Florence, AL – Personal Injury

Accidents can result in life-changing injuries and even death. Understanding your rights and responsibilities as a victim is important, but working with an experienced Alabama personal injury lawyer can guide you through a complicated legal system and ensure that you see the best possible outcome to your claim.

At Mama Justice, we defend victims’ rights and are willing to stand up to even the most formidable opponents to ensure that our clients receive full financial compensation for their medical bills, lost wages, pain, suffering, emotional anguish, and more.

Liabilities in an Accident in Alabama

Although in some personal injury cases a defendant’s liability is obvious, there are plenty of instances where the contributory negligence principle will apply. Contributory negligence refers to circumstances where the victims is found to share some of the responsibility for their injuries.

It is important to work with a personal injury attorney to determine the exact cause of your accident with respect to Alabama negligence laws and to show that you were not at fault since that could reduce your compensation or even prohibit you from collecting any recovery at all from the other party.

Types of Personal Injury Claims

Personal injuries and accidents can happen in a countless number of ways, including drunk drivers, medical errors, unsafe premises, and defective products.

Common causes of Florence, AL personal injury cases include:

Car Accidents

Car accidents are the number one cause of personal injury claims in the United States and they take place every day throughout the state. If you are injured in an accident, you may not know what steps to take next, especially if you sustained a serious injury.

Unfortunately, being injured in a vehicle collision does not automatically mean that you will receive financial compensation.

Alabama law says that a victim may not recover damages from another person if their own negligent actions also contributed to their injuries. This is true even if their own negligence was not the immediate cause of the crash.

This is just one of the many reasons why it is essential to seek prompt legal guidance from a knowledgeable Florence car accident lawyer regarding your specific situation.

If you were injured in an Alabama car accident, reach out to the personal injury lawyers at Mama Justice for a free review of your potential claim and to learn what legal options are open to you.

Defective Products

The Consumer Product Safety Administration reported that 28,000 US citizens are killed and an additional 33,000 sustain varying degrees of injury due to defective consumer products.

It used to be the responsibility of the consumer to ensure that a product was safe, this is no longer the case. In today’s world, manufacturers have to guarantee that their products are safe and will not cause injuries to those who use them.

Defective products range from a basic child’s toy to heavy industrial machinery. No matter what type of product you are using, injuries can happen as a result of design defects, manufacturing defects, or failing to provide proper consumer warnings regarding potential dangers.

A defective product can cause serious injuries to its users and victims need to know that there are legal options available to them.

Premises Liability

Property owners have a duty of care to take reasonable precautions to prevent injury to anybody invited onto their property. This applies to both business properties and personal residences.

If you were injured due to the negligence of a property manager or owner, such as during a slip and fall, you could be entitled to financial compensation for the damages caused by that injury.

Some common premises liability accidents that cause injuries include:

  • A slip and fall at a store due to wet floors
  • Being injured while passing through a construction zone
  • A fall caused by uneven or improperly built stairs or floors
  • Being hurt in a fire started by unsafe conditions

If you sustained a personal injury while on another person’s property, you will undoubtedly have to deal with the insurance carrier. An industry-wide practice among these companies is attempting to place the blame on the victim. You should never sign any documents given to you by the homeowner’s or businesses insurance company until you have spoken with a premises liability lawyer in Florence.

Work-Related Accidents

Work-related accidents can impact not just your physical well-being but they can rob you of your ability to make a living as well. According to Alabama law, however, employers who have five or more employees are required to have workers’ compensation insurance. If you were injured while on the job, you could have a valid claim for workers’ comp benefits. Under this coverage, workers who are injured are entitled to three specific benefits:

  • Financial compensation while the victim is not able to work
  • Medical benefits
  • Financial compensation for any permanent injury, such as the loss of a limb

If you were hurt on the job, you must report the incident to your supervisor immediately. Your employer should then provide you with a formal workers’ comp report of the accident and your injury which will allow your benefits to begin.

In some cases, insurance carriers try to deny valid workers’ comp claims. They may also try to say that your injury did not occur at work, that it was caused by a pre-existing condition, or that your injury is not as serious as you claim and it doesn’t need medical attention.

Never try to go up against the workers’ comp system by yourself. You run the risk of not receiving the benefits that the law entitles you to. Always consult with an Alabama workplace injury lawyer and make sure that you understand your legal rights before you do anything else.

Tractor-Trailer Accidents

If you or a family member have been injured in an accident involving a tractor-trailer or other oversized commercial vehicle, it is vital that you do not sign anything that an insurance company, even your own, gives you. After you have obtained proper medical treatment, you should speak with an experienced Florence tractor-trailer accident lawyer about representing you.

Any accident is scary. When a huge tractor-trailer is involved, however, those in the smaller vehicle are in much greater danger. Combining a vehicle that weighs about 80,000 pounds and is traveling at a high rate of speed with a single error in judgment made by its operator can produce catastrophic results.

