Personal injuries happen all the time and in many different ways, but not every one of them results in monetary compensation. In fact, the conditions surrounding the injury must be pretty narrow for it to qualify at all.
That’s why you should call a personal injury lawyer if you’re hurt and you feel it was someone else’s fault. One of the benefits of a personal injury lawyer is that they don’t charge you anything unless they take on your case and win, so that is always the first step to finding out if you’re entitled to compensation.
Personal Injury Definition
In a personal injury lawyer sense, a personal injury is defined as an injury that occurs as the result of someone else’s negligence or intentional action. The injury can take place anywhere, but some of the more common situations include:
- Auto accidents
- Slip and fall accidents
- Intentional assaults
- Workplace incidents
What Type of Injuries Are Considered?
You don’t have to be permanently disabled for a personal injury lawyer to consider your case, but scrapes and achy muscles probably won’t get you very far. Generally, if the injury you’ve suffered has caused you to miss time at work, suffer emotional trauma or resulted in high medical bills, you’re on the right track.
Of course, the serious and debilitating injuries are also part of the package. Here are some of the injuries commonly considered:
- Broken bones
- Head injuries
- Sprains or serious strains
- Paralysis
- Vision loss
- Hearing loss
When Am I Entitled to Money?
Your personal injury lawyer will listen to your story and review medical reports and accident or police reports to help determine you have grounds for a case. Essentially, he must be able to prove that the other party was negligent when he or she caused your injury.
In a legal sense, negligence is defined as someone failing to act with ‘reasonable care’ when you were injured. That reasonable care might be texting while driving and plowing into you, or leaving snow on the sidewalk so you can slip on it.
You’re entitled to compensation when a personal injury lawyer takes on your case and wins damages from either the court, or through an agreement with the other party. Often, it’s determining whether or not to proceed with the case that’s the tricky part, but that’s where the lawyer’s experience and expertise comes in. He will know in a relatively short period of time whether your case stands a chance, especially if he’s won cases like yours in the past. All you have to do is make the call.
Mike Walor is a law student; he was inspired to become a lawyer when the Toronto personal injury lawyers from Thomson Rogers Lawyers help his father get the compensation he deserved after an unfortunate injury.