Accidents happen, but sometimes not all accidents happen accidentally. If you’ve been injured in an accident through no fault of your own, then you may have suffered from a personal injury and you may be entitled to compensation for your injuries. In Cheyenne Wyoming, personal injury lawyers know the importance of getting you the justice you deserve.
Personal Injury Lawyer FAQs: What Qualifies as Personal Injury in Cheyenne Wyoming?
So, what is a personal injury? In general, personal injury is a class of civil lawsuit that applies to situations in which negligence has resulted in harm or injury. Personal injury only occurs when you have been injured or harmed by another person through no fault of your own. In other words, personal injury is something that happens to you, not something that is caused by you.
Many situations could qualify for a personal injury lawsuit. For example, car accidents, medical malpractice, slip and fall accidents are all personal injury situations that are commonly settled in or out of court. In each of these situations, the harm to your person occurs because of the action or inaction of another person, also known as negligence. If you think you might have a personal injury case, a Wyoming personal injury lawyer can help you determine the next steps to take.
The Key of Personal Injury
The root of all personal injury cases is proving negligence or carelessness. Proving negligence relies on establishing certain facts of the case that will indicate your injury was caused by another person, either through direct action or inaction. Four main elements are required to prove negligence to the court, including:
Existence of Legal Duty
The existence of a legal duty is essentially the rules that are agreed to be standard in any situation. For a physician, the legal duty may be the standard of care, while for a driver, the legal duty may be following the rules of the road. To prove negligence, you will have to prove that these legal duties were not observed, which is what lead to your injury.
Breach of Legal Duty
The breach of a legal duty is the evidence that proves the person responsible for your injury did not observe expected laws about your situation. For example, you may be able to use witness testimony to collaborate that a driver was distracted or violated the rules of the road, which resulted in your injury. For a physician, the breach of legal duty may include failing to diagnose or improper treatment. A lack of warning signs to indicate danger may also be a breach of duty for a slip and fall situation.
Proof of Your Suffering
To prove the results of negligence in your personal injury case, you will need to provide documentation of your suffering. In general, your suffering can include your medical records pertaining to your injury, medical bills, loss of wages, proof of disability, or other aspects of suffering. This portion of the case will help build evidence that will ultimately provide you with the compensation you deserve for your injury.
Proof of Breach Causing Injury
The final potion of proving negligence combines all documentation and testimony to prove that the breach of duty caused your injury. Proximate cause is the most common proof for personal injury lawsuits, so your Wyoming personal injury lawyer will need to provide evidence for this element. Proximate cause is essentially a way to link cause and effect. For example, a driver was distracted, violated the rules of the road, and caused an accident that resulted in your injury.
Sometimes, proving a proximate cause can be difficult. The more evidence you have in your case, the better your Wyoming personal injury lawyer will be able to prove the chain of events that lead to your injury. It’s important to supply your legal representative with all relevant information to prove your case for this reason.
Common Examples of Personal Injury
A personal injury lawsuit can be tried when there is any situation in which you were injured by another person’s actions. Some of the most common situations that qualify for a personal injury claim include:
Car Accident
Car accidents are very common and most of them are caused by negligent, careless, or distracted driving. Car accidents can result in mild or fatal injuries and are generally viewed as being the fault of one driver violating the rules of the road. Your car accident may result in physical injuries or damage to personal property that needs to be properly compensated, either by the driver or the driver’s insurance.
Medical Malpractice
Occasionally, doctors provide care that is substandard or that results in the injury of the patient. The most common personal injury related to medical malpractice is failure to diagnose a patient or provide adequate care. If a physician is distracted, uses improper medical methods, or causes lasting harm to the patient, then they may be negligent in providing the standard of care.
Workplace Accidents
You can also be injured on the job through no fault of your own. This is most common in factory settings, warehouses, or other labor-intensive job settings where failure to provide employee safety is caused by company negligence. This could include having unsafe machinery, not providing employees with adequate training, or failure to indicate dangerous areas of the workplace.
Product Liability
When you buy a product, you are usually reasonably confident that the product is made with good quality and will not be harmful to you or your family. However, some products can cause personal injury, such as vehicles that have problematic parts that have not been recalled. Consumer fraud, defective medical devices, food poisoning, dangerous side effects from medications, and defective products are all examples of product liability that can cause personal injury.
What Does Compensation Look Like?
In general, compensation for a personal injury claim is either settled by the insurance company for the defendant or is settled in court by a judge or jury. Compensation for a personal injury lawsuit can encompass a wide range of benefits. This compensation is meant to make up for your economic and non-economic losses related to the accident.
Lost Wages
Lost wages can refer to wages lost because you were unable to work, you were fired, or you will lose your earning capacity in the future because of disability.
Medical Bills
Medical bills are incredibly expensive in America, which is why the compensation for your medical bills and ongoing treatment are generally part of any personal injury settlement. Depending on your injury, your compensation may include payment for things like assistive devices, physical therapy, or in-home care.
Pain, Suffering, and Emotional Distress
Your compensation may also include pain and suffering, or even emotional distress related to the accident. Your Wyoming personal injury lawyer will be able to build a formula to calculate the cost of these elements to be included in your personal injury lawsuit. Usually, this calculation is in addition to any financial losses you may have suffered as a result of your accident.
If you’ve been injured and you are seeking justice for yourself, then you may want to hire a personal injury lawyer in Wyoming to advocate for your interests. A Wyoming personal injury lawyer has the expertise and knowledge in Wyoming state law to prove negligence in your case and help you win the compensation you are owed for your injury. Please contact Ochs Law Firm in Cheyenne, Wyoming for more information about how you can receive justice for your personal injury claim
