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Injuries and accidents are often caused by people who behaved recklessly or negligently and should have known better. After being injured, you might have to pay numerous expenses related to your accident, like medical bills or property repair costs. Many accident victims also end up missing work and losing income while they recover. The person who caused your injuries should be held responsible.
You can hold the person who caused your injuries responsible by filing a personal injury lawsuit. A personal injury lawsuit is a civil action in which an injured plaintiff may recover financial compensation for their injuries and damages. No two personal injury cases are the same, and your case will be influenced by the unique circumstances surrounding your accident. If successful, you can make the responsible defendant cover the costs of your expenses from your accident.
If you were recently injured in an accident, you might be able to claim both economic and non-economic damages in a personal injury lawsuit. Call our personal injury lawyers for help. Call the offices of Wruck Paupore at (219) 322-1166 to set up a free case evaluation.
Personal injury cases encompass a wide variety of legal actions. The one thing all these cases have in common is that a plaintiff was injured because of a defendant’s actions. The nature of your lawsuit will depend on precisely what you claim happened. For example, car accident cases will proceed very differently than slip and fall accidents.
Car accidents are one of the most common personal injury lawsuits. Motor vehicles are extremely prevalent in our daily lives. Every day, most people are probably in a car, truck, or bus at least once. No matter how careful you are when you are behind the wheel, it can be difficult to avoid other drivers who are careless and driving negligently. If you believe another driver is to blame for your injuries in a car accident, you can sue them in a personal injury lawsuit.
Other common accidents are related to the workplace. While some of us hold relatively safe office jobs, others are employed in inherently dangerous fields. No matter where you work, you deserve a safe environment to do your job. Depending on your employment status and the nature of the accident, you could sue your employer or another responsible third party. An attorney can help you decide how to proceed.
Slip and fall accidents can happen anytime and anywhere. Some people dismiss these kinds of claims as bogus cash grabs, but plaintiffs can be severely injured in slip-and-fall accidents. Nasty slip and fall accidents have led to serious head injuries, back injuries, and other long-lasting harm. If you fell because a property owner negligently maintained their property, you can sue them in a personal injury action.
No matter how you were injured, you deserve compensation from those responsible. Call our personal injury attorney for help with your case.
One important factor in personal injury cases that people often do not think about is the time they have to actually file the case. You only have so much time to prepare your case and file it with the right court. If you wait too long, you might be time-barred from filing your case, and you might never receive fair compensation.
The statute of limitations for personal injury claims in Indiana is described under I.C. § 34-11-2-4(a). Plaintiffs have only 2 years after the cause of action accrues to file a case. The date the cause of action accrues is usually the day of the accident, although you should check with an attorney to make sure. The clock might already be ticking, and it is important to get a lawyer as soon as possible.
If time is running short, you might have legal options to buy you more time. Under very specific conditions, plaintiffs may have the limitation period tolled, meaning the clock is put on pause, thereby pushing back your final deadline to file your case. Under § 34-11-6-1, plaintiffs may have the limitation period tolled for legal disabilities. Such disabilities may include being a minor or having a mental condition that prevents you from filing the case independently or understanding the nature of your injuries and your rights.
The limitation period may be tolled under these conditions until they are removed. So, when a minor turns 18 or someone with a mental condition has the condition lifted or removed, the limitation period begins.
To succeed in your lawsuit, you must prove that the defendant is at fault for your accident. The requirements for proving fault may vary from case to case, and it is important to consult with an attorney about what you need to do specifically for your situation. Our personal injury lawyers can help you gather the necessary evidence to prove the defendant’s fault.
In probably most personal injury cases, fault is based on negligence. Negligence involves four critical elements, each of which must be proven to be successful. If any one of these elements is unfulfilled, you might not be awarded any damages. These elements are the defendant’s legal duty of care owed to the plaintiff, the defendant’s breach or violation of that duty, the causal connection between the breach and the injuries, and the real damages suffered by the plaintiff.
Intentional torts are unique, and proving fault may be different for each tort. An intentional tort is the result of an intentional action by the defendant that harmed the plaintiff. Many intentional torts are also criminal offenses, so your defendant could also face criminal prosecution. It may be wise to wait until after your defendant is found guilty or pleads guilty because that verdict or plea could be used to support your personal injury lawsuit.
Proving fault for a case involving defective products requires showing that the product was defectively manufactured or defectively designed. This may require evidence of industry safety standards and expert testimony regarding how the product should have been designed or manufactured. You could sue almost anyone in the chain of distribution.
Gathering and preparing evidence is often difficult and time-consuming. Our personal injury attorneys can help ease your burden and assist you in your case. Call us today to get help.
Damages in a personal injury case include all the losses and injuries a plaintiff incurred by the defendant. Damages can be economic and come with a pre-determined value. Other times, they can be non-economic and are based on subjective experiences like pain, suffering, or embarrassment.
