Cobb County is a busy area with multiple highways and rail lines, museums and community centers, and opportunities for outdoor activities. But a serious injury could abruptly end your plans.
When you’ve been injured, you may have expensive medical bills, lost income, property damage, and more losses, but the insurance company might not be eager to pay your claim. What can you do to protect your legal rights?
Consult With a Cobb County Personal Injury Attorney Today
Uncertainty and worry often follow a serious injury. You may have questions regarding the viability of a personal injury case or how to file an insurance claim.
Alternatively, you might wonder if your injuries were your fault, the result of someone else’s carelessness, or an unavoidable accident. At the same time, you could be worried that the insurance company will reject your claim or offer you less than it’s worth.
Navigating these complexities requires the expertise of a seasoned personal injury attorney. At the CEO Lawyer Personal Injury Law Firm, we extend complimentary consultations to address these concerns and explain your legal avenues.
We operate on a contingency fee basis, meaning you only pay when we secure a favorable outcome for your case. Reach out today to begin your journey toward compensation.
How Do You Know if You Should File a Personal Injury Claim?
If there is evidence that another party’s negligence caused your injury, you may have grounds for a personal injury claim. Of course, it’s not always apparent to the injured person if another party is at fault or what evidence is available.
For this reason, we recommend speaking with an experienced personal injury lawyer who can advise you of your options and search for additional evidence if needed.
Here are some examples of situations where you might have a personal injury case:
- You are T-boned at an intersection by a distracted driver who had the red light.
- You slip and fall at a spa due to a puddle under a leaking roof. There was no bucket to collect the water or “Wet Floor” sign to warn you of this hazard.
- Your neighbor is goofing around and accidentally rolls over your foot with their golf cart, leaving you in a walking cast.
- Your new clothes dryer overheats and causes a fire, damaging much of your house and causing you to smoke inhalation injuries. Although you used the dryer as directed, there is evidence that the dryer’s faulty wiring caused the fire.
- After a routine surgery, you suffer chronic pain, which your doctors brush off as “nothing” or “all in your head.” Finally, you see a doctor who takes you seriously and discovers a surgical instrument was left inside you following the surgery.
- During your morning walk around the neighborhood, a dog bites you. You find out the dog belongs to someone who lives on the next street, but it was running around unleashed in violation of Cobb County’s leash laws.
This is not an all-inclusive list; there are only a few examples. If you even suspect another party caused your injuries, we recommend discussing your situation with an attorney.
What Is Negligence?
When an attorney reviews your case, they will look for the following four pillars of negligence:
- The at-fault party had a duty of care. In each situation, a person’s duty of care might differ depending on their role. For instance, a motorist has a duty to obey traffic laws and avoid behavior that might endanger others, such as speeding excessively or texting and driving. A store has a duty to provide adequate security so guests aren’t trampled at a big sale. An aircraft manufacturer has a duty to thoroughly test its planes and components to avoid defects that might put passengers at risk.
- The duty of care was breached. The other party didn’t make a reasonable effort to avoid injuring others. For example, a driver was looking at their phone and didn’t see you enter the crosswalk, so they hit you.
- This breached duty of care led to your injuries. It’s crucial that we show the link between your injuries and the other party’s negligent behavior. In the crosswalk example, we might work to show that you entered the crosswalk, the distracted driver’s car hit you, and you suffered a broken leg and strained back from the impact.
- You suffered damages as a result of your injuries. Damages might include medical bills, lost income, permanent disability or disfigurement, pain and suffering, and property damage.
Should You Still Consult a Lawyer if You Think You Were at Fault?
Yes. In fact, you should not discuss your possible culpability with anyone but your lawyer.
If questioned by the police, you should be honest but give brief, to-the-point answers and avoid speculating about fault.
There are a few reasons you should speak to an attorney before you do anything when you suspect you’re at fault:
- You might be wrong. A significant number of people tell us an accident was their fault, but after exploring the evidence, we realize it wasn’t. If you know you made a mistake, that doesn’t necessarily mean it caused your accident.
- Even if you had some fault, that doesn’t mean the other party is blameless. Georgia law allows two or more parties to share fault for an accident or injury. If you made a mistake, you might be less than 50 percent responsible, which means you could still collect damages. However, you will lose your own share of fault from your settlement. For instance, your error might make you 20 percent at fault. In that case, you could still collect 80 percent of your damages.
In many cases, we can recover at least some of the injured person’s damages if their mistake was minor and the other party was primarily responsible.
How Long Do You Have to File a Personal Injury Claim?
In most situations, you only have two years from the time of the accident or injury to file your claim. Occasionally, you may be able to extend the deadline if you were unaware of your injuries at the time, but you should not count on that as an option.
