Reasons to Hire an Experienced Personal Injury Attorney

Top 10 List: Reasons to Hire an Experienced Personal Injury Attorney

When you’re injured, you need all the help you can get, and you need it as soon as possible. Unfortunately, that means that some injury victims pick the first attorney they find, rather than making an informed choice. It’s important to educate yourself and find the right fit for you and your case. Using this list, you can find the right attorney to make the most of your case.

1. Best Jury Verdicts—If a trial becomes necessary, a personal injury lawyer can zealously represent you in court and work toward achieving the best possible jury verdict in your favor.

2. Best Settlements—Personal injury attorneys work hard to reach the best settlements for their clients, as early as possible in the litigation process.

3. Experience With Insurance Companies—Lawyers is also used to working with insurance companies and will not be confused by their tactics or feel pressured to settle for an unsatisfactory amount.

4. Experience Working With Other Lawyers—An experienced personal injury lawyer can deal most effectively and expediently with opposing counsel.

5. Alternative Dispute Resolution—An experienced attorney will know whether your dispute may be best resolved through mediation, thereby saving you time, money, and emotional energy.

Objectivity6. Objectivity—A personal injury attorney can be more objective about your case than you can and will not make a rash decision. Whereas you may be tempted, for instance, to go for a quick payout, your attorney may counsel you that it is in your best interests to wait for a more appropriate offer.

7. Investigative Team—Experienced attorneys work with a team of investigators who have experience in specialized areas and will skillfully investigate the technical aspects of your case.

8. Red Tape—An experienced attorney can work through the maze of paperwork necessary to resolve your claim so that you can get on with your life.

9. No Fees If You Don’t Recover—Most personal injury attorneys work for a contingent fee, which means that if you do not win your case, you will pay no attorneys’ fees. You will, however, be responsible for certain expenses not directly related to professional fees, such as the fees doctors charge for reviewing your records or being interviewed. Court costs and case expenses usually remain the responsibility of the client.

10. Experience Assessing Claims—Personal injury attorneys are experienced with cases like yours and can tell you at the outset whether it is worth your while to pursue legal action. If you are unlikely to prevail, you will not need to incur the time and expense of preparing for litigation.

Slips and Falls

Slips, Falls, & Other Premises-related Personal Injuries

Premises liability law involves the legal responsibility of owners and occupiers of property for injuries suffered by persons on the property. One of the most common causes of such injuries is a trip or slip and fall, such as on an icy sidewalk, a loose or uneven stair tread, or a piece of debris or spilled liquid on the floor. The actual liability of the responsible individuals varies depending on the rules and principles adopted in the jurisdiction where the mishap occurred. An experienced premises liability lawyer can determine whether liability may exist in a particular case and help an injured person recover damages for lost wages, medical bills, and pain and suffering.

General Premises Liability Principles in Personal Injury Cases

Some states’ premises liability laws focus on the status of the visitor to the property. In such states, the plaintiff is generally defined as either an invitee, a licensee, or a trespasser. An invitee is someone who is expressly or impliedly invited onto the property of another. The owner owes the invitee the highest duty of care, which includes taking every reasonable precaution to ensure the invitee’s safety. A licensee, by contrast, enters the property for his or her own purposes but is present at the consent of the owner. The owner is required to warn a licensee of hidden dangers, but is not necessarily required to fix them. And finally, a trespasser enters without any right whatsoever to do so. In the case of adult trespassers, the owner has no duty of care and need not take reasonable care of his property or warn of hidden dangers.

Even if the plaintiff is a trespasser, he or she may still be able to recover, however, if the plaintiff can show that the owner knew it was likely that trespassers would enter the property. And children are owed a higher duty of care, regardless of whether they are considered trespassers. A landowner’s duty to warn is also heightened with respect to children.

In states where consideration is given to the condition of the property and the activities of the owner and visitor, a uniform standard of care is applied to both invitees and licensees. This uniform standard requires the exercise of reasonable care for the safety of visitors other than trespassers. In order to satisfy the reasonableness standard owed to invitees and licensees, an owner has a continuing duty to inspect the property, identify dangerous conditions, and either repair them or post warnings as appropriate.

