Have you been involved in a personal injury in Mississippi? Contact one of our Starkville Personal Injury Lawyers today to get the legal representation you deserve.

Unfortunately, accidents can happen to any of us at just about any time. Many of our clients have suffered severe injuries that will cause lifelong burdens and a desire for justice. Those who have suffered from damages caused by another driver experience numerous issues related to the incident, such as severe trauma, pain and suffering, expensive medical bills, and sometimes lost wages due to time off from work.

It’s essential to contact a skilled Starkville personal injury lawyer to get help for any injury that you have sustained because of someone else’s careless, reckless, negligent, or deliberate actions. You may be able to receive financial compensation for your injuries and losses. As personal injury lawyers, we work on your behalf to ensure your rights are protected from the start of your claim.

Along with getting a free consultation with us, we work to provide you with the education you need on your rights under the law as a personal injury victim.

What Constitutes a Personal Injury in Starkville?

We all know what an injury is, but personal injury refers to a specific area of the law. It’s essential to understand what is considered a personal injury and how personal injury attorneys can protect the rights of their clients.

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The Legal Definition of Personal Injury

“Personal injury” is a legal term. It refers to cases where another person or entity harms a person.

These types of personal injury cases are based on a claim of negligence. The party who caused the accident and subsequent injuries did so due to some form of negligence or wanton behavior. The responsible party does not cause the accident through direct intent but rather a lack of consideration for the safety of others, recklessness, or carelessness.

By acting carelessly, the accused party caused an injury to the victim. It’s within the rights of the injured to seek financial compensation for their experience.

Many different kinds of accidents can result in a Starkville personal injury claim. Here are a few examples:

If you’ve been involved in one of the above incidents or have experienced an injury due to someone else’s careless, reckless, or negligent actions contact a Starkville personal injury lawyer today to set up a free consultation.

What to Do if You’ve Been Injured

If you’ve sustained an injury in a serious accident it’s important to search for a Starkville MS personal injury lawyer. However, before doing so, there are a few things you can do to help your injury and your claim.

The First Steps To Take Following an Accident

There are many things going through your mind when you have been injured in an accident in the state of Mississippi. Being involved in an accident can be terrifying, but try to stay calm. If you’ve been hurt in the accident if can be extremely, there are many steps you can take on your own behalf to aid the burden of your injury and help your future Starkville MS personal injury attorney build your case.

Seek Medical Attention

Following any personal injury, it is vital to contact medical help immediately. Even if you feel ok, it’s possible that there are hidden injuries that you are not aware of at the time of the initial accident. It’s also possible for an injury to develop a while after an accident.

Some jurisdictions require a doctor visit within a certain set of time following an accident as evidence that the incident occurred. By holding off on seeking medical help, you may be reducing your ability to seek compensation for your injury.

Some possible symptoms you may experience could include:

  • General discomfort
  • General or specific areas of pain
  • Dizziness
  • Nausea and vomiting
  • Numbness

To treat your personal injury and strengthen the case your experienced personal injury attorney can bring forward, it is vital that you seek medical attention as soon as you can by calling 911 or going to the emergency room.

Takes Notes and Record Evidence

If you’ve been injured in a personal injury accident that was not your fault, you may be able to strengthen your claim by taking ample notes and evidence of the accident. Your future Starkville MS personal injury lawyer will thank you for being so prepared.

Some examples of necessary documentation include:

  • Take notes on your injury. Try to be as specific as possible. This will help you receive full medical reimbursement from your insurance company. Keep a log of any doctor’s appointments you have, including dates and names.
  • Take photos of your injury. If you are unable to, have a friend or family member help you.
  • Takes notes on the accident. Take pictures of where it occurred, making sure to include any road signs or stoplights if it was a road-related accident. Take photos of all damage.
  • Take down the names of any possible witnesses.
  • Keep receipts for any purchases made in relation to assisting you with your personal injury, such as medications, special or assistive equipment, travel expenses, and co-payments.
  • Keep a record of all communication with medical professionals and health care providers after your injury. This can include notes on phone calls and meetings and copies of email exchanges.
  • Keep proof of financial loss. This can include things like lost wages and job opportunities.

Contact Mama Justice – MW Law Firm online or by phone at (888) 484-1476 today for a free and confidential consultation.

Common Mistakes

Following an injury accident, some clients made understandable mistakes that ended up hurting their cases. If you worry that you are not prepared for a claim, by getting a free consultation, you will receive the education you need to fully understand where you can go from here with a personal injury lawyer.

