When an unexpected injury happens, your life grinds to a halt. There are medical bills to pay, time off work to coordinate and physical and emotional injuries to address. At MHM, we have seen it all. However, there is one thing all of our personal injury clients have in common — a desire to obtain justice and one way to achieve it is through a personal injury claim.
When filing a personal injury lawsuit based on someone else’s negligence, the burden of proof falls on your shoulders. While this can be heavy to carry, our personal injury attorneys are here to help you determine the best course of action as you file a claim. As you develop your case, there are four elements to consider as you prepare to file your personal injury claim.
Duty to Exercise Reasonable Care
If a person’s legal duty exists during the time of the incident, the person, persons or business who harmed you can be held negligent. This duty is dependent on the parties and the type of accident that occured during your injury. For example, in a car accident, all drivers have a duty to ensure their vehicles are being operated safely and in a reasonable manner by following traffic signals and additional rules of the road.
Failure to Exercise Reasonable Care
When an individual or company does something careless, it results in a breach of care even if there was no intent to cause harm. This could be as common as forgetting to put up a warning sign about wet floors in a building or as detrimental as getting behind the wheel while intoxicated and hitting another vehicle.
Causation
Causation is the direct link between the negligent act and the harm that was caused to the victim. Even if carelessness or recklessness was not to blame, it must have had some cause in the eventual injury you sustained by another person.
Suffered Actual Damages
You must be able to provide a record of the damages you received. If you did not suffer an injury during the incident, there is not a valid personal injury claim to be made. However, if you did receive an injury, it is important to keep any medical records or bills handy as they will serve as evidence to support your claim.
Start Your Personal Injury Claim Process with MHM
Once you have determined you have evidence of all four elements in order to make a claim, the next step is to contact a personal injury attorney. Our attorneys are prepared to guide you throughout the entire process by compiling your evidence, consulting with our network of experts and fighting for the compensation you deserve. Contact MHM to begin your personal injury claim process and take additional steps toward recovery.