If you have been injured and plan to contact a Georgia personal injury attorney, it may be helpful to make sure your circumstances meet the criteria. In any personal injury case, three elements must exist:
The conduct may be simple negligence, strict liability or intentional misconduct. If the harmful acts are directed toward someone that should not have been the hurt, a personal injury claim arises. If someone comes into a retail establishment to buy something, the store owner owes that person a duty to exercise reasonable care for the customer’s safety. However, if someone trespasses on your land, you do not owe that person a duty to protect them from harm. Therefore, the first requirement is whether some one or some company has breached a duty of care toward the injured person.
In legal terms, proximate cause is the connection between the wrongful act and an injury sustained. Did the conduct of the allegedly negligent person result in the injuries claimed? Many cases are tried over this issue. For example, the defense will often contend that the injuries of which the plaintiff complains pre-existed the conduct of the defendant, and, thus was not a result of that alleged act of negligence. The plaintiff must show that there would not have been the injury suffered if the defendant’s conduct had been proper and not negligent.
Damages normally include medical costs incurred, lost income, pain and suffering and loss of consortium [if the injured party was married at the time of an injury. Damages can be health related, such as physical injuries or psychological trauma, or they can be financial, such as a loss of employment or wages. In most cases, damages usually consist of a combination of these factors.
If you have been injured or suffered other damages as the result of another’s actions, it is important to document everything. Photos of the scene where the incident occurred, witness statements, and medical records can all help your attorney establish your case. It is also important that you don’t sign anything, until you have spoken with an experienced lawyer, such as A. Russell Blank. Working with a personal injury lawyer can help you collect the compensation you deserve.