Some mistakes to avoid are:

  • Talking to the insurance company before consulting a personal injury lawyer
  • Settling before you’ve completed the entirety of your medical treatment and your injuries have healed as much as doctors expect them to
  • Talking to people who are not your personal injury lawyer about the case
  • Not filing a police report after the injury

Personal injury lawyers understand that the immediate aftermath of an accident is frantic and painful. The months that follow can be equally distressing. An experienced personal injury attorney will be able to work with you and all documentation that you have.

The Elements of a Personal Injury Case

If you’ve suffered injuries in a major Starkville, MS personal injury accident, having a skilled personal injury lawyer on your side will help you develop a strong case. Your attorney takes into consideration all aspects of your acciden in order to build a strong case.

Duty of Care

Duty of care refers to the responsibility one person has for the safety and well-being of another. As fellow citizens, there is a basic level of duty of care we all owe one another. However, that level can increase depending on the relationship between two people.

For example, a boss has a greater duty of care to their employee than two pedestrians have to one another.

In a personal injury claim, your injury attorney will show that the defendant, the party who injured the victim, had a duty of care.

Breach in Duty of Care

A breach in duty of care means that a person failed his or her responsibility in care. A personal injury lawyer would have to prove under the law that a person, business, medical practice, or other entity broke the duty of care owed to the lawyer’s clients.

In a case of premise liability, a personal injury lawyer might research evidence that his or her client was injured because there weren’t suffienct warning or danger signs on the propery that resulted in seriou injury. Research might include medical records, witness interviews, and other forms of documentation.

Causation

A personal injury lawyer must argue that a breach in duty of care caused an injury to his or her clients.

In a catastrophic tractor-trailer accident, the attorney would investigate every aspect of the accident. They would search for all liable parties, including part manufacturers, mechanics, truck part failures, driver negligence, and more. They do this to ensure that you get the largest settlement possible for the injuries you sustained in your Starkville Due to this negligent behavior, the clients suffered various injuries.

Damages

After arguing causation, a personal injury lawyer would cover damages. He or she would do this by presenting evidence of injury and the burden the incident has placed on your life. This might look like medical records and various testimonies.

The Basis for a Personal Injury Claim Besides Negligence Compensation in a Personal Injury Case

A successful Starkville MS personal injury claim may allow the victim various benefits. The results of a personal injury case may come from a settlement or in-trial verdict.

The goal for most personal injury lawyers is to get financial compensation for their clients that covers the damage that resulted from the experience of the injury.

Compensation can come in a one-time payment or periodic payments. Either way, the settlement should refund victims of injury for any financial losses they’ve suffered in the past or future.

Occasionally, the injured victim can get compensation for damage unrelated to finances. This can include pain and suffering or punitive damages.

Pain and suffering, while very real to the experience of the injured party, can be challenging to prove in a court of law. The impact is not as quantifiable or material as a broken bone, even if no less real. Because of this, personal injury lawyers often try other avenues to get their clients compensation. However, an MS personal injury attorney may sometimes decide that seeking compensation for pain and suffering is appropriate.

Most states in the USA, including Mississippi, don’t usually permit punitive damages for personal injury accidents. These are awarded with the intent to punish the offending party. While it ends up benefiting the victim, its purpose is to act as a deterrent instead of to help the victim financially recover.

Sometimes an MS personal injury attorney may have clear and convincing documentation that the offending party acted with actual malice or gross negligence, which shows that they have a willful, wanton, or reckless disregard for the safety of others or otherwise committed actual fraud.

A Starkville MS personal injury caused by this level of negligence may receive punitive damages after receiving compensatory damages, which means, that in extreme negligence cases, additional compensation may be given alongside the original settlement or verdict.

The Statute of Limitations for Personal Injury Cases in the State of Mississippi

Statute of limitations refers to the time limit of when you can file a legal claim. Every state in the country has a statute of limitations for legal claims. It’s no different for the case of personal injury.

In Mississippi, that statute of limitations is three years from the date of the incident. This means that you have that long to file a civil lawsuit. If you try to file a claim after the statute of limitations has expired, your case will likely be denied.

There are some exceptions to this general rule.

Minors

In Mississippi, if a personal injury happens to a minor, the statute of limitations begins to run on the minor’s 21st birthday.

Professional Malpractice

If a personal injury case involves a business, a claimant has two years to file a claim after the date of the act resulting in injury. If the injury was not immediately apparent, the claim must be filed within two years of the date when the injury was or should’ve been, discovered. A personal injury attorney cannot bring forward a claim more than seven years after an incident.

Starkville Personal Injury Lawyers

If you’ve been injured in Starkville, MS, and need justice in the form of financial compensation, contact our firm today. Our personal injury attorneys will help you recover from your injury by getting you the money you deserve.

If you need help with any type of accident we handle, or even one that falls outside of these categories, call us at (888) 484-1476 to discuss your case. We proudly serve Ridgeland, Jackson, and the surrounding areas!