Nobody wants to get injured in an accident. Unfortunately, thousands of people get preventable injuries in the United States every day. Serious injuries can disrupt your life with enormous medical expenses, lengthy recovery periods, and potentially prevent you from doing activities you used to enjoy.
You do not need to deal with the aftermath of an injury alone. Our experienced attorneys can help you assess your options, analyze the particular facts of your case, and interview witnesses to prepare the best case possible to take to court. We will leave no stone unturned and fight as hard as we can to get you compensation after an injury.
Call the personal injury lawyers at Howe Law at (844) 876-4357 to discuss your case.
Most Common Accidents in Decatur, AL
Some accidents are more likely to happen than others. In particular, motor vehicles accidents are slip and fall injures happen quite frequently, and can result in injuries that require medical attention and could have a lasting effect on your lifestyle.
Motor Vehicle Accidents
Getting hit by a car is a common reason to file a personal injury lawsuit. Thousands of car accidents happen every day in the United States. Our personal injury lawyers handle motor vehicle-based lawsuits regularly and are ready to provide effective counsel. While sometimes motor vehicle accidents will result in minor problems, they can also result in grievous injuries.
Pedestrians are more likely to be injured in motor vehicle accidents because they do not have a car or other vehicle to protect themselves from the full impact of getting hit. Pedestrians can get broken bones, traumatic brain injuries, or bruises from getting hit by a car.
Truck accidents are particularly dangerous. They almost always result in serious injuries for drivers of other vehicles since trucks are so large.
Motor vehicle accidents include more than just cars hitting each other or a passerby. For example, if you were a passenger on a bus and that bus hit something that resulted in you getting injured, you will still have a claim against either the bus driver or the driver’s employer since you were injured in the accident.
Dangerous Slip and Fall Injuries
A slip and fall accident should not be scoffed at. While a slip and fall might sound like a minor injury, the reality is that slipping on something and falling down can gravely injure you. In extreme circumstances, a nasty fall could be fatal.
A very common reason for people to slip and fall down is a lack of a “wet floor” sign in a store near a spillage. While a fall onto the cold, hard floor of a supermarket or other store could merely result in minor injuries and frustration, you could also receive bruises, broken bones, or even nerve damage from such a fall.
Inadequately maintained stairwells also commonly cause slip and fall injuries. For example, if the stairwell is poorly lit, it could be more difficult to have a sense of where you are, and you could miss a step and tumble down as a result. Alternatively, poorly constructed stairs could make it more likely that you trip and fall down. Finally, stairways left in a state of disrepair because of rotting wood or other problems are dangerous because the stairs themselves might break under somebody’s weight. Moreover, weakened wood has the risk of splintering and causing cuts and puncture wounds.
Many sidewalks have cracks or other damage and are perfectly fine to walk across. However, particularly uneven sidewalks, or sidewalks with many breaks, depressions, or warped sections can be dangerous to pedestrians. An unexpected fall that you are not braced for could cause serious bruising or break bones.
Damages You Could Recover in a Decatur, AL Personal Injury Lawsuit
The damages you could recover in court will depend on your injuries as well as the particular facts of your case. Minor injuries will probably have a lesser payout than more serious ones. However, while often central to personal injury cases, physical injuries are not the only thing you may be able to recover for in court.
Medical Expenses
Medical expenses are by far the most common kind of damages recovered in successful personal injury lawsuits. Surgeries, costs of physical therapy, and hospital stays can quickly balloon to astronomical amounts. Medical expenses will likely be the single most determinative thing for calculating damages in your lawsuit.
Lost Earning Potential
If your injuries prevent you from doing your job as you could before the accident, you could be compensated for that in court. The goal of a personal injury lawsuit is to put the plaintiff as close as possible to where they were before they were injured. Compensation for an inability to work, or needing to take a less profitable job, is part of that process.
Lost Enjoyment of Life
You could also be compensated for losing the ability to do certain activities you did before the accident. For example, if you enjoyed long nature walks before an accident but can no longer do that activity because of your injuries, the court could award you damages.
Mental Anguish
If the experience of getting injured was particularly traumatic, the court could award you damages for that reason. Many damages have a tangible dollar amount attached to them. For example, hospital stays have bills that say how much they are worth. On the other hand, the physical pain of a broken bone does not have a set price. Similarly, emotional distress from the consequences of an injury is hard to quantify in money. Nevertheless, courts could try and compensate you as best they can for such experiences.
Punitive Damages
Although rare, punitive damages are awarded to punish defendants who are particularly bad actors. Courts do not often award this kind of damages since the idea is to reserve them for egregious offenders.
Call Our Decatur, AL Personal Injury Lawyers Today
Howe Law has personal injury lawyers ready to provide free case analyses at (844) 876-4357.
