How Do I Decide If I Need To Hire An Attorney?

Wed, 12 Mar 2008 21:48:21 GMT

There are situations where an attorney is unnecessary, such as very small cases. Small claims court in Oklahoma will handle claims up to $4500. If your injury is a minor one that will not result in any incapacity, or substantial medical care, then you may want to settle it yourself in small claims court.

An attorney should be consulted if you have been seriously injured or are unsure as to the outcome of your injury. These cases can get quite complicated. In such cases, an attorney will have the legal expertise, time and resources to effectively handle your claim. An experienced personal injury attorney will be able to accurately analyze the value of your case and will be able to meet all of the rules, requirements and deadlines that have to be met. You will most likely have to deal with a professional insurance adjuster from an insurance company. The sole job of the adjuster is to try to settle the claim for as little as possible. Without knowledge of the complex insurance laws and policy provisions, a person could easily give away valuable rights and lose reasonable compensation. Also of note is the fact that statistics show insurance companies pay more than twice as much compensation when an attorney is involved in your claim.

How Can I Determine How Much My Claim Is Worth?

Thu, 13 Mar 2008 18:48:57 GMT

Attorneys are prohibited from promising that they will obtain a certain amount of money for you. For purposes of settlement, a claim is valued upon an estimate of what a jury would likely believe the case to be worth, taking into account the severity of the injury, the effects of the injury on your life and the negligence of the other party. Any settlement will be reduced if there appears to be a good chance that the claim will not be successful. If you were partially at fault for the accident, the amount of damages will be reduced proportionately. Benefits received from some collateral sources may be used to reduce your recoverable economic damages. Other factors that may reduce the damages include past medical history, preexisting injuries, and prior claims history.

Considerable compensation may be commanded if your injuries are severe requiring extensive medical treatment, absences from work and permanent injuries. This is especially true if you were a healthy, productive, young worker prior to the accident. That is because an important factor in the value of your claim is the difference between your quality of life before the accident as compared to after the accident.

How Long Do I Have To Hire An Attorney?

Thu, 13 Mar 2008 00:19:30 GMT

The law requires that you file a lawsuit within a specified period of time depending on the nature of the claim and the entity that caused your injury. This is referred to as the statute of limitations. Failure to file suit within this time frame prevents you from filing suit at all. In some instances, there are various exceptions to the statutes of limitation that may extend or limit the limitation periods. There may be special claims presentation requirements for claims against state and local government. For example, if a claim is not presented to the state or its political subdivisions within 90 days of the incident, the claimant's damages are reduced by 10% and no claim may be brought after one year from the date of injury. For these reasons, it is important to consult an attorney as early as possible to be sure you don't miss a crucial deadline.

In Oklahoma, most actions for bodily injury or wrongful death must be brought within two years from the date when the cause of action accrues. In most cases the cause of action accrues on the date of the incident, but there may be exceptions when the injury could not have reasonably been discovered until a later date. Circumstances may dictate a shorter statute of limitations period. If the claimant is under a legal disability at the time the cause of action accrues, the limitation period is extended until one year after the disability is removed. For medical malpractice cases, claimants under the age of twelve and incompetents must bring an action within seven years of the date the injury was inflicted. Claimants twelve years of age or older and incompetents who are subsequently adjudged competent must bring an action within one year from reaching the age of majority or after the adjudication of competency, but not less than two years from the date of injury.

How Much Will An Attorney Cost?

Thu, 13 Mar 2008 00:00:39 GMT

Most attorneys who believe a case has merit will take the case without payment up front. They will take the case on a contingency basis, which means they will receive a percentage of your award if and when you recover for your injuries. Contingency fees average between 25 and 40 percent. Most attorneys charge a smaller percentage if the case is settled before the attorney does all the work necessary to go to trial. Oklahoma law provides that the percentage may not exceed 50 percent of the recovery. If you and your attorney agree to a contingency fee, the attorney must put the agreement in writing and provide you with a signed copy. Some attorneys may charge an hourly fee or a flat fee for their services.

