Beaver Falls Personal Injury Lawyers

Understanding Your Rights After a Serious Injury

If you were injured and someone else was to blame, whether it was another person or some other entity, you have the right to file a personal injury claim. Depending on the type of accident or incident that occurred, you could be entitled to compensation through your own insurance provider, a third-party lawsuit, or both.

It is important that you understand your rights after a serious accident or injury. We encourage you to reach out to our Beaver Falls personal injury lawyers today to set up a free, no-obligation consultation. During this initial consultation, we can review the specific details of your case and provide personalized information on how we can help you proceed in the legal process.

How Long Do You Have to File a Personal Injury Lawsuit?

You should know that you only have a limited amount of time to file a personal injury lawsuit under Pennsylvania law. In most cases, the statute of limitations on personal injury lawsuits is just two years from the date of injury. If the injury wasn’t discovered right away, the two-year filing deadline will be tolled, meaning it will not start running until the date on which the injury was discovered or reasonably could have been discovered.

While there are some exceptions to the statute of limitations, they are rare. We strongly recommend that you act sooner rather than later if you or someone you love has been injured as a result of someone else’s negligent or wrongful conduct. The sooner you get in touch with our attorneys, the sooner we can begin collecting evidence, investigating your claim, and building your case.

What Do You Have to Prove in a Personal Injury Case?

To have a successful personal injury case, you must typically prove several important elements:

• Duty of Care: You will need to prove that the defendant owed you a duty of care, meaning they had some responsibility to avoid causing you injury. For example, motorists owe others a duty of care, doctors must uphold a certain standard of care to patients, and property owners are responsible for ensuring the safety of different types of visitors.
• Breach: You will also need to prove that the defendant breached the duty of care. In most cases, this is where the element of negligence or wrongdoing comes in. If you can demonstrate that the defendant was negligent or acted wrongfully, thereby breaching the duty of care they owed to you, you likely have a solid case.
• Injury: To have a personal injury case, you will need to prove that you were, in fact, injured. You’ll also need to demonstrate that your injuries led to measurable damages for which you can be compensated. Even if the defendant was egregiously negligent or clearly broke the law, you don’t have a case if you didn’t suffer some type of physical, emotional, or financial harm.
• Causation: One of the most important elements of any personal injury claim, “causation” refers to the defendant’s violation of the duty of care as the proximate cause of your injuries and damages. In other words, you have to prove that, had the defendant upheld the duty of care, you would not have been injured.

At Luxenberg Garbett Kelly & George, we help our clients bring strong cases against liable parties. Our Beaver Falls personal injury lawyers work with accident reconstructionists, medical professionals, economists, and other industry experts, all of whom aid in providing powerful evidence and testimony in support of our clients’ claims. Our team can assist you with every legal detail of your case, allowing you to focus on what matters most: healing.

What Types of Damages Can Be Recovered in a Personal Injury Case?

The purpose of filing a personal injury claim is to recover monetary compensation for certain losses you have experienced as a result of your injury. Collectively, these losses are known as “damages.”

Personal injury damages can be either economic or non-economic in nature, meaning they may have a specific dollar value, or they may be intangible and harder to quantify.

Examples of damages commonly available in personal injury claims include:

• Past, current, and future medical expenses
• Past, current, and future lost income
• Past, current, and future pain and suffering
• Lost or diminished earning capacity
• Costs associated with home modifications
• In-home assistance and medical care
• Reduced enjoyment of life/quality of life
• Disfigurement, emotional distress, and inconvenience

Sometimes, injured accident victims and the families of those wrongfully killed may also be entitled to punitive damages. These are meant to punish the defendant for gross negligence, as well as acts of wanton, willful, or intentional misconduct.

Why Should You Hire a Personal Injury Lawyer?

There are many advantages to working with an experienced personal injury attorney. Studies have shown that people who hire attorneys are more likely to receive better settlements than those who try to resolve their claims on their own. Additionally, an attorney can take care of the various legal aspects of your claim—from investigating the cause of the incident to gathering important evidence to submitting necessary documents and communicating with the insurance company—so that you can focus on your physical and emotional wellbeing.

At Luxenberg Garbett Kelly & George, our Beaver Falls personal injury lawyers are prepared to guide you through every stage of the legal process. We don’t just say that we care; we prove it through our commitment to our clients and our willingness to go the extra mile on their behalf.

Schedule a complimentary consultation with a member of our team today; call (724) 576-8855 or contact us online.