Personal injury lawsuits are a way to hold an individual or company accountable for the harm they’ve done to you. If you’re suffering because of someone else’s negligence, it’s essential that you know your rights and how to file a personal injury lawsuit.
This article will cover the different kinds of personal injury lawsuits and how to file them.
Table of Contents
Road Accidents
According to National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, 9,560 people died in motor vehicle traffic crashes in the first quarter of 2022. If you are injured in a car accident, you can file a personal injury lawsuit to recover compensation for your damages.
If you have been hit by a car while walking or riding your bike, the driver of that vehicle may be liable for payment according to personal injury laws in your state.
The first step is to get medical treatment and see if any permanent scars or other injuries will affect your future work. Then contact an attorney who specializes in personal injury law and discuss whether filing a suit would benefit you. You should also compare lawyers’ track records to choose one with experience winning cases similar to yours.
After hiring an attorney, it will take time before all evidence has been collected and taken into account by both sides of this dispute and their respective legal teams before court proceedings begin. However, once they do, what happens next depends on whether criminal or civil law governs this type of case too. Each requires very different procedures before coming up with an appropriate verdict.
Wrongful Death
The most significant type of personal injury lawsuit is the wrongful death lawsuit. A wrongful death action is when the plaintiff claims that someone else’s negligence caused their loved one’s death. Wrongful death cases can be filed by anyone who has suffered a loss due to another person’s actions or neglect.
Medical Malpractice
When health professionals fail to perform their job the way they were trained, that’s medical malpractice. It can be a doctor, nurse, or other medical professionals, a hospital or clinic, or pharmaceutical companies and nursing homes. And for some people, especially older members who have been hospitalized for lengthy periods, it could also mean your health insurance company failed to pay for treatment prescribed by your doctor.
The most common types of medical malpractice involve surgical errors such as amputation instead of removal of tissue, incorrect doses, and dosages given by nurses and doctors, misdiagnosis due to failure on the part of staff to communicate with one another effectively, or incorrectly interpreting results from tests done on patients after surgery has been completed.
Water Contamination
If you are a victim of water contamination, you can file several types of lawsuits. In these cases, the responsible party is typically a government entity or utility company that operates in your area.
A typical example of water contamination is when chemicals and pollutants enter the water supply through industrial processes near a river or stream. Another example might be if your city’s primary sewer system fails and sewage flows into local waterways without warning residents who use this water for drinking or cooking purposes.
In some cases, victims may be able to file claims against both parties involved, the company that caused the pollution and also their city government for not properly maintaining its infrastructure or enforcing stricter regulations on those polluting industries.
The most popular water contamination lawsuit has to be the Camp Lejeune Lawsuit. It is a class action lawsuit filed in 2012 against the United States government and the Marine Corps after water contamination at the base caused many health problems for residents.
The lawsuit claims many residents were exposed to toxic chemicals, including trichloroethylene (TCE), benzene, vinyl chloride, and tetrachloroethylene (PCE). The lawsuit also claims that these chemicals contaminated the water as early as 1953 and continued until 1987.
Residents who drank or bathed in contaminated water have been diagnosed with severe illnesses such as leukemia, kidney cancer, and breast cancer. Children born at Camp Lejeune have been diagnosed with congenital disabilities. In addition to those who lived on base, those who lived within a five-mile radius of Camp Lejeune and worked there are also eligible for compensation under this lawsuit.
Mesothelioma Lawsuits
Mesothelioma is rare cancer that develops in the organ linings, most commonly the lungs. It can also affect other areas, including the heart, testicles, and ovaries. Mesothelioma treatment options are limited because the cancer cells multiply so quickly. The prognosis for mesothelioma is poor. Most people who develop this condition die within five years of their diagnosis.
Asbestos exposure has been linked to mesothelioma since the early 20th century, but it was in 1970 that researchers determined this was true. There’s no safe level of asbestos exposure. Even low levels can cause mesothelioma later in life.
That means anyone who worked with asbestos at any point in their career may be eligible for compensation if they develop this disease later on down the road. According to KCIC, 1,793 Mesothelioma lawsuits were filed in 2021.
Slip and Fall Accidents
Slip and fall accidents are a common cause of personal injury, and they can occur in any situation involving an individual or company’s property, causing you to slip or fall. For example, if someone spills food on the floor of a store, which makes it too slippery for you to walk on without falling.
It can also apply when you trip down steps outside your home or at an event on public property, such as in parks and sidewalks. In these situations, if someone else’s carelessness or negligence led to your injuries, they may be legally obligated to compensate you financially for medical bills.
These are all of the personal injury lawsuits you can file for compensation.
There are many reasons why people need to file personal injury lawsuits. The most common reason is a car accident or slip and fall accident. However, other types of personal injury can be caused by medical malpractice, defective products, and exposure to harmful chemicals and substances.
If you have been hurt in any of these ways by someone else’s negligence, you may be able to file a lawsuit against them for compensation. As per IBISWorld, there are over 60,000 personal injury attorneys in the US. All you have to do is find the one closest to you and consult.
Conclusion
Personal injury lawsuits can be a great way to seek compensation for medical bills, lost wages, and pain and suffering. If you’ve been injured or an illness has caused you to lose money because of unable to work, then it’s worth looking into these types of lawsuits.
We hope this article has helped you understand some of the different kinds of personal injury lawsuits that are out there and how they might affect your case.