Getting injured in your office, a store premises, or at someone’s property can cost you a fortune. Unfortunately, you never know what to expect from an injury as it can lead to serious damages to your health and wealth altogether. In that case, you should be ready for anything. One must be a fighter in this situation to overcome the losses. And it’s best to have a companion on your side when you’re a fighter, right? Well, in this case, only a Premises Liability Lawyer can help you with that. Learn how a lawyer can turn the tables by just representing you in your legal matters.
Why you need a premises liability lawyer?
Having a lawyer on your side is one of the best decisions you could ever make in this situation. They will help you in a lot of ways that you can’t even think of, during your pain period. I’m going to list down some of the most important parts of the role that a Premises Liability Lawyer plays.
In all the personal injury cases or premises injury cases, it all comes down to who was at fault.
- If someone is at fault; that is called negligence of the “at fault” party.
- If it is a premises liability case, then the premises owner should’ve taken all the necessary steps to keep their premises safe for everyone.
- But if there was an accident due to the premises owner’s negligence, that means they are liable for the liability claim for this accident.
Premises liability claims can be quite difficult to prove in court. It is a lot easier to prove if the accident happened in someone’s home or at some small chain store. Actually, the big brands already have a huge team of experienced lawyers to defend their premises liability cases. And they give a hard time to everyone claiming liability from their insurance companies. Who can imagine winning a legal fight against all the wealthy companies but you never know.
- Hiring a local premises liability lawyer
It is said that no matter where your accident took place, you should only hire a premises liability attorney who knows the local laws. If your lawyer knows the locality and its laws very well, you’ve already won half your case but you still have to be prepared for everything.
They know the history of almost all the accidents and the places of the accidents. Local lawyers know about the negligent behavior of the owners and about the hotspots of the localities. Hotspots are the places where everyone is prone to premises liability injuries.
Here’s what your premise liability lawyer should and will do for you if you hire a good lawyer:
- Investigation of your claim
A good lawyer will investigate the authenticity of your claim at the first step. They will:
- Collect your accident report
- Gather your medical bills
- Take pictures/videos of the scene and your injury
- Calculate your pay loss from your job
- Talk to witnesses on your behalf and take their testimonies
- Any surveillance footage of the accident; if there is any
One can help their lawyer when it is possible by doing all these steps by yourself right after the accident. You can take pictures of your accident scene, injury, and talk to witnesses. One should also keep all their medical records, medical bills, and doctor’s prescriptions and suggestions. Also, you must make sure to inform the property owner or manager and the police right after the accident. Even though if you didn’t do this; it is said that the earlier you collect all the evidence the easier it gets to prove your case. But still, if you haven’t done this already, your lawyer can still do this by talking to their contacts and arranging everything for you.
- Determining the At-Fault Party (or Parties)
Determining which party was at fault and became the reason for the accident is a very important step. Hence, your premises liability lawyer may take some time to fully investigate your case to determine the party at fault. Sometimes, it’s not just one party as there can be more than one person responsible for your injury. In that case, you will have to sue them all to win the exact liability that they owe you. So, don’t rush this process, and trust your lawyer by giving them enough time.
Pro-Tip: If there is more than one party responsible for your accident/injury then your liability claim will automatically increase as well.
- Talking to Witnesses
Witness testimony is as important to win a case as it is to collect the evidence. And there are very strong chances that when you got injured someone might’ve seen that so they can be your witnesses. Therefore, you should talk to the witnesses and get their contact information right after the accident. But sometimes you don’t have enough energy to talk to the witnesses. Still, if you want to make it easy for your lawyer, take their contact details at least.
This will help your lawyer to talk to the witnesses after the case is filed and the defendants have been notified. It is an understood thing that memories fade and they change very quickly. So it is in your best interest that you give those contact details to your lawyer as soon as possible. This is so that they can get the right information and convince the witnesses to give a testimony for your case. But don’t worry if you couldn’t do that as your lawyer will manage to do it on his/her own.
- Calculating your damages
Calculating the total damages before filing a liability case is very important as you can lose a lot of money or get a lot more than you think. Your damages include:
- Your medical bills
- Doctor visits
- Hospital stays
- Surgeries
- Tests
- Medication costs
- Therapy bills (if any)
- Any future medical costs
- Lost wages due to the accident
- Future loss of money you could earn because of your career trajectory
- Any property damages
- Pain and sufferings from the accident
Calculating your damages includes any kind of your current and future damages. These include your economic and non-economic damages, emotional distress, mental trauma, and loss of quality of life.
It is can be a lot harder for you to do it on your own as it is quite a complex procedure to go through. Hence, you should always hire a premises liability attorney, at least for this if not for the whole case.
- Providing Expert Witnesses
Proving your case becomes easier when you have expert witnesses to provide testimony for you. These expert witnesses can be a doctor, a flooring expert, a policeman, a detective, or anyone that your case needs. In premise liability claims, it is mostly the flooring expert or the doctor who treated you and is directly related to your case.
- Negotiating with the insurance companies
Negotiation with the insurance companies is one of the toughest and most demanding steps in your liability claim. As it is always tricky since the insurance companies’ lawyers will try to minimize your claim. They will tell you that you are over-claiming and you may not get even a penny if they take you to court. That’s why only an experienced lawyer can handle them very well.
Conclusion
After all this information, you must be thinking about hiring the best premises liability lawyer right now. But you and everyone else facing such situation should read this article thoroughly. So that you know what can a premises liability lawyer do for your injury claim. Also, what you should be looking for in a lawyer.
FAQs – Frequently Asked Questions
What is a liability in a case of injury?
A liability is when someone is hurt or injured because of someone else’s fault or negligence. The legal term for that is “liability claim” in which you get paid as compensation for the losses you bore.
Is a legal responsibility for causing damage or injury?
Yes, there is a legal responsibility for causing damage or injury to someone. It is called the liability claim that the plaintiff demands as compensation to their losses.
What happens in a liability claim?
A liability claim arises when a citizen claims that a government entity or the government officer or a private person is responsible for their monetary and non-monetary loss. And they demand a compensation amount for their loss from the liable parties.
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