Medical bills are common when a plaintiff is physically injured. These bills can be extremely expensive, especially when a plaintiff’s injuries require long-term medical care. Even if your injuries are less severe and you only need one night in the ER to get the treatment you need, your hospital bills might be extremely expensive. Healthcare is infamous for being costly.
Other economic damages include the cost of any property damage and lost wages from missing work due to your injuries. Depending on the accident, you might have lost property or personal belongings. For example, if you were hurt in a car crash, you may claim the cost of repairing or replacing your car in addition to items inside the car that were damaged. On top of that, your injuries might interfere with your ability to work. If you can no longer work, you will lose income. Your lost income and wages should be estimated and added to your overall claim for damages.
Non-economic damages are those that might not be proven with evidence of cost, like receipts or bills. Instead, these damages tend to be rooted in the plaintiff’s personal experience, and they are highly subjective. As such, it is up to the jury to decide how much your non-economic damages are worth.
Your injuries might be quite painful, and the overall experience of your accident or incident can be emotionally traumatizing. Pain and suffering are non-economic damages that plaintiffs can claim. Similarly, your accident might have been very embarrassing or resulted in damage to your reputation. You might claim humiliation and damage to your reputation among your non-economic injuries. Those who live with long-term complications, like disabilities or chronic pain, might claim the loss of enjoyment of their life or reduction of their quality of life as part of their damages.
In less typical cases, plaintiffs may claim punitive damages. These damages are different than those discussed earlier because they are not awarded to make up for anything the plaintiff lost. Instead, punitive damages are awarded to punish the defendant and deter others from similar bad actions. Punitive damages may be available under very limited circumstances, and they must be proven separately from the rest of the case. As such, they are difficult to obtain and not commonly awarded. However, when they are awarded, they may be worth considerable financial compensation.
According to I.C. § 34-51-3-4, the maximum award for punitive damages is triple the value of your compensatory damages or $50,000, whichever is more. We must prove your claims for these damages by “clear and convincing evidence.” This is a higher burden of proof than the “preponderance of the evidence” required for your personal injury claim. If you believe you are entitled to punitive damages, talk about them with your lawyer right away so they can begin preparing your claims.
Finding evidence to back up your case in court is not always easy. In fact, it is very often quite difficult. While some evidence might be readily available right away, we might need to search high and low for other evidence and proof.
First, we should think about the people who might have been present when you were injured. Depending on what they saw, their testimony as eyewitnesses may be very important. While witness testimony can sometimes be faulty if memories are hazy, a confident witness with a clear memory of the accident can be extremely powerful. Multiple such witnesses might turn the tides of the case in your favor.
Photos might also play a big role in our quest for evidence. Most people with cell phones have cameras, and cell phones are everywhere nowadays. If possible, take photos of the accident scene, whatever it might be. If you are unable, ask someone with you to take pictures. Take pictures of the area, people around you, and your injuries. If important information or details are preserved in your photos, we may need them as evidence.
Video footage may also be important. Security cameras, cell phone camera videos, and other video footage might be available. Depending on how and where your accident occurred, a camera might have recorded everything. When facts of the case are in dispute, video footage of the accident can put a lot of claims to rest. If the video evidence shows us how the defendant caused the accident, it might be the most powerful piece of evidence in your case.
Our personal injury lawyers can help you get the most out of your case. Call our legal team at Wruck Paupore at (219) 322-1166 to set up a free review of your case.
Don is a founding partner and one of the nation’s top-ranked personal injury litigators. He is a member of the Multi-million Dollar Advocates Forum, which includes less than 1% of the nation’s trial lawyers, and awarded the highest ranking given by Martindale Hubbel and AVVO.
More importantly, Don understands representing personal injury victims is about more than recovering the best settlement: it’s about helping clients get back on their feet and supporting them in every aspect of their recovery.
In nearly all cases, our clients seek compensation from the wrongdoer’s insurance company. Before forming Wruck Paupore, Jason worked for a prominent law firm representing some of the world’s largest insurers. This experience gives Jason a deep understanding of the insurance industry and the strategies it uses to pay injury victims as little as possible.
Jason -- and our entire team -- put this inside knowledge to work to force insurance companies to pay what is actually owed. Often, we use the insurance company’s own tactics against them as we fight for the full compensation our client deserves.
For more than four decades, Keith has been fighting for injury victims. During that time, he’s watched the insurance industry change, with insurers now more interested in protecting their stock price than treating injury victims fairly.
Since the beginning, Keith has put people first. From his childhood in Gary, Indiana during the 1960’s and working his way through law school, Keith has risen to become one of the Midwest’s most respected trial lawyers. He has never forgotten that being a lawyer is about helping people -- and seeing injury victims through struggles in a way that could change their lives forever.
Over the decades, Keith, Don and Jason have fought relentlessly for clients, even when other lawyers have said the case was impossible to win.
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Wruck Paupore P.C.
Injury Lawyers
275 Joliet St. Suite #250
Dyer, IN 46311
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