The spectrum of what constitutes personal injury needs is quite broad. Generally, it speaks to a situation in which one party displays negligence and ends up causing injury to another because of it.
Injury victims find themselves in a situation where they may be entitled to compensation to cover the medical expenses that they may incur, as well as other damages that may be relevant to the situation.
An experienced personal injury attorney can provide adequate legal counsel and help you navigate the matter for the best outcome. The idea is to help you return as close to normalcy as possible after someone else's negligence.
The Keating Firm LTD. specializes in personal injury cases, thanks to a team of outstanding lawyers that bost tremendous professional achievement credentials, outstanding peer recognition, as well as immense qualifications and experience.
If you're in Columbus, Hilliard, OH, or surrounding locations and require legal representation for a personal injury claim, there's no reason to even consider hiring another law firm. No one else can give you the high degree of personal attention and direction that we do while providing our suite of top-tier services.
Cases a Personal Injury Attorney Covers
While there is a general categorization that an accident may give rise to, there are also other sub-categories to consider as you seek a personal injury lawyer.
Medical Malpractice
When consulting with a doctor for surgery, medical advice, a prescription, or any other hospital-based or general services, you expect a high level of knowledge and competent medical care.
Whether knowingly or unknowingly, research would indicate that many doctors commit medical malpractice, which is when they recommend something or carry out an operation incorrectly, leading to steep consequences for the patient.
These may include injuries or even life-threatening situations.
Wrongful Death
Wrongful death is a category that encompasses all others, once the negligence resulted in a loss of life for the victim. Family members or some other loved one may initiate this claim based on what the deceased had suffered. Therefore, the personal injury lawyer represents the victim's family in this case.
Slip and Fall
As the name implies, these kinds of personal injuries involve a victim slipping or falling. The caveat is that the accident and any subsequent injury must be a direct result of some kind of infrastructure or other oversight that can be attributed to negligence.
For example, if you were to slip and fall while visiting a company because the floor is highly slippery and there are no signs to indicate this, then you may be eligible for recovering compensation based on the effects that the incident caused.
Work-related Practice Areas
Any experienced personal injury attorney has dealt with a myriad of legal issues surrounding workplace and employee squabbles where the latter has sustained an injury while completing work for the former.
The personal injury needs to have happened while working and one should be able to prove that it's no result of the employee's actions.
For example, if an employee were to be injured because of an improperly maintained machine, then a settlement may be required and even a lawsuit may be put forward on the matter.
Car Accidents
Typically, a car accident is characterized by at least a single negligent party who causes damages to one or more others. The damages tend to include personal injuries as well as property damage.
Note that the accident could take place between multiple vehicles or even a vehicle and pedestrians.
Truck Accidents
Truck accidents are not too far removed from the description of a car accident above. It's more the extent of the injuries where things take a turn. As trucks are larger and more powerful vehicles, injuries tend to be worse and death becomes more likely.
Evidence to Prove Liability in a Personal Injury Case
This is one of the most important responsibilities of a personal injury lawyer as it directly speaks to what the fight against the other party on your behalf is going to look like either outside of or in court.
It's incumbent on you to share all relevant insights with your accident attorney. That way, the search for evidence to build your case becomes that much more streamlined, which means doing the required job well is more likely.
According to Ohio personal injury laws, personal injury lawyers must prove beyond the shadow of a doubt that the negligent party is truly at fault in the matter and illustrate where the said fault has resulted in injuries, medical bills, and other concerns for represented clients.
While it does take an experienced attorney capable of adequate independent research to pull this off. Helping clients successfully requires receiving accurate and complete information from the said clients in a timely manner.
Evidence can range from police reports to eyewitness accounts, pictures, medical bills, etc.
Why Personal Injury Attorneys with Professional Achievement Credentials Are Best
Technically speaking, there are many people licensed to practice law, even just in Hilliard or Columbus, OH. However, sharpening the required skills and becoming "super lawyers" takes a lot of experience and high qualifications.
You often find that peer evaluations of these personal injury lawyers speak to several positive attributes. Additionally, many of these trial lawyers use a rating service to gather feedback that you can review from previous clients who may have submitted a claim.
These Columbus and Hilliard personal injury lawyers have a vested interest in seeing you get the compensation you deserve whether the party in the wrong is a person, business, or the government.
Such lawyers expertly interact with any insurance company on your behalf and help to protect you from a lack of justice in the form of low payouts that cannot cover the costs of the expenses you rack up.
It's not just the demonstrated ability to win a case after having dealt with many cases similar to the one at hand. There is the process used to support the client, request a fair settlement, and address every legal issue that presents itself.
