Injured in an accident in Duluth? At Andersen, Tate & Carr, we know that you are undoubtedly feeling overwhelmed. If you have been forced to suffer physically, emotionally or financially due to the error or negligence of someone else, You have the right to seek compensation.
Whether you have been injured in a truck accident, pedestrian accident, slip and fall, or other type of incident, you have the right to file a personal injury lawsuit if your injuries were the result of another’s poor decisions. Medical bills quickly add up, forcing you to make difficult financial decisions. You may be worried about how you’ll pay your medical bills while still maintaining your household and keeping up with responsibilities at work It’s time to fight for the justice you deserve.
Contact us online or give us a call today at 770-237-9860 for a free consultation with a Duluth personal injury attorney.
What do Personal Injury Lawyers Do?
If you have been injured in an accident in Gwinnett County, you have the right to seek damages. If your accident was caused by another, we will work to hold that party responsible. Our team will put our knowledge and years of experience to work for you in order to obtain the best possible outcome to your personal injury case.
A personal injury attorney in Duluth will help you uncover evidence related to your case. He will communicate with insurance companies on your behalf and negotiate settlements. Most importantly he will make sure that the people who are responsible for your accident and injuries are held responsible.
Elements of Personal Injury Cases
If another party was responsible for your accident, that person should be held accountable for the difficulty you are now facing. Thanks to Georgia’s negligence laws, he or she may be liable for the damages their actions directly caused. If successful, a claim can help injury victims like you recover compensation for your losses from medical bills, treatment-related expenses, lost income, pain and suffering, and more.
The legal principle of negligence states that parties who fail to exercise the proper duty of care should be liable for the damages their negligent actions caused. In order for such a claim to be successful, you must demonstrate four things:
- Duty — The defendant had a duty of care either because
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- There are laws that define their duty to act a certain way
- There are standards that apply to their profession, such as a medical practitioner or a freight truck driver
- There are expectations to exercise “ordinary care” as a “reasonable person” would
- Breach — The defendant lapsed in their duty, which directly led to an accident or incident
- Injury — The lapse in the defendant’s duty of care directly caused an injury to the plaintiff
- Harm — The injury the plaintiff sustained had significant damages that cause the plaintiff undue hardship for which they should be reimbursed
How to Prove the Elements of Negligence
Proving all four elements is not always easy. Sometimes, injury victims must rely upon a Duluth personal injury lawyer in order to form a strategy for their case that has a high chance of success.
Your injury attorney will research how your unique situation applies to the legal strategies used during past successful claims. He will also attempt to gather evidence of both the defendant’s negligence and the real physical, financial, and mental damages you have sustained as a result.
If the defendant or his insurer tries to dispute the facts of your claim, your injury lawyer can put forth a counter argument backed by evidence and case precedent. Your lawyer acts as your advisor and advocate. His invaluable guidance helps you navigate the legal system in such a way as to give you confidence throughout your claims process.
Don’t feel as though you are alone right now. Our team is here for you as you take the steps to put your life back in order. We understand all of the options available to you and will explain them so that you are able to make an informed decision regarding your case.
Important Information About Insurance Companies
When you are involved in an accident, you may have to deal with insurance companies. This could be the auto insurance provider for the other driver involved in a car accident, homeowners’ insurance companies if you slipped and fell by your neighbor’s pool, or the insurance provider for a business.
These insurance agents might seem friendly enough initially, but they are not on your side. In fact, insurance agents received specialized training on how to offer lower settlements than what you deserve for personal injury claims. Their job is not to work with you to reach a fair settlement, but rather to work with you in such a way that you agree to the lowest possible settlement.
Be Careful What You Say
You might speak with someone who appears to be acting in your best interest by providing you with a fair settlement. In fact, if you have a serious claim which warrants a high amount of compensation, the insurance adjuster will very likely be friendly and attentive and will attempt to establish a relationship with you under the auspices that they are there to help.
If you talk to an insurance agency and they offer you compensation, be sure to consult with an experienced personal injury lawyer first. Never take the first offer, as this is always the lowest possible offer.
In many cases, the first offer is far from what you could potentially get if you were to negotiate a settlement with a Duluth personal injury attorney on your side. In fact, you shouldn’t speak with insurance adjusters without consulting a personal injury attorney on your side because they can take recorded statements from you with loaded questions which, if you answer, can work against you long-term.
Types of Cases ATC Law Firm Handles
When you hire our Duluth personal injury lawyers, we can help you with a variety of case types:
Trucking accidents are those that involve commercial vehicles, and they are often more dangerous because of the massive sizes of semi-trucks
Car accidents may involve cars, trucks, pedestrians, motorcycles, and bicycles and commonly take the form of rear-end collisions, single vehicle car accidents, T-Bone accidents, sideswiped merging cars, and accidents at low speeds in areas like parking lots.
Negligent security falls under the umbrella of premises liability and it encompasses any situation where you were the victim of a criminal attack that was violent and you were on someone else’s property when it happened. This could be, for example a customer who was followed to her car when leaving a shopping center and was mugged or someone who got robbed while filling up at a gas station, assaulted inside of a hotel room, or assaulted in the lobby of a residential building. Commercial establishments are responsible for keeping their property safe and if they know that there is violent criminal activity close to that area they have to do something to protect customers.
- Premises Liability
Premises liability is a broad range of cases that pertain to injuries and accidents resulting from dangerous conditions on a property. This can be an accident that happens on a commercial property like a parking lot or an injury sustained inside of a retail store as a result of obstacles in the main pathway. It can even include things like missing handrails alongside stairs or slippery floors.
Pedestrian accidents are any accidents in which pedestrians are struck by a vehicle. Pedestrian accidents are more common during rush hour on week days, especially in downtown areas with heavy foot traffic and roadways.
- Nursing Home Abuse
The CDC claims that over 500,000 adults over the age of 60 are abused every year. This includes abandonment, physical abuse, emotional abuse, financial abuse, sexual abuse, and neglect. When this abuse or neglect takes place in a nursing home, that facility can be held responsible if a resident of the nursing home was harmed. This harm can occur because of inadequate training, understaffing, negligent hiring, medication errors, and more.
- Medical Malpractice
Medical malpractice claims cover any type of negligence involving a medical professional. This could include a pharmaceutical mistakes, surgical errors, injuries at birth, or even something as simple as a misdiagnosis.
Slip and fall accidents typically fall under the umbrella of premises liability. You could, for example, slip and fall because of a faulty handrail in a commercial building.
When someone is killed as a result of another person’s negligence, it may result in a wrongful death case. Wrongful death may take place after a car accident or even from negligence in a nursing home. It could also be the result of a medical error or a defective product.
