Alabama Personal Injury Lawyer
If you've been injured in a car wreck or a slip and fall injury at a business due to someone else's negligence, the resulting injuries that you received can be life-changing. Along with the pain, suffering and inconvenience of those injuries, the medical bills will quickly begin to pile up. You vehicle will need to be repaired. Who will do the repairs? If my car is totaled, am I getting fair value for my property damage? What about your job? Will the injuries that you received from the crash that someone else caused keep you from ever working again? How will you provide for your family and yourself? How do you begin to take on and deal with a big insurance company and their trained insurance adjusters that never return your phone calls and never seem to understand the pain and the mess you now find yourself involved? How do you deal with hospital liens filed in probate court against you? What about do you do about asserted subrogation interests from the health insurance company? What about Medicare and Medicaid liens?
You shouldn't have to worry about these issues. Let me take care of these for you. And remember...I don't get paid unless you get paid! Patriot Law Firm, LLC works personal injury claims under what is known as a contingency contract. You pay nothing out of pocket for my personal injury legal services!
Your Alabama personal injury lawyer will work on your behalf to determine if a settlement agreement is favorable to you or if you should take the claim to court and file a lawsuit against the tortfeasor and his insurance company.
Examples of Injury Cases
When a mishap is caused by the negligence or wrongful actions of another party, that party should be held accountable. The reality is that holding a tortfeasor (the person who caused the injury) and his insurance company financially responsible is a very complicated and involved task. It's a task that I am up to and that I have been very successful doing for many years.
We at the Patriot Law Firm fight for the rights of innocent victims who injured due to:
- Motor vehicle crashes (car crashes, motorcycle crashes, commercial vehicle crashes, bus crashes, Uber crashes)
- Cyclist and pedestrian accidents
- Drunk Driving crashes
- Animal and dog bites
- Slip and falls
- Hit and run crashes
- Uninsured/Underinsured motorist claims
- Medical payments benefit claims
If you've suffered property damage, a physical injury, or any other kind of damage, you may demand compensation from offender.
In personal injury claims, there are two types of damages that are recognized in Alabama; compensatory damages and punitive damages.
Compensatory damages: There are various types of compensatory damages can be awarded. However, they can be broken down into general or special damages.
Common examples of special damages are loss of current and future earnings, current and future medical expenses, household expenses, and costs associated with cancelled trips or altered plans.
The most common types of general damages are mental anguish, pain and suffering, and loss of companionship.
Compensatory damages compensate an injured for the loss they have suffered, and these types of damages are accessible in almost all injury cases including medical malpractice, auto accident, slip and fall cases, and dog bites. Compensatory damages are also awarded in wrongful death cases.
Punitive damages: Punitive damages are only awarded in few cases. Punitive are not tied to the kind of loss that has been suffered by victim but are awarded to punish the offender for certain types of despicable behavior. Both compensative and punitive damages are awarded to plaintiff directly.
Time Limitations for Seeking Damages
Under Alabama's statute of limitations, the time period in Alabama for personal injury cases, is two years, which shows that plaintiff must settle his claim or file a suit against any wrongdoer within two years of the date of your accident. Al. Code. Sec. 6-2-38.
If the plaintiff or injured person is a minor, the time period under statute of limitation does not start to run until the minor turns 19 years old.
If you do not file a suit for seeking compensation your application will be time-barred. That means that if you have failed to settle the claim and missed the two year statute of limitations to file a lawsuit against the tortfeasor and their insurance company, your case will be dismissed from the courts and you won't be able to collect a penny!
What is Alabama's Doctrine of Contributory Negligence?
Alabama law permits victims of negligence to file a lawsuit for damages for their losses. However, in a claim of personal injury, the legal doctrine of contributory negligence restricts the sufferer from seeking damages if they were even 1% at fault in contributing to their damages. It is a VERY difficult bar to meet, but I have several years of successfully doing just that!
