Most Common Types of Personal Injury Cases
When you’ve been injured after an accident in Virginia, it’s often difficult to know where to turn or what you should do. Many times, it is important to talk with a lawyer who is experienced in handling personal injury cases to give you advice about what your next steps should be.
It is helpful to identify the reason behind your accident or injury so you know who or what is responsible. Frequently, it’s easier to pursue a claim after you’ve determined whether another person, business, or governmental agency is responsible for your injury.
Here is a list of the most common personal injury case types:
Motor Vehicle Accidents: Millions of people are injured every year due to motor vehicle accidents. These accidents can involved cars, trucks, motorcycles, heavy equipment, etc. Usually, there is insurance coverage to cover medical bills and other expenses from these types of injuries.
Tractor Trailer Accidents: Tractor trailer accidents are a form of motor vehicle accidents. But, they deserve their own category because the injuries involved in tractor trailer accidents are so devastating. Because of their size and weight, an accident with a tractor trailer often results in very serious injuries or fatalities.
Medical Malpractice: A medical malpractice claim arises when a doctor, nurse, or other medical professional is negligent. This negligence can be caused by a misdiagnosis, giving improper treatment, errors in surgery, mistakes with medication, and others. Negligence caused by medical professionals can cause devastating injuries.
Premises Liability: Premises liability cases occur when an accident and injury happens on someone’s property, such as a store, office building, a home, etc. Many different dangerous conditions can cause premises liability cases, like obstacles or spills on the floor, missing handrails, and others. If you’ve been injured on someone else’s property, it’s important to make note of the dangerous condition as soon as the accident happens. If you are represented by a personal injury attorney, your lawyer can make certain that all information is documented and that your claim is properly prepared.
Products Liability: Defective and dangerous products can include food, drugs, various consumer products and equipment, vehicles and vehicle parts, medical devices, and a host of other things. In products liability cases, responsible parties can include anyone who designed, manufactured, sold, or marketed the dangerous product.
Dog Bite: Laws that control owner responsibility in cases of a vicious dog vary from state to state. In some states, dog owners can be strictly liable for a dog bite. This means that the dog owner can be responsible for injuries even if the dog has never bitten anyone before or has never been aggressive before. Other states have the “one bite” rule, where dog owners are only responsible for injuries caused by their dogs when there is a previous history of a bite so that the owner knows their dog is aggressive.
Wrongful Death: A wrongful death claim may arise when someone dies as a result of the negligence of another person. Wrongful death claims can occur when there are motor vehicle accidents, tractor trailer accidents, medical malpractice, etc. In fact, just about any type of personal injury case can result in a wrongful death claim if the injury was serious enough.
Intentional Act: Most personal injury case types involve accidents and injuries caused by negligence or carelessness. But, when someone injures another person intentionally, there is no negligence involved. Some insurance policies exclude coverage for injuries that occur as a result of an intentional act. If you’ve been injured as a result of the intentional act of another person, you will definitely want a personal injury attorney to help you get the compensation you need for your recovery.
Why Contact A Virginia Personal Injury Law Firm
If you’ve been injured as a result of any of the personal injury case types described above, the responsible party’s insurance company may contact you very quickly to take witness statements. The insurance company will try to build its case against you in hopes of reducing the value of your claim.
The insurance company will likely consult with their lawyers to determine how to build a case against you. When you’ve been involved in a personal injury accident, you don’t have any time to waste to make sure that you get the legal advice you need. The insurance company is acting quickly, you should too.
Ritchie Law Firm — Experienced Personal Injury Lawyers
The Ritchie Law Firm has successfully served personal injury victims for nearly a half-century. To best serve our clients, we have offices in 5 locations: Harrisonburg, Winchester, Staunton, and Charlottesville in Virginia as well as Martinsburg, WV.
When your health and family are on the line, we go into BATTLE for you!!
The Ritchie Law Firm only represents victims of all types of personal injuries, and we’ve done that for nearly half a century. We don’t represent insurance companies. You can talk to us for free. We work on a contingency fee, which means there’s no fee unless we win your case.
When Your Health And Family Are On the Line
We Go Into BATTLE for you!
You can talk to us for FREE
Call today 800-277-6124, fill out the form below or
download our free ebook in the side panel.
800-277-6124
