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Whenever an accident results in someone’s physical harm, pursuing fair financial recovery from the negligent party can often be a complicated ordeal. In addition to building a comprehensive case demonstrating fault for your injuries, you also need to comply with various legal rules and restrictions, any one of which could sidetrack your pursuit of compensation if breached.
In a situation like this, guidance from a knowledgeable Red Bank personal injury lawyer could be absolutely essential to protecting your best interests. Whether you were hurt in an auto wreck, due to dangerous conditions on private property, by professional misconduct, or under any other circumstances, a seasoned attorney’s support could make all the difference in your odds of securing a favorable outcome.
Importantly, someone else being involved in an injurious accident does not automatically make them responsible in a personal injury lawsuit. To hold someone else financially accountable for the effects of a personal injury, the injured individual must prove that other person was “negligent.”
Establishing negligence first and foremost requires establishing the existence of a “duty of care”—in essence, an implicit or explicit responsibility held by the defendant which obligated them to act reasonably under specific circumstances. For example, motor vehicle drivers are obligated to follow traffic laws, and property owners have differing duties—depending on why a particular visitor is present—to maintain their land in reasonably safe condition.
The next step is showing that a breach of said duty occurred, usually in the form of a specific reckless, careless, or intentional and malicious act. The injured plaintiff then must show that the aforementioned breach was the direct and primary cause of an accident, which in turn directly led to at least one injury requiring professional medical attention.
Finally, the plaintiff must name specific losses—which may be economic or non-economic—they sustained directly due to their injuries. A Red Bank personal injury attorney could explain all these components of legal negligence in more detail during an initial consultation.
Unfortunately for personal injury victims, Tennessee Code §29-39-102 limits the maximum amount of compensation civil plaintiffs may obtain specifically for non-economic damages at $750,000 for most injuries and $1,000,000 for a handful of explicitly defined “catastrophic” injuries. Additionally, court precedent prohibits any person found equally or more to blame for their own injuries than all named defendants combined from recovering any compensation. Furthermore, state law allows courts to reduce available financial awards based on any lesser percentage of fault a plaintiff holds.
Finally, TN Code §28-3-104 allows most prospective plaintiffs just one year after initially suffering an injury to begin pursuing civil litigation, an exceptionally short filing period compared to those applicable in most other states. Retaining a personal injury lawyer sooner rather than