Out of pocket expenses include such things as filing fees, deposition fees, expert witness fees, and other similar expenses. The attorney's out of pocket costs are in many cases not included in the attorney's fees. You should be sure to pay attention to how an attorney will bill you for costs because they can amount to quite a significant sum.

How Will My Claim Be Processed?

Thu, 13 Mar 2008 00:34:41 GMT

Although most of us would prefer to avoid filing a lawsuit or going to court, it is sometimes necessary to pursue litigation to get full value for your claim. Lawsuits usually become necessary when there are disagreements with the other party's insurance company over who caused an accident or how serious the injuries are. You should be sure not to sign any documents without prior review by an attorney. You need to attend all scheduled doctor appointments in order to document your injuries. Accurate records should be kept of time you missed from work, medical bills, and property damage repairs. You can document your damages with photographs of your injuries or photos of property damage.

After a lawsuit has been filed, both parties will conduct discovery. Pretrial discovery usually takes about a full year during which time both parties investigate all aspects of the claim. This may include taking oral depositions, obtaining pertinent records, propounding interrogatories, and hiring expert witnesses to obtain more evidence about the claim. During this period of discovery and as the trial date approaches, the parties will exchange settlement offers/demands. A large majority of personal injury claims settle before trial. If you agree to accept a settlement, you will be required to sign an agreement stating you absolve the other party of all further liability in this case.

I Was Injured. Can I File A Lawsuit Against The Party That Caused My Injury?

Wed, 12 Mar 2008 20:48:25 GMT

In general, when a person is injured as a result of another person's negligence, the injured party may pursue a claim against the party or parties that caused the injuries. You are entitled to compensation for your injuries if it is found that a defendant was negligent and that such negligence was a cause of your injury. Any personal injury case depends on liability, damages, and whether or not you can collect from the negligent party or parties. Even if you were partially at fault for your injuries, you may be entitled to recover a portion of your damages. Oklahoma has adopted the doctrine of modified comparative fault which means a claimant's contributory negligence will not bar recovery unless it is greater than the combined negligence of all defendants. A claimant's recoverable damages will be reduced in proportion to his percentage of negligence.

Personal injury law attempts to cover all areas and types of injuries suffered by individuals. Some of the most common areas are automobile accidents, premises liability, medical malpractice, and product liability, among others. Whether or not you are entitled to compensation may depend on the type of accident that caused the injury.

AUTOMOBILE ACCIDENTS

Oklahoma operates on a "fault" system, which determines liability based on a showing that one party was at fault because of negligence, which caused the accident. In other words, if the other driver is to blame for the accident, you can collect damages, and vice versa. Generally, people who operate motor vehicles must exercise reasonable care under the circumstances. Failure to use reasonable care is the basis for most lawsuits for damages caused by an automobile accident. In these cases, proof of fault is often contested and requires thorough investigation. A driver may also be liable for an accident caused by intentional or reckless conduct. A reckless driver is one who drives unsafely, with willful disregard for the probability that the driving may cause an accident.

The other driver's insurance company is the liability carrier and will pay you, as a victim of the other driver's negligence, for your out of pocket damages and pain and suffering. The mandatory minimum liability coverage in Oklahoma is $10,000 per person and $20,000 per accident for personal injury, and $10,000 for property damage. If the person who caused your injury has automobile liability insurance, an insurance adjuster will gather the pertinent records including medical records, medical bills, wage loss verification and the like in an effort to verify your damages. The insurance company may make you an offer to settle the claim. You may find the offer acceptable and once you accept it, the claim process is over. If you do not receive an acceptable offer, you can proceed with filing a lawsuit. Lawsuits are generally filed when negotiations fail. If you file a lawsuit against a negligent driver, your attorney will need to prove that the other party was negligent and that the other party's negligence caused injuries that resulted in compensable damages. Be careful when dealing with the other party's insurance company because they may try to rush you into a settlement before you can adequately evaluate the extent of your damages.

