is defined as a level of care that any ordinary person would exercise under identical circumstances. In this scenario, it could be argued that any reasonable person would have avoided the debris and thus would not have caused it to hit you. A breach of this duty would open the defendant up to liability for damages for any mental, physical, or emotional pain that occurred as a result.
What Could Help Your Personal Injury Case?
Immediately following the accident, taking pictures of any injuries and the surrounding area is a good idea. Additionally, take some notes to preserve proof of your mental state following the accident. Finally, make sure you receive prompt medical care immediately after the accident, even if you do not feel like you need to.
Additionally, make sure you report the accident as soon as possible and obtain a copy of the police report. From there, you should have most of what you will need for a personal injury attorney to handle your case.
What Could Harm Your Personal Injury Case?
Although you may have a strong personal injury case, you could make some mistakes that could severely blunt or even outright undermine your chances of recovering compensation for damages. They include:
- Posting information about your case online
- Posting images of your injuries on social media
- Commenting about factors involved in your case on social media
- Not seeing a doctor immediately after the incident
- Ignoring your doctor’s advice
- Saying something incriminating to the defendant’s insurance company
These mistakes are why it is a good idea to hire a personal injury lawyer to help get the compensation you deserve.
Steinberg Injury Lawyers: Your Go-To Personal Injury Lawyers
If you have been in an accident and need a reliable personal injury lawyer, our Los Angeles-based team at Steinberg Injury Lawyers is here to help you out. We provide a free 24/7 evaluation of your case and exclusive settlement advances for clients. Get in touch with us so we can start evaluating your claim as soon as possible.
