Existence of a legal duty

First, the attorney must prove that the person who allegedly injured his or her client had a legal duty to do something, or to refrain from doing something. For a car crash scenario, this could be a duty to drive in a responsible and safe manner. For an on-the-job injury, the client’s boss had a duty to provide a safe work environment free of unreasonable hazards.

Breach of that duty

Next, the attorney must show that the duty was breached, or broken. For example, a legal duty to drive safely is breached when the driver exceeds the speed limit or fails to use turn signals. A duty to provide a hazard-free work environment is breached when an employer fails to provide adequate safety equipment to their employees.

Existence of damages

In legal jargon, “damages” simply means that there was some kind of injury. The attorney must be able to show that his or her client suffered an injury that needs the justice system in order to be fixed. This can be a physical injury, like a neck injury caused by a car crash, or it can be an economic injury, like the loss of ability to work.

Causation

Once the attorney has shown the court that his or her adversary had a legal duty that they breached, and that the attorney’s client suffered damages, the last step is to connect the two. The attorney does this by showing clear evidence that his or her client’s injury was caused by the breach of the duty; in other words, that the injury would not have happened if the legal duty had not been breached. For example, in a car crash case, the attorney would have to show that the driver’s failure to drive safely was the cause of the crash that injured his or her client’s neck and damaged their car.

Working on a personal injury case often involves long hours of gathering evidence and preparing arguments for an attorney. Personal injury attorneys take on these cases on a contingency fee basis which means the client or injured party does not pay anything unless and until a settlement is won in the case.

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In most cases, the status of the person on the property determines if there is any care due to them. For instance, someone who trespasses on the property is there without consent, which means that he or she has no expectation of safety. However, an invitee or social guest was invited onto the property and does have an expectation of safety. Another factor that a court may consider is whether or not an accident could have been foreseen or prevented before it happened.

If an adult takes actions that could increase the risk of an injury, the visitor could be held partially liable for his or her injuries. The standard of care is usually higher when it comes to children. A property owner has a duty to warn of any dangers if he or she knows or should know that children could be on the premises.

An individual who is hurt on on someone else’s property due to a dangerous condition may be entitled to compensation for the damages related to those injuries. An attorney who has experience in personal injury litigation can assist an injured client in attempting to negotiate a settlement that includes money for medical bills, lost wages and other damages. In the event that a settlement cannot be reached, a jury may award the plaintiff compensation after a trial.

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Rollovers generally only occur under certain circumstances. While any vehicle can potentially rollover, vehicles that have a higher center of gravity, such as SUVs, vans and pickup trucks, are more likely to roll. Rollovers can occur when the driver of a vehicle that has a higher center of gravity takes a curve too fast or overcorrects when driving on a straight road. In other cases, a rollover may be caused by the vehicle tripping over on object in the roadway, such as a pothole, a curb or a soft shoulder.

There are certain precautions that drivers and their passengers can take to reduce being involved in a rollover accident or surviving a rollover accident. One of the most important things that vehicle occupants can do is to wear seat belts. Those who fail to wear their seat belts risk being thrown from the vehicle should an accident occur. Drivers should ensure that the tires are in good condition and that they remain properly inflated. Finally, drivers should watch their speed, especially if the road is particularly curvy.

If someone is injured in a rollover car wreck, they may be eligible to seek compensation if they can prove that they were not liable for causing the accident. They may be eligible even if they were a passenger in the vehicle that caused the crash. Depending upon the circumstances, the injured person can potentially recover the cost of their medical bills and other financial damages they sustained.

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Some companies pay their drivers more money if they make a delivery quicker than anticipated; this can result in a truck operator driving faster or for longer periods of time than is considered safe. In some cases, a driver has not received sufficient training in areas of important safety operations or driving techniques. Sometimes the driver experiences fatigue due to long work hours and may become easily distracted.

Statistics have indicated that large truck operators who have been involved in an accident that killed another driver are 18 percent more likely to have a former speed-related charge. The death rates associated with collisions that involved a large truck increased by 5 percent between the 2011 to 2012 period. During the same time, the percentage of related injuries increased by 9 percent. Non-truck drivers may not realize that a truck driver may have a larger blind spot area than a typical passenger car.

The increase of truck accidents on American roadways can be alarming, especially when considering how much more significant the related injuries can be. Recovery times could be extensive, and additional treatments may be necessary. An individual recovering from an accident involving a large truck might hire an attorney to assist in building a case against either the driver or the company the driver works for.

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Distracted driving is dangerous and can lead to serious injury accidents. Of all of the distracting activities, the act of texting while driving is the most alarming, and it is against the law in most states. A person who is sending text messages must devote cognitive, manual and visual attention to it, taking all of those forms of attention away from the road. A person who looks down at a cellphone while driving has their eyes off of the road for an average of five seconds, enough time for the vehicle to travel the distance of a football field at 55 m.p.h.

At any moment of the day, around 660,000 U.S. people are using their cellphones while they are driving, placing both themselves and others at risk. The type of attention required by texting has been shown to increase the likelihood of accident involvement by three times. In a survey, 25 percent of teens admit to answering at least one message while they are driving, while 20 percent of both teens and adults admit to engaging in ongoing text conversations while they are driving.

Occasionally, the news will feature stories about a person text messaging while driving, then causing a serious accident. People still continue to drive and text, however. Those who are seriously injured in a car accident due to a distracted driver may be able to hold the driver civilly liable through a personal injury lawsuit.

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