Personal Injury Lawyers in Douglasville

Since many accidents may not always fall neatly in one category, you should try to work with an injury law firm that has a broad range of experience. For instance, you may have a motor vehicle crash while on the job. This could present both a workers’ compensation case and a case against the negligent driver.

Call Sherrod & Bernard, P.C., to learn more about what we can do to help.

What Should You Do if You Have Been Hurt Due to Negligence?

Injuries don’t have to put your life on hold forever. No doubt you’ll be suffering from the pain and challenges of a recovery, but you may have legal options for getting paid and getting on with your life. We want to help. To make sure you are taking all the necessary precautions, follow these steps after any injury:

Get Medical Attention Right Away.

Don’t delay getting the help you need. If you are hurt, seek medical attention. Even if you’re one of those people who tries to “tough it out” or thinks you can “shake it off,” now is not the time to be tough. Now is the time to follow a set of simple steps to protect your family. The first step is making sure that any and all injuries are diagnosed, treated, and fully documented.

Don’t Talk to Insurance Companies, Defendants, or Investigators.

Depending on the type of case, you may be contacted by various representatives of the insurance company or even the defendant. In some cases, large corporate defendants will hire surveillance teams, private investigators, and other professionals to look for ways to deny you compensation or shift the blame to you. Nothing good can come of you communicating with insurance adjusters or private investigators.

Stay Off Social Media.

It can be very tempting to share everything on the Internet, but you can bet the insurance company and defendant are scouring the Web looking for anything you do. Even if you think your post is private, you may be surprised to find out that clever investigators can often locate everything you say and post, including your photos and comments on friends’ social media accounts. They may twist your words or take a photo out of context to try to weaken your case. So, the best practice is don’t post anything until the case is over.

Hire an Attorney.

Simply put, the easiest way to make all the debt collectors, government and health insurance reps, and insurance adjusters stop calling you is to hire an attorney. Once you hire our firm, we will put everyone on notice that you are represented by legal counsel. This means if anyone wants to talk to you about the case, they need to go through us. This gives you peace of mind, takes the stress off you, and lets you focus on what matters most – taking care of yourself and your family.

What Do You Need to Prove in a Personal Injury Claim?

Many people believe that the insurance company has to pay if you can prove that the defendant was at fault in causing your injuries. That is generally true, but there is a lot more to resolving a personal injury case. Here are the four basic elements you need to prove in order to be compensated:

Duty

You must prove that the defendant owed you a legal duty. This can vary from case to case. For instance, drivers owe a duty to keep a careful lookout for others and to obey the law. Doctors are required to meet a particular standard of care. Property owners owe visitors and guests a duty to maintain a safe environment and warn of dangers that may not be readily visible.

Breach of Duty

Next, assuming you can prove that the defendant owed you a particular duty, you must then prove that they violated that duty in some way. This is known as a breach of the duty, which is essentially the heart of any negligence claim. If proven, the defendant is negligent. But this isn’t the end of the case.

Proximate Cause

Often the harder part of the case is proving that the defendant’s negligence actually caused the specific injury you are claiming. If your injuries didn’t come from the defendant’s conduct, you cannot recover.

Damages

Finally, even if you can prove that the defendant’s negligence directly caused an injury, you must still prove the extent of the injury. You would have a hard time successfully arguing that you should be compensated if you can’t prove the extent of your damages. This is known as proving damages. These can include lost income, medical expenses, pain and suffer, and more.

Compensation in a Case

Damages are the legal term for your injuries and losses. When you claim compensation in a personal injury case, you are really outlining the ways that you have been damaged or the ways that you have lost something as a result of the defendant’s conduct.

Common damages that may be claimed in a personal injury case include:

Keep in mind that there are some injuries that are so catastrophic that a person may lose the ability to walk, see, or function in other ways. In these cases, there are numerous additional damages that can be claimed, such as adaptive housing, money for prosthetic limbs (amputations), and even money to pay for long-term caregivers in some cases.

When a close relative is killed by someone else’s negligence, you may have a right to pursue compensation for wrongful death. This type of claim allows certain surviving family members to seek money for:

Each case is unique, however, so don’t assume that all damages will apply in every case. It’s best to talk to an attorney to find out what options you have given the facts of your case. The attorneys of Sherrod & Bernard, P.C., welcome inquiries and are happy to answer your questions about potential damages that you can seek. Call or stop by our office today to discuss your case.

What is the Statute of Limitations on Personal Injury Claims in Georgia?

Georgia law gives injured people just two years from the date of their injury to bring a lawsuit against the party responsible for hurting them. There are only a few narrow exceptions.

For instance, if you’ve been injured by medical mistakes or malpractice, Georgia law requires most medical malpractice claims to be brought within two years of the negligent act or error. One exception is in cases of missed or incorrect diagnosis. In these cases, the law may permit these types of claims to be brought after two years where the person had no reasonable opportunity or reason to know of the missed diagnosis within two years. In such situations, courts will begin the two-year clock with the moment when the person became aware of the malpractice or when they should have known about it.

In cases involving local municipalities and government agencies, you may need to provide written notice of your intent to claim injuries within as little as six or twelve months of your injury, depending on the city or municipal agency.

Because statutes of limitations are not always as clear and straightforward as they would seem, it’s best to talk to a lawyer within the first few weeks of learning of an injury, if at all possible. The sooner you talk to a lawyer, the sooner you can start protecting your rights.