Personal injury cases arise from a wide range of circumstances. Some of the most common are car accidents, slip and fall injuries, motorcycle accidents, and work injuries. But any time someone is harmed by the negligence of another person or company, there might be a personal injury claim.

We are required by law to act with “reasonable care.” What constitutes reasonable care varies from situation to situation. When someone fails to act with the reasonable care required by a given circumstance, that is considered negligence. In order for you to recover for most personal injuries, you will have to prove that another person or a business was negligent, and that the negligence caused your injuries.

First, get medical attention. At the same time, if you are able to do so, you should create a record that will help you protect your claim. File a police report, either at the scene or as soon as possible afterward. Try to get names and contact information from any witnesses. If you can, write down exactly what happened as soon as possible after the event. Accident scene photographs often provide valuable evidence that can’t be duplicated after the fact.

Compensatory damages are damages meant to compensate you for your losses. These damages cover actual economic losses, like medical bills and lost income. They can also include compensation for pain and suffering and loss of enjoyment of life. The purpose of compensatory damages is to put you as nearly as possible back in the position where you would have been if the defendant’s negligence had not occurred.
Punitive damages, on the other hand, are intended to punish the defendant and to discourage others from engaging in the kind of negligence. An award of punitive damages requires a showing of something more than mere negligence.

Insurance companies are mainly concerned with their own interests rather than your best interests. The business of the insurance company is to take in as many premiums as possible while paying out as few claims as possible.
Their representatives are trained to minimize or deny your claim, and they employ a variety of tactics to accomplish that. They may well ask you questions that may hurt your claim. At other times, the representative may act as if he or she is on your side and encourage you to resolve your claim quickly for far less than the value of the claim.

Immediately after your injury would be ideal. If it’s past that point and you haven’t already contacted a lawyer, the second best time would be right now. You may contact an attorney with Fenner and Boles at (866) 772-0700, and we’ll set up a free consultation.

We do not typically charge people a retainer, nor do we charge by the hour. Instead, we work on what is known as a contingent fee basis. That means earning our fee is “contingent” on the result we obtain in the case. We will investigate your case at no cost to you. If we determine that you do not have good grounds for a lawsuit, you’ll owe us nothing -- regardless of how much time and money we spent doing the investigation.
If we take your case, and are successful in obtaining an award or settlement for you, then we earn a fee by sharing in a certain percentage of that recovery. The specific percentage that we earn depends on the type of case. If we do not succeed in getting an award or settlement for you, then we earn no fee at all in the case.

We usually do not require clients to pay for costs or expenses out of their own pocket. Instead, we typically will advance the costs associated with your case. If we are successful, then we are reimbursed for the costs we have spent on your behalf. If the case is not successful, we generally do not ask to be reimbursed.

Litigation costs refer to expenses charged by somebody not connected with our law firm. For example, if we request your medical records from a doctor or hospital, they usually charge a fee. Also, there may be filing fees at the time that we file a lawsuit. The case may require us to hire expert witnesses who charge for their time on an hourly rate basis.

Most cases settle out of court. However, cases can settle at different points in time. For example, some cases may settle early on, whereas other cases settle just before the trial is about to begin. We prepare every case as if we are going to court, even though we know that most cases will end up being settled.
We do this because we never know exactly which cases will end up in court. The better we prepare your case, the larger the settlement we are usually able to obtain.