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When you’ve been injured, it’s natural to try to figure out what happened and how a similar injury could be avoided in the future.
No one wants to repeat an unpleasant experience like getting hurt. But when thinking back over your accident or the circumstances that led to your injury, you may start to realize that someone else was at fault.
Maybe it was another person or a business. Either way, their negligence led to a situation in which you were hurt.
At this point, you may wonder if there are any legal remedies you can use to recover compensation for your damages. This is often when clients come to us seeking advice about a negligence claim.
Negligence is a concept used in all personal injury cases. It simply means that someone (again, a person or an entity) failed to take reasonable steps to keep others safe.
This can happen in a wide variety of ways, from car accidents to medical malpractice to slip-and-fall situations to defective products. If you’re not sure if your injury was the result of negligence, it’s a good idea to speak with an experienced negligence lawyer who can help you sort out what happened and whether there are any liable parties who might owe you compensation.
Ali Awad, the founder and managing attorney at The CEO Lawyer Personal Injury Law Firm, understands the complexities of negligence claims and the best strategies for pursuing these cases. Also called “The CEO Lawyer,” Mr. Awad built a client-focused firm with the goal of helping people access the resources they need to recover and move on with their lives.
His firm was later voted the fastest-growing law firm in the United States, beating 499 others in 2021. The CEO Lawyer also makes time to deliver helpful legal knowledge to more than a million followers on social media.
Do I Need a Tennessee Negligence Attorney?
If you think that you or a loved one were injured as the result of someone else’s negligence, you may be in a lot of pain, unable to work and earn a living, and wondering how to pay your medical bills. You deserve the opportunity to fully understand all your options for seeking compensation so you can decide what’s best for you.
Don’t wait – call Ali Awad for a free, no-obligation consultation of your claim. The CEO lawyer and his team work using a contingency basis.
That means they won’t get paid until they win your case. There is no risk in calling (423) 777-8888 to find out your legal options.
What Are The Elements Of A Negligence Claim?
With any personal injury case, there are four steps to proving negligence:
- The at-fault party, or defendant, had a duty of care. In general, we all have a duty of care to avoid doing things that might harm others. In more specific terms, drivers have a duty of care to be careful and avoid actions that might cause a collision, like speeding or driving drunk. A property owner has a duty to ensure the property is maintained well enough not to pose a danger to visitors. A business owner has a duty to protect their employees and customers from injury by keeping their place of business safe and free of hazards.
- The at-fault party breached their duty of care. This is the part where we first start to show what a person or entity did that was negligent. The motorist drove recklessly, ignoring traffic laws and the safety of others. The property owner ignored a hazard on their property, like a loose tile or brick that could cause someone to trip. The business owner failed to warn their customers about a potentially dangerous situation involving one of their products.
- This breach of duty caused you, the plaintiff, harm. A negligence claim goes nowhere if no one was harmed, no matter how foolish the defendant’s behavior was. Here, it’s important to make it clear how the breach of duty directly led to your injuries. The other driver crashed into your car, it flipped over, you banged your head on the ceiling, and you developed a traumatic brain injury. The property owner left a hose lying in the walkway to their door, you tripped and fell, landed on your hands, and broke your wrist. The business owner produced a defective product; it exploded one day when you were using it normally, and you suffered serious burns as a result.
- You suffered damages as a result of your injuries. Damages can be economic – you have medical bills, you lost time at work leading to a decrease in income, you have to pay to repair your damaged vehicle, etc. They can also be non-economic – you went through pain and suffering, which includes both physical pain from your injuries and mental or emotional pain resulting from your trauma, like anxiety, depression, trouble sleeping, or PTSD. You may also suffer from a loss of enjoyment of life, loss of companionship if a loved one was killed in the same incident that injured you, permanent disability or scarring, and other damages. Although it is hard to put a “price” on these kinds of losses, the only way to request compensation for your damages is to ask for an amount of money. Your attorney will help you figure out an appropriate amount of compensation for your damages.
What Is Comparative Negligence, and How Does It Affect My Claim?
Comparative negligence is a system for handling personal injury claims used by many states, including Tennessee. In comparative negligence states, each party to a personal injury claim is assigned a percentage of fault.
This surprises some people, as it’s easy to assume that one party is always totally at fault and the other has nothing to do with causing the incident.
This may be the case in some situations. However, we’ve seen many cases where both parties made mistakes that contributed to the injury that happened – in other words, it’s possible for both parties to be negligent.
What does that mean for your case? Can you still collect damages if you have some percentage of fault?
The answer is yes, as long as you weren’t responsible for the majority of fault. If you are assigned some amount of fault lower than 50 percent, it’s still possible to receive compensation, but your award will be lowered by the percentage of fault you were given.
So, if you were 10 percent at fault, you would lose 10 percent of the award, but you can still collect the rest.
The other thing to remember is that blame is only formally assigned if your case goes to trial. Many negligence claims are settled out of court.
If it appears that you contributed some fault to the incident, the other party’s attorney may claim it was “mostly” your fault and suggest you’ll get nothing in a trial, but this is often not true. When negotiating with the other party’s insurance company, we may let them know that our evidence suggests the other party was mostly at fault.
Sometimes, this is effective, and the insurance company will agree to discuss a settlement. If we can come to a reasonable agreement, you will have the option of accepting the settlement and moving on.
This will be your decision, and if you don’t want to accept the offer, we can continue the trial as planned. We can also make a counteroffer to the insurer if you’d like to settle but for more compensation.
Should I Accept A Settlement Offer?
We can’t answer that question for you. What we can do is advise you on how we think things are likely to go in a trial.
We will tell you if we believe you have a good chance of receiving much more compensation in court. We will also tell you that there are no guarantees with a court case. Occasionally, there are surprises in a trial or jury award less than expected.
There are other factors to consider as well. Some clients would rather accept a slightly lower amount of money if it means they don’t have to go through the stress and time commitment of a trial.
You should also think about how the settlement compares to the amount you initially asked for – if there is a very large difference, you may want us to try to negotiate for a higher amount instead of accepting the offer. Ultimately, the decision will be up to you.
Our Tennessee Negligence Law Firm Is Here For You
Ali Awad, The CEO Lawyer, will fight for your rights if you’ve been harmed by another’s negligence. With more than twenty years of experience, The CEO Lawyer Personal Injury Firm’s attorneys have a successful track record of more than 99%.
If you have questions or concerns about your injury and financial situation, call The CEO Lawyer and his team now at (423) 777-8888 for a no-obligation consultation.