It is hard to determine if your personal injury claim is valid. That is why it is always important to hire a lawyer to represent you.
If you want to have a better understanding of your case, the following criteria are required to establish a valid personal injury claim with a good chance of success.
The Elements of a Personal Injury Claim
Every claimant in a personal injury case must establish certain elements to prove that the defendant is at least partly responsible for the injuries sustained. You will need a lawyer to show that all the elements of a valid claim are present (i.e. the claim meets the criteria necessary to prove a personal injury case).
The Legal Elements are as follows:
- The defendant must have had a duty of care to the plaintiff/victim. For example, in an auto-collision case, your attorney will have to prove that by driving a car the defendant had the duty of care to other drivers and pedestrians such as yourself. If your case is about medical malpractice, your attorney must establish that the medical provider (doctor, nurse, hospital, etc.) had the duty to diagnose your illness or condition and provide medical treatment according to an accepted standard of care.
- The second element is that the defendant failed to uphold his or her duty of care toward you. For example; in an auto-collision case, an attorney might show that by failing to stop at a traffic light, that the defendant breached his duty of care to the public and, more specifically, to you.
- Next, your attorney must prove that the defendant’s breach of duty caused you to sustain the injuries for which you are claiming compensation. (It should be noted that it must have been reasonably foreseeable that the defendant’s breach of duty might leads to injuries such as those you sustained.) To use the above example, if the defendant’s failure to stop at a red light resulted in his car crashing into your car which caused your injuries, the third element is met. On the other hand if nothing happened when the defendant ran the red light, and instead, your car crash with the defendant occurred two miles further down the road, that particular breach of duty cannot be used to prove the “causation” element. (It should be noted that an experienced personal injury lawyer may be able to use the defendant’s failure to stop at a red light to show a pattern of negligence that may support an implication that the defendant was negligent and hence caused the accident that resulted in your injuries.)
- The fourth and final legal element is that because of the injury, you suffered economic and/or non-economic damages. Damages include property damage, medical bills, lost wages or other employment benefits, pain and suffering, emotional anguish, etc. This element is especially important because it helps determine how much compensation you are entitled to receive.
An experienced attorney will determine whether all elements have been met in your case, how to effectively gather the evidence that proves those elements, and best to present that evidence in court.
Most lawyers will try to assess whether all of the elements are present to justify filing a personal injury case during your initial consultation. However, in many cases, the attorney may need to investigate to fully understand the facts before determining how best to proceed. If your case is rejected by a personal injury lawyer, that doesn’t necessarily mean you don’t have a claim. It is always a good idea to get a second opinion.