Personal injury law—also known as tort law—can be difficult to understand because it encompasses so many different kinds of accidents and incidents. The goal of personal injury litigation is to ensure you receive damages after being hurt by another person’s negligence or intentional wrongdoing.
Here we’ll answer common questions about personal injury law in Lafayette, so you’re better prepared to pursue a case if you suffer personal injury.
What are the Different Kinds of Personal Injury?
- Accidents. Accidents are events that cause injury through negligence or carelessness.
- Intentional Acts. Intentional acts occur when one person intentionally harms another person.
- Defective Products. Injury or even death may occur when a person uses a defective or dangerous product.
- Defamation. A person can claim personal injury when another person’s defamatory statement damages his or her reputation.
What are the Different Liabilities?
- Product liability: These cases occur when a victim is hurt or killed by faulty products. In Louisiana, the manufacturers of defective products are responsible for any injury that occurs from use of their products. Manufacturers are liable if a product’s construction, design, or warning label doesn’t protect the consumer.
- Premises liability: Injuries that occur at public places and residential homes are covered under premises liability. These injuries often are slip-and-fall injuries, but this category also include injuries that occur because ice, paint, or other slippery surfaces make people fall. In Louisiana, merchants have to keep the floors in and around their businesses safe. Similarly, trip-and-fall injuries refer to harm resulting from missing handrails, hazards, or poor lighting.
How Can Someone Mount a Personal Injury Claim?
While no personal injury case is exactly like another, here are some common steps most cases follow:
- After the injury occurs, a legal team needs to determine that the defendant has failed to act within his or her legal duty. For example, if a manufacturer didn’t put appropriate labels on a drug, that company would have failed to warn consumers of possible negative effects.
- If the defendant believes he or she breached a legal duty, his or her legal team may decide to settle out of court by making an offer of compensation to the injured party.
- If the defendant does not settle outside of court, the plaintiff’s legal team often files a personal injury lawsuit. At this time, the case can still be settled out of court, but it may also advance to trial.
How Can Anderson Blanda & Saltzman Help?
We believe that if you or a loved one has suffered a personal injury, you need the best injury attorneys in Lafayette on your side to obtain the damages you deserve. We’ve helped over 10,000 people who have suffered intentional or unintentional personal injuries receive justice.
In our personal injury cases, we’re on your side from the beginning to end. We provide you financial and medical support, as well as filing insurance and legal claims. To demonstrate our commitment to you, we also don’t charge any fees until we receive a claim from the guilty party.