Here are the 6 most common type of personal injury cases. Its important to know because unless you’ve been involved in a case before, if and when something happens you may think its tough luck. But if you understand, that unfortunately, these are common – you won’t or shouldn’t hesitate to contact an attorney to see if you can recover for your losses.
1. Auto Accidents – Car accidents are the most common type of personal injury cases in the United States. Common types are hit in rear accidents, t-bone accidents, side swipe accidents, and accidents involving trucks. These accidents happen when a driver does not follow the rules of the road or take proper precautions. Drivers are looking at their cell phones when driving, not paying attention, or even driving drunk.
2. Medical Malpractice – A medical malpractice claim involves negligence on the part of a doctor or health care professional that leads to the patient being injured. This is where the healthcare provider failed to provide competent and reasonably skilled care. As the standard of medical care has been violated. These cases are very case specific and need to be investigated thoroughly to determine if your state’s standard of care was indeed violated.
3. Product Liability – These are cases where a manufacturer or seller of a product is held accountable for a person getting injured by a defective product. Consumer products should meet the ordinary safety expectations of a consumer. If it has an unprecedented defect or danger, it does not meet those expectations.
4. Premises Liability – Premises liability cases involve suing an owner or occupier of a premises for not providing a reasonably safe place for the person who was injured. These very common incidents occur because of a dangerous condition on the property existed. For example, a “slip and fall” on a slippery floor at grocery store, or a “trip and fall situation” on a mis-leveled sidewalk, or an elevator malfunction occurred).
5. Wrongful Death – A wrongful death is categorized as a death that occurs because of a negligent or intentional act from another party. This type of lawsuit is then filed on behalf of surviving spouses, children, or other beneficiaries.
6. Workplace accidents including construction sites – This law is very state specific, so in New York, the law states that if your employer provides workers’ compensation benefits to you for on-the-job injuries, you can’t sue your employer or your co-workers for those same injuries. BUT, if somebody other than your company or a coworker was partially at fault, you can bring a lawsuit against them. For example, the manufacturer of a machine that injured you may have been at fault for designing a defective, dangerous machine that caused you to get injured. Or perhaps there was an outside company that negligently maintained the machine. Other non-employer non co-employees might also be responsible in part for your injury. You can sue them. There is no workers’ compensation bar there.
So if any of these situations occur to you or a loved one, now you know that the LAW provides for a method of recovery. Call a lawyer you trust for FREE consultation and he or she will guide you accordingly.