Additionally, your attorney needs time to investigate and gather evidence in your case. Some types of evidence are lost or destroyed over time—for example, doorbell video is frequently erased because it takes up so much storage space—so we advise you to contact an attorney as soon as possible.
Do You Have a Personal Injury Claim if You Were Hurt at Work?
You might have a personal injury claim in some situations, but not against your employer. However, most work injuries should be covered by Worker’s Compensation.
Employers with three or more employees are usually required to carry Worker’s Comp insurance (except for a few industries, such as railroad and farm workers). Your coverage should begin from the first day of your employment, whether you are a full-time, part-time, or seasonal employee.
A Worker’s Compensation claim is different than a personal injury claim in a few ways:
- Worker’s Compensation only covers approved medical expenses and two-thirds of your weekly salary (not more than $800 per week). Unlike a personal injury claim, you can’t seek damages for pain and suffering or recover 100 percent of your lost income.
- Your employer has the right to choose your doctor for workers’ compensation injuries. They can either provide you with a list of six doctors to choose from or the number of a managed care organization that handles their cases. If your injury is an emergency, you can go to the nearest hospital, but you should use an approved doctor for follow-up care.
- You must report the accident or injury to your employer within 30 days. This seems simple, but you should be careful to report your injury in a way you can prove, in case your boss or supervisor “forgets” or claims you never told them. Ideally, send an email from a personal account stating the date, time, and place of the accident or injury. You might also request a list of approved doctors at the same time in case you need to prove that you tried to seek medical treatment immediately.
- Worker’s Compensation is a “no-fault” system, which means that, unlike a personal injury claim, there is no need to prove that your employer, or anyone else, was negligent. In fact, you can still collect Worker’s Compensation if your own error caused the accident or injury. However, your claim can be rejected if the insurance adjuster believes you’re malingering, that you injured yourself intentionally, or that you were intoxicated while at work when your accident happened.
One thing Worker’s Comp claims have in common with personal injury cases is that they are usually reviewed by an insurance adjuster, who will look for reasons to reject your claim.
Sometimes, the employer will give the insurance company an excuse by saying they don’t think your injury was real or calling into question the validity of your case for some other reason. Remember, your employer doesn’t want their insurance rates to go up because of a Worker’s Comp claim any more than the insurance adjuster wants to pay your claim.
For these reasons, we recommend seeking help from a personal injury lawyer. We can also assist you with Worker’s Compensation cases, from reviewing your claim before you file it to appealing a rejected claim. At the same time, we’ll examine the details of your case to determine if you also have grounds for a third-party personal injury lawsuit.
When Is a Third-Party Personal Injury Case Possible in a Workplace Injury?
Although Worker’s Comp laws prevent you from suing your employer in most situations, you can still pursue a claim against a third party if their negligence caused or contributed to your injury. For instance, if you believe a defective piece of equipment caused your injury, you might have a claim against the manufacturer.
Or, if you were injured by someone who did not work for your company—like a delivery truck driver—you may have a claim against them or their employer. If you have grounds for a third-party claim, you might be able to recover damages that Worker’s Compensation doesn’t pay for, like the remainder of your lost income or pain and suffering.
What if You Are Not Eligible for Worker’s Compensation Because You Are a Contractor?
Your attorney can help you determine if the company you contracted with or a third party negligently caused your injury. If so, you might be able to pursue a personal injury claim against them.
We’ll also discuss the work you do because we want to ensure that you are actually a contractor and not an employee. Sometimes, companies misclassify employees as contractors, which saves them money on benefits and Worker’s Compensation insurance.
However, if we find sufficient evidence that the worker has essentially been performing the function of an employee, we can take legal action to seek both Worker’s Compensation benefits and back benefits an employee would have been entitled to, such as inclusion in the company healthcare or retirement plan.
Where Can You Get Help From a Cobb County Personal Injury Law Firm?
The CEO Lawyer Personal Injury Law Firm is always available for a free consultation about your personal injury situation. We’ll learn about your injury, needs, and goals and advise you on your options for recovering damages.
As always, our “no win, no fee” promise ensures you don’t have to worry about upfront expenses.
The CEO Lawyer Personal Injury Law Firm was established only a few short years ago and has since become one of the fastest-growing law firms in the country, with over a hundred employees. Founder and lead attorney Ali Awad and his team have more than twenty years of combined experience in personal injury law and have recovered millions of dollars in compensation for injured people and their families.
In his spare time, Mr. Awad makes entertaining yet educational posts about legal topics for over a million followers on social media. Work with his expert team when you call (470) 323-8779.
