Accidents and negligent behavior happen more often than you may assume. Whether it's a slip and fall, birth injury, or illegal actions taken by an employer, any harm you experience due to someone else’s negligence or bad actions could make you eligible to file a personal injury lawsuit.
However, you shouldn’t have to deal with the entire burden of someone else's unethical, careless, or reckless behavior on your own. An experienced attorney in Raleigh can have your back to ensure your rights are protected and you recover compensation. At Morgan & Morgan, our personal injury lawyers can hold the negligent parties responsible through negotiations with their insurance company or through a court of law—whatever it takes to secure justice and financial compensation for you and your loved ones. Depending on the unique circumstances of your case, we may even be able to secure damages for future lost wages if your injuries cause a disability that would impede your earning capacity or cause you to lose your job.
However, only some incidents can support a lawsuit or settlement. Personal injury law requires proof of an injury that directly resulted from someone else's negligence. The other party can be an individual, a corporation, or even a government entity.
The term "injury" under personal injury law doesn't always have to be physical. For example, if someone slanders you and causes you to lose business or damages your reputation, that financial and emotional loss would be the "injury." Likewise, you may have purchased a defective product that performs differently than advertised. In this scenario, your "injury" could be as simple as "inconvenience." However, the examples mentioned earlier will have other legal elements that need to be met to be viable.
Here are some other examples where a personal injury action would be the appropriate step to take:
- A commuter rear-ends you in your car while texting and driving, causing grievous bodily harm
- A hotel fails to provide reasonable security, and you're the victim of a mugging on their grounds
- A doctor fails to warn you of the potential negative outcome of a recommended treatment, and you suffer harm
- A grocery store employee fails to put up a “Wet Floor” sign while mopping, and you are hurt in a slip and fall
- A manufacturer sells a faulty device to the public that injures consumers
- Your homeowner's insurance refuses to provide coverage for damage explicitly covered under your policy
- An employer fails to pay you for overtime work or illegally requires you to work "off the clock"
- You're in a boating accident that falls under maritime law
- A young child drowns in a pool with no safety latch on the gate
- An elderly loved one suffers from neglect at a nursing home
- You're denied Social Security Disability benefits when you should qualify
- You're denied Veterans benefits when you should qualify
- You suffer a burn injury in an apartment complex because exits were blocked
- An insurance company is declining or delaying your valid claim
- Anytime a loved one dies because of someone else's negligence
If any of these examples feel relevant to your own case, you may have a strong chance of recovering full compensation for your losses. To determine how strong your case is, it would be best if you contact one of our Raleigh personal injury lawyers. We have lawyers that focus on specific areas of law and make it their specialty, equipping them with a better capacity to understand the intricacies of cases like your own through extensive knowledge of previous case outcomes and case law.