If you are in an automobile accident with an uninsured driver who is at fault, the uninsured motorist provisions of your own policy will apply if you purchased such coverage. This coverage would also apply if you were hit by a "hit and run" driver. This insurance acts just like the insurance the uninsured driver should have had. Underinsured motorist coverage picks up where the liability coverage of the other driver leaves off. If your personal injuries exceed the amount of the other driver's liability insurance, your underinsured motorist insurance covers the excess damages under current law.

PREMISES LIABILITY

If you were injured at someone else's home or a commercial establishment, the person or entity responsible for the premises may be found liable. This can cover a variety of situations including slip and falls, dog bites, assaults, among others. The person liable for your damages is the party in control of the property. That party is responsible for the care, maintenance and inspection of the property. For example, an owner may not be the responsible party if he or she has leased the property to another party who actually has control over the premises.

The responsible party must pay for damages if the injured party proves that (1) the condition of the property was dangerous; (2) the owner knew, or should have known, about the dangerous condition; and (3) the owner had a reasonable opportunity to correct or warn of the condition, which was not reasonably open and obvious to the injured party at the time of the accident. In general, it is the duty of an owner to exercise reasonable care in the maintenance of the premises. He must warn a visitor of any dangerous conditions that are known, or should be known to him, if the conditions are not likely to be perceived by the visitor and to repair the conditions within a reasonable time frame.

The owner or operator of the property must have notice of the defect or circumstances that caused your injury prior to the injury having occurred. The notice can either be actual notice or implied notice, meaning the owner knew or should have known of the dangerous condition given all of the surrounding facts and circumstances. When the owner actually created the dangerous condition, then notice may be presumed. If a hazard cannot be eliminated, the owner has a duty to warn of the hazards he is aware of or should be aware of.

The duty of a possessor of land to the injured person may vary depending on the status of the person at the time of the injury. An "invitee" is a person on the landowner's property at the invitation of the landowner for some business or commercial interest in connection with the landowner's business. The landowner owes a duty to the invitee to either remove or warn invitees of any hidden dangers known or that should be known by the landowner or hidden dangers that created by the landowner or its employees. A "licensee" is a person on a landowner's property with the consent of the landowner for the purpose not related to business or commercial interest. The landowner's duty to the licensee is to warn the licensee of any hidden dangers known by the landowner, not likely to be discovered by the licensee. The landowner has no duty to keep his premises safe for an adult trespasser. However, the landowner does owe a duty to an adult trespasser whom the landowner knows or should know is on his property not to injure the trespasser by a willful or intentional act. An owner may be liable, however, if he maintains a condition that causes injury to a trespassing child. The duty to trespassing children includes the landowner not having an artificial condition upon his property that is attractive to children and creates an unreasonable risk on injury to children.

PRODUCT LIABILITY

Product Liability deals with recoveries for personal injury or property damage resulting from the use of a product. Product liability cases may involve dangerous toys, automobile design, seat belt failures, improperly designed household products, industrial machinery, products causing explosions or burns, aviation products, medical devices, prescription or over the counter drugs, among others. A lawsuit can be brought against anyone participating in the chain of manufacture for that product, from the manufacturer, to the designer to the retail store. When a company designs and manufactures a product, they have a responsibility to ensure that anyone exercising reasonable care within the expected parameters of usage expected for the product will not be injured. An action can be based on negligence, breach of implied or express warranty.

What Damages Can I Recover?

