Duluth Personal Injury Lawyer

When you suffer a significant injury, the needed medical treatment can be expensive, and you may miss time at work while you recover. Some injuries are simply the result of bad luck or circumstances no one could have predicted, but in other cases, an injury may be caused by the negligence of another person or entity.

If you believe your injury could be the result of negligence, you may wonder about seeking compensation for your damages.

How Can a Duluth Personal Injury Attorney Help?

Your personal injury attorney will evaluate your case and explain the options for pursuing compensation. If there is a way to recover damages, we’ll find it.

We may also be able to help if you’re currently dealing with an insurance company adjuster who refuses to pay your claim or has made an offer that undervalues your damages.

What Makes An Injury a Personal Injury Case?

In order to seek compensation for a personal injury, you will need to show that the defendant (the party you’re suing) was negligent. There are four elements of negligence:

• The defendant had a duty of care. In most situations, we all have a responsibility to avoid actions that are likely to injure or harm others. What this means specifically can change depending on the situation. A person driving a car, for example, has a duty to avoid reckless actions like excessive speed, texting while driving, or driving under the influence. A person who owns a convenience store has a responsibility to fix or warn customers about any hazards in the store, such as a loose floor tile or a puddle from a ceiling leak.
• The defendant failed in their duty of care. They drove recklessly, they failed to address hazards in their store, etc.
• This breached duty of care led to your injuries. It’s crucial that we establish how the defendant’s failure to perform their duty of care caused your injuries. For example, the defendant was looking at their phone when driving, and as a result, they failed to see you in the crosswalk and hit you with their car.
• You suffered damages due to your injuries. There are a number of damages that occur in personal injury cases, and your lawyer will ask you questions to determine what your damages are. For instance, you have $5,000 in medical bills, you lost $1,200 in income when you missed work, etc.

What if You’re Not Sure Who Was at Fault?

We recommend speaking with a personal injury who can help you determine if another party’s negligence caused your injuries. In many cases, an injured person may think they’re at fault for an accident or injury when they’re not.

It’s also possible that both you and another party had some fault in the injury. Georgia uses modified comparative negligence law, which supports a shared-fault model.

In this system, each party is assigned a percentage of fault, and in some cases, it may be true that one person is 100 percent responsible. But in other situations, one party might be 70 percent at fault while the other is only 30 percent to blame (or some other breakdown of percentages).

What happens when both parties have some responsibility? An injured party who is less than 50 percent responsible can still secure damages from the party who is more than 50 percent to blame.

The injured person’s percentage of fault will be deducted from their damages, so if you were 20 percent responsible, you’d lose 20 percent of your recovery.

What Should You Do if the Other Party Blames You?

Contact a personal injury lawyer as soon as you can. We’ll go to work investigating the injury and working to gather as much evidence as possible in your case. Examples include photo or video evidence, witness testimony, electronic data, and more.

Trying to convince an insurance company you weren’t at fault on your own is not a good solution for several reasons:

• First, the insurance adjuster is unlikely to believe you or change their mind.
• Next, they will probably record your conversation and play it back, looking for anything you said that can be used against you. Even if you were careful, they might zero in on an innocent comment and misinterpret it as an admission of guilt.
• The insurance adjuster is an expert on insurance law as well as their own policies. Unless you’re also an expert on these subjects, you probably won’t find a loophole they missed. But your lawyer will be well-versed in these topics and skilled in negotiating with insurance company adjusters.

What if the Insurance Company Has Already Made You an Offer?

This can be both good and bad for your case.

We’ll start with the good news: If the insurance company has made you an offer, they probably aren’t going to argue with you about fault. They realize your case is strong, and it will be extremely difficult to blame you for your injuries.

Now, the bad news: The offer may not cover all your damages. Frequently, we find that an insurance carrier’s first offer undervalues the injured party’s damages; for instance, they might offer you enough money for your current medical bills and lost income, but what if your injuries cause chronic pain and you need continued treatment?

How will you pay for future medical costs? What if you return to your job and find you can’t work at the same pace anymore? What about your pain and suffering?

The downside of the insurance adjuster realizing you have a solid case is that they may try to reduce the company’s obligation by offering you less than your claim is worth. For this reason, it’s crucial that you seek legal advice before accepting any offer.

First, we’ll talk with you about your damages and help you determine a ballpark figure that you should expect for your claim. If the offer is reasonably close to this number or close enough that you’re satisfied, then you can go ahead and accept.

But if the insurance company’s offer leaves something to be desired, we’ll negotiate to get you a more comprehensive settlement.

What if There Is No Insurance Coverage for Your Injury?

Searching for insurance coverage is one of the initial steps we take in reviewing your case. Most car accidents are covered by an insurance policy (even if it’s the injured person’s own uninsured/underinsured motorist policy).

Boats, golf carts, ATVs, and other vehicles may also have liability and other types of insurance. Accidents that happen on another party’s property might be covered by homeowner’s or business insurance, depending on the circumstances.

However, there are some situations where there is seemingly no insurance coverage. Your lawyer will explore all the options to help you obtain compensation, including:

• Suing the negligent party. If a person or entity causes your injuries through their negligence, you can sue them directly. Insurance is designed to relieve the negligent party of the burden of paying your claim. Still, if there is no applicable policy, the defendant can be found personally liable in many situations. Unfortunately, it may be hard to collect on a judgment if the negligent party has few or no financial assets, so we might advise against a lawsuit in some circumstances.
• Considering other insurance policies. Sometimes, we can seek compensation from insurance even if the negligent party doesn’t have any. Uninsured motorist coverage is one example. A personal injury resulting from a criminal act is another. Insurance companies don’t sell liability policies for criminal activities, so if you’re injured as the victim of a crime, you could sue the perpetrator. But what if they haven’t been found or have no assets? If you were attacked on another party’s property, such as in a store parking lot or a hotel room, we may be able to bring a claim against the property owner’s liability insurance.

The bottom line is that if you were hurt and you don’t believe there’s an available insurance policy, we advise you to speak with a personal injury lawyer. In some situations, we can find alternatives to help you get your damages paid.

What Kinds of Situations Lead to Personal Injury Cases?

Another party’s negligence can injure you in almost any situation, but here are some of the more common types of cases we see:

• Motor vehicle accidents. These could include cars, trucks, motorcycles, tractor-trailers, buses, and anyone who crosses paths with a vehicle (such as bicyclists or pedestrians).
• Small vehicle accidents. Although they tend to be slower than cars, low-speed vehicles like golf carts or ATVs can still lead to serious injuries or death in some cases.
• Boating or waterway accidents. In 2021, Georgia had 14 fatalities and 67 injuries associated with boating accidents. Personal injury situations can also include accidents involving waterskis, personal watercraft, or drownings.
• Premises liability. These cases usually involve some type of injury on the property of another individual or organization. Merely being injured on someone else’s property doesn’t necessarily mean they were negligent, but if we find evidence that they failed to address an obvious hazard or risk, you may have a case.
• Medical malpractice. If a doctor or healthcare provider acted outside the standards of their profession and caused you harm, you may have been a victim of medical negligence. Nursing homes and other healthcare facilities could also be liable if a patient suffered abuse or neglect in their care.
• Defective products. Businesses have a responsibility to create products that aren’t unreasonably dangerous when used in a foreseeable way. If you were using a product in a typical manner and suffered injuries due to its malfunction, you may have a product liability claim.
• Worker’s compensation. In most situations, people injured while they are on the job should be covered by Worker’s Compensation insurance, but sometimes the employer or insurance company denies the claim. Your personal injury lawyer can also assist you with these cases.