In proving a premises liability case, a plaintiff must show that the standard of reasonableness required by an owner has not been met. Perhaps the highest hurdle that a plaintiff must overcome relates to the owner’s knowledge. The plaintiff must prove that the owner had or should have had knowledge of the condition in order for liability to attach, which is often quite often difficult to establish.

One of the commonly applied theories to limit a plaintiff’s recovery is comparative or contributory fault. A visitor has a duty, in most cases, to exercise reasonable care for his or her own safety, and when that degree of care is not exercised, the plaintiff’s recovery may be limited or reduced by an amount attributable to his or her own negligence.

Slips

Slip & Fall Personal Injury Cases

Slip and fall injuries are, as the name implies, injuries that occur when a person slips, usually on a foreign substance or as a result of a dangerous condition, and falls. A common slip and fall case occurs when someone slips on an icy sidewalk in front of a business, or a customer in a grocery store slips on a grape, lettuce leaf, or other food item that has fallen on the floor and been overlooked by the proprietor.

The premises owner may or may not be liable for the plaintiff’s injuries in these common scenarios. Although owners and possessors of real property have a duty to exercise reasonable care to maintain the premises to protect lawful visitors, if a condition of the premises is noticed by a customer or other visitor or should be readily apparent, the property owner may avoid liability because the plaintiff has a duty to protect himself or herself against the injury. The property owner may also avoid liability by establishing that the debris had so recently fallen on the floor or that the ice had so recently accumulated that the responsible persons had no reasonable opportunity to correct the condition and avoid the hazard before the plaintiff fell. In other words, the plaintiff in a slip and fall case, whether it occurs in a grocery store or elsewhere, must show that the owner had a reasonable period of time in which to discover the dangerous condition and in which to remedy it. The determination of what constitutes a reasonable time will vary from case to case.

Catastrophic Injury

Wichita Falls Catastrophic Injury Lawyers

Texas Spinal Cord Injury Attorneys

A catastrophic injury such as damage to the brain or spinal cord, back injury, severe burns or paralysis can require years of expensive grueling therapy, and strain the patience of even the most loving of families.

If you or someone close to you has suffered a catastrophic injury in an accident caused by someone else, you can benefit from the help of attorneys who view the legal profession as a helping profession; a different kind of law firm that works for a better world; a group of lawyers dedicated to your physical and financial health, and a brighter future.

You should speak with our Banner, Briley & White law firm in Wichita Falls — serving the legal needs of victims of catastrophic injury in the north Texas region.

Chronic pain, traumatic brain injuries, permanent scarring, the loss of a limb: These are life-changing setbacks that can affect the personal and professional life of the victim, and place a tremendous burden of care on a family. Banner, Briley & White personal injury attorneys investigate the cause of your accident, identify the negligent party, and bring the facts of your case to his or her insurer for negotiations on a settlement, or litigation in a courtroom if necessary.

Our commitment to insuring justice for all of our clients is strong and continuing. For a free initial consultation to discuss your catastrophic injury accident, contact us by toll-free phone call to 866-492-9554.

Banner, Briley & White: Aggressive Representation for Catastrophic Injury Victims

Catastrophic injury can occur when negligence causes:

Catastrophic Injury

  • Car accidents
  • Truck accidents
  • Motorcycle accidents
  • Collisions between small cars and large commercial vehicles
  • Distracted driver accidents
  • Malfunctioning or deffective products
  • Property accidents
  • Pedestrian and bicycle accidents
  • Drunk driving accidents
  • Workplace accidents
  • Industrial accidents
  • Hit-and-run accidents
  • Recreational accidents
  • Transportation accidents
  • Nursing home abuse and neglect
  • Medical malpractice

We offer maximum availability to our legal expertise from start to finish of your journey through the legal process. We answer your questions and concerns honestly and directly. We deal with spontaneous issues promptly and professionally. We provide realistic assessments of your case’s chances for success. We want our representation to be a source of comfort for you as you transition to a life of recovery and renewal.

At Banner, Briley & White, we deliver our quality legal services on a contingency fee basis. You owe no attorney fee unless we win your case, and a settlement damage award that you approve.