Tue, 29 May 2007 21:19:00 GMT

You are entitled to recover for any actual damages that were proximately caused by the wrongful conduct of the defendant. Actual damages refers to the amount of money it would take to fully compensate you and place you in the same position you would have been in had the injury never taken place. You can recover for losses such as costs of reasonable and necessary medical care, property damage, car rental expenses, costs of domestic services, and loss of earnings. The law allows compensation for future medical and care expenses that the claimant can prove will be reasonably necessary to treat the injury. The claim may include income the claimant can prove will probably be lost in the future because of the injuries. Loss of earning capacity is also allowed when the patient proves he or she is less able to earn a living as a result of the injuries

You are also entitled to noneconomic damages for physical pain and suffering, mental and emotional suffering, physical impairment, inconvenience, disfigurement, loss of enjoyment of life, loss of consortium (disruption of your personal relationship with your spouse), etc. There is no definite standard of calculating reasonable compensation for these types of damages other than being just and reasonable in light of the evidence. They are assessed in light of the nature, extent, and length of time the injury lasts.

Sometimes a person is so severely injured that he or she cannot care and support loved ones the way he or she did before the injury. In appropriate circumstances, the law permits damages to be recovered by spouses, children, and parents of negligently injured people for the loss of the love, care, affection, companionship, and other pleasures of the family relationship that are lost because of the injury.

Family members, including the spouse, children and parents, can be compensated for the wrongful death of a loved one. The damages include: the loss of financial support that would have been provided by deceased, the grief suffered by the family, the loss of companionship suffered by the family, any physical and mental pain suffered by the deceased prior to death and the medical and burial expenses incurred. In the death of a minor child, only the parents are entitled to damages. The damages include: medical and burial expenses, loss of anticipated services and support, loss of love and companionship of the child and the destruction of the parent/child relationship. Also recoverable by the parents are monies expended in the support, maintenance and education of the child.

Punitive damages are intended to punish a defendant and deter others from similar conduct. Punitive damages may be awarded only if the claimant proves that the defendant acted intentionally and maliciously or with reckless disregard for the rights of others. In cases of reckless disregard, punitive damages are limited to the greater of $100,000 or the amount of compensatory damages. In cases of intentional and malicious acts, they are limited to the greater of $500,000, twice compensatory damages, or the benefit derived by defendant from his conduct. If the judge finds that the intentional and malicious act threatened human life, the cap does not apply. The court will reduce punitive damages if it finds that the defendant has already paid punitive damages in Oklahoma for the same misconduct.

Who Is Responsible When A Person Is Injured?

Wed, 12 Mar 2008 21:31:54 GMT

The law of personal injury is concerned with determining who may be responsible for your injuries and how much they should be required to pay for your damages. Personal injury is part of the law of torts, the legal term that includes many types of injuries to people and their property. Every tort claim must include four basic elements including duty, breach of duty, damages, and proximate cause. The defendant must have a legal duty toward the plaintiff. The defendant must have violated that legal duty. The plaintiff must have suffered some harm for which the law allows an award of monetary damages. The defendant's breach of a legal duty must be related to the plaintiff's injury closely enough to be considered a proximate cause of the injury.

There are a number of principles that apply to the law of torts and personal injury. These principles recognize degrees of fault on the part of the person who causes the injury. In general, the degrees of fault can be described as negligence, intentional fault, and strict liability.

The term negligence is essential to tort law. Everyone is expected to take normal ordinary care to ensure that their action or the actions of others under their control, do not cause anyone harm. If they fall below that standard, and someone is injured or their property damaged, then they become negligent. Negligence does not mean that the person deliberately intended to cause harm; it only means that they did not take reasonable care or they did not act when any reasonable person would have. The degree of care varies with the circumstances of each case. A plaintiff likewise has a duty to exercise reasonable care under the circumstances on his own behalf.

Strict liability means that one does not have to prove negligence to recover damages. In the case of product liability, the law now holds that you do not have to prove the manufacturer was negligent if someone is injured while using a product. They only have to prove the product was defective when it left the hands of the particular seller and that was the proximate cause of the injuries. A lawsuit can be brought against anyone participating in the chain of manufacture for that product, from the manufacturer, to the designer to the retail store.

An "intentional tort" refers to a personal injury caused by a person who has the intent to cause harm. It may also refer to injury caused by willful or reckless conduct. Intentional torts include assault and battery, intentional infliction of emotional distress, libel and slander, etc.

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