As a result, insurance company adjuster's and their lawyers will fight tooth, nail and fang to try and show that you (the plaintiff) were at least 1% at fault for the incident that injured you or destroyed your property. If they can convince a judge or jury of that, they win and you lose. You get NOTHING!
For this reason, if you are concerned that the other party involved may challenge your claim, it is particularly essential to discuss the issue with an experienced and successful personal injury lawyer like Erik Fine
Compensation
To be awarded punitive damages in an injury case, an injured typically has to prove by clear evidence that the defendant has acted in a willful, wanton, and reckless manner . This is not a very common occurrence in a typical personal injury circumstance, such as an automobile accident case.
There are various recovery limits under Alabama's Title 6 Civil Code to keep in mind, which is $100,000 for county, city, or town liability in personal injury cases. This is deemed a fair limit, so there is no escape from the rule in any situation.
Dog Bites Causing Personal Injury
The owners of the dogs, in many states, are usually protected to some extent from injury liability to third parties. If the animal has never before shown a propensity for biting people and the dog bites someone for the first time, recovering in such a situation as this is not very likely. This is known in the legal world as the one-bite rule.
In Alabama, a specific law Ala. Code § 3-6-1 makes the owner of the dog strictly liable for damages, meaning despite the animal's previous behavior, the owner of the dog holds the liability for a personal injury because of his/her dog act.
Personal Injury Claims Against Government Administrations
If the party that harmed you was serving in the position of an officer or an employee of the municipal, state, or federal government body, several procedures and time limits will be applicable if you want to seek damages.
In Alabama, an appeal against a municipality must be registered within 180 days of the act performed.
If your appeal is against the federal government, you would have 2 years to file a formal notice of claim. If your appeal is rejected, you then have 180 days from the date of refusal to file a suit.
A case against a county must be registered within 12 months of the incident.
It is important to ask a Chelsea personal injury lawyer about what constitutes a formal appeal. This is, typically, an administration process which leads to lawsuit, and if you don't accurately file an intimation of claim, you may not be legally permitted to file a suit later.
To understand how to register an injury appeal against a city, county, state, or even federal government representative, Contact at the Patriot Law Firm or call 205-478-2498.
Protecting Your Rights
From the minute that an insurance company is informed that their insured has caused injury to a third party or damaged their vehicle, the adjusters assigned to the claim begin to formulate ways in order to turn the facts around to lay blame at the feet of the REAL victim. They may perhaps offer you an immediate and very small cash award in exchange for your signature on their insurance company's Release of Liability form. If you sign that, the game is over and YOU are the loser! Insurance companies follow two basic rules when it comes down to paying negligence claims:
RULE # 1: PAY NO MONEY TO ANYONE
RULE # 2: IFYOU HAVE TO PAY SOMEONE, PAY THEM AS LITTLE AS POSSIBLE...FAST!
How does an Experienced Personal Injury Attorney Help?
Proving negligence in a personal injury case can be extremely difficult. Dealing with the trained insurance adjusters can be one of the most horrible experiences you may involve yourself. From the moment you find yourself the victim of someone else's negligence, the clock is ticking away at the statute of limitations. Insurance company adjusters will play the "delay, delay, delay game with you in an attempt to wear you down and have you either drop your claim against their insured or take peanuts for compensation on the claim.
For many years, Erik Fine has been able to do battle with the insurance companies and collect lots of money for his clients. Erik knows exactly how to handle every negligence claim and is able to carefully and successfully maneuver the shark infested waters of the personal injury world.
An experienced and successful Birmingham area personal injury attorney at the Patriot Law Firm, LLC have the know how to take on the insurance companies and win for his clients, a majority of the time without ever having to actually file a lawsuit!
There is no need to suffer and fight with these complex and frustrating issues. You've already been hurt due to someone's negligence. Contact competent Alabama personal injury attorney Erik Fine at the Patriot Law Firm, LLC or call 205-478-2498 so you don't get hurt by the insurance company!