The typical process used to ensure a fair insurance claim is submitted typically involves checking out the accident scene, reviewing the police report, speaking with the witnesses to be further informed, reviewing medical expenses, understanding what your visit to the emergency room may mean for your ability to continue to earn an income, and helping you determine the next steps at every turn.
This is the kind of personal injury lawyer you want in your corner after having been hurt from an injury.
Questions You May Have for Your Personal Injury Lawyer
Whenever people want to retain a personal injury lawyer, they typically have queries that allow them to confirm certain details. The answers often feed into the choice to either pursue the representation relationship or end the discussion immediately. The following is a list of questions you may want to consider asking either when you discuss things initially or after you've settled on a lawyer.
Bear in mind that some concerns can be addressed immediately while others (such as case worth) may require further information to be attained before a solid answer can be provided. Just pay attention to how the communication is handled and how comfortable you feel. Ask freely about the following areas:
What is your approximation of how much I can be compensated?
What does your education profile look like?
How many cases like this one have you taken on?
When I hire you, do I talk to you directly when I need to or is there an intermediary?
What can I do as a client do to make it less stressful to represent me, based on your past experience?
When are you expected to be paid?
Have you ever received any peer nominations?
Can you explain what your plan of action would be to me?
How long have you been practicing personal injury law?
Compensation Claims
The whole idea is for personal injury lawyers to help their clients to obtain settlements that reimburse them for any cost they would've incurred, while seeking further redress to cushion the stress of the burden that may be to come.
Success in a claim often comes from being able to negotiate both these elements, particularly if it was achieved without needing to be taken through the court system.
Legal experts help you to tackle two types of damages. These are economic (those that can be easily attributed to a measure of money) and non-economic (those based on the aspects victims deal with that may not be financial).
Economic Damages
A Columbus personal injury attorney aims to recover these based on cost elements that you may have had to handle and others that may become an area of focus in the future. These include:
Medical care (past and future)
Loss of earning ability
Loss of wages
Property damage/loss
Non-economic Damages
Any personal injury lawyer representing a client may also find it helpful to attempt to seek these damages where possible. When awarded, they have a dollar value, but there is no defined way to decide what these things a worth when they occur. Your lawyer would file this damage type for challenges such as:
Loss of consortium
Pain and suffering
Mental anguish
Contact Our Team for a Free Consultation with One of Our Personal Injury Lawyers Today!
If you were injured because of external negligence, then you may be entitled to a settlement. However, getting this successfully tends to require the retention of professional services from an experienced personal injury attorney.
This is where The Keating Firm LTD comes into focus. Get access to an expert team of personal injury lawyers who are ready, willing, and able to use the law to its fullest extent to get you the kind of fair settlement that you deserve.
You are encouraged to call us for a free consultation where we can assess your situation and chart the best possible path forward.
Other Hilliard Practice Areas
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
Before starting this section, you may be wondering how this is any different from the section above that listed a series of questions. Well, this is more of a look at general questions you may have of the law firm about personal injury lawyers and related practice areas, complete with responses.
These were selected based on a range of queries that we notice pop up quite commonly. What you saw above were questions you may want to consider asking the personal injury lawyer you interact with one on one. The responses there are meant to be more layered.
When Do I Pay Personal Injury Lawyer Fees?
Like the consultation, the entire process of representing you is not covered financially unless you win your case. Upon receiving your settlement, the personal injury lawyer retains a percentage of it for the services provided.
How Long Should I Wait Before Reaching out to a Personal Injury Lawyer?
Ideally, you shouldn't be waiting at all. While Ohio state law may allow you to wait a couple of years before pressing charges, we'd advise you to reach out to our office as soon as possible. The longer these legal issues linger, the more variables are likely to be added that may impede the likelihood of a desirable settlement.
Once you can gather yourself, your priorities should be getting medical attention, filing a police report, getting all the information you can about the accident, and reaching out to your personal injury lawyer. Do not even speak to an insurance company before your attorney has heard from you.
What Areas Do You Serve in Ohio?
Our services are available in a host of areas including Hilliard, Dublin, Columbus, OH, and more! Your best bet is to reach out to us if you're unsure if we serve your area so we can confirm this for you.
Do All Injury Cases Have Long Court Proceedings?
No. Most settlements don't even end up having a court proceeding at all. Attorneys from a professional law firm aim to resolve personal injury cases before the courts get involved with the matter.
Proceedings only get to the court stage when the other party does not want to agree on a reasonable settlement.