In 2012, the Department of Transportation reported that, in Alabama, more than 1,500 victims were injured and almost 100 victims were killed in accidents involving tractor-trailers. If you or someone you love has been involved in a trucking accident, it is vital that you reach out to an Alabama truck accident attorney to assist you in pursuing full and fair compensation.

Catastrophic Injuries

Catastrophic injuries are typically life-changing for victims as well as their families. Injuries such as paralysis, brain damage, serious burns, loss of a limb, or loss of hearing and/or vision can have an adverse impact on their financial future. If you or a relative has endured a catastrophic injury caused by an accident, you might be eligible to seek economic recovery for your losses and damages. Hiring a Florence catastrophic accident attorney who specializes in these kinds of cases will give you your best shot at collecting full and fair financial compensation.

What is a Catastrophic Injury?

Any personal injury that is permanent or long-term is considered catastrophic. The American Medical Association defines a catastrophic injury as any injury that results in serious damage to the brain, spinal cord, or spine. This can also include fractures or breaks to the spine or skull. These kinds of injuries often make victims unable to work and support themselves and the family members who rely on them.

Common Types of Catastrophic Injuries

Some of the more frequent kinds of catastrophic injuries include:

  • Injuries to the spinal cord: These are injuries that result in quadriplegia or paraplegia. Spinal injuries can require extensive medical procedures, long-term care, and specialized medical equipment and accommodation like lifts and ramps in the victim’s home and vehicle as well as a full-time home carer.
  • Traumatic brain injuries: TBIs are injuries to a victim’s head that resulted in brain damage causing problems such as loss of speech, loss of vision and hearing, issues with motor skills, and problems with memory. Victims who sustain traumatic brain injuries usually require long-term therapy and rehabilitation in order to relearn basic, everyday functions. Sadly, some TBI victims are injured so badly that they never completely recover.
  • Burn injuries: Serious burn injuries can cause long-term damage. Although many burn injuries aren’t fatal, they can cause severe, ongoing pain and various health complications like the amputation of a limb and disfigurement. These mutilating injuries typically make painful skin grafts and numerous surgeries absolutely necessary. Serious scarring can also have a negative psychological impact on the victim.

Wrongful Deaths

Lawsuits involving wrongful deaths can be extremely complicated. In order to see results, it is crucial that your Florence wrongful death attorney has the experience and knowledge to effectively compose a compelling argument that is supported by facts, tangible evidence of those facts, eyewitnesses, and expert testimony. If you lost a family member in an accident that was caused by another’s negligent actions, we strongly urge you to reach out to a wrongful death attorney in Alabama at the law firm of Mama Justice.

Alabama Personal Injury Statute Of Limitations

In Alabama, the statute of limitations on personal injury claims is two years, meaning you have two years from the day of your accident to file a suit or you could lose your right to do so. Hiring an experienced attorney will ensure you do not miss any of the state’s strict deadlines on these kinds of cases.

What Kind of Recovery Should I Expect in Alabama?

Every legal proceeding, whether criminal or civil, is unique and laws or statutes that were applicable in one case may be entirely irrelevant in another. Due to this, it is challenging to value a claim without first conducting a complete investigation. There are some basic guiding principles, however, that can help victims understand what kinds of compensation may be available like liabilities, damage types, and caps on personal injury awards.

Categories of Personal Injury Damages

Personal injury damages will mainly fall under one of two classifications:

  • Economic damages: These are the tangible expenses associated with your accident. Medical expenses, property damage, hospital bills, and any rehabilitation, such as physical therapy, will come under economic damages. Loss of income or employment or, as with wrongful death, loss of future earnings for surviving family members would also apply.
  • Non-economic damages: These are the soft damages caused by your accident. Non-economic damages can include emotional anguish, pain and suffering, loss of consortium, and decreased quality of life. Usually, the more serious the negligence that led to the accident, the larger your non-economic damages will be.

Caps on Personal Injury Damages in Alabama

The law in Alabama does not set limits on the amount of personal injury compensation that may be awarded in personal injury cases except where punitive damages are concerned. Punitive damages are designed to monetarily punish the defendant for their behavior and act as a deterrent to others.

Punitive damages are subjective and, therefore, imprecise. The terms that characterize punitive damages include malice, fraud, oppression, bad faith, wickedness, and situations where the at-fault party acted without any regard for the rights of the victim.

Alabama law requires clear and convincing proof that the defendant behaved with conscious or deliberate malice. This can be hard to prove, but if you are found eligible to collect punitive damages or are suing for emotional trauma, recovery is capped at three times the financial compensation you were awarded or $1.5 million, whichever is greater.

Other restrictions on personal injury awards in Alabama apply to municipal liability. The limitation in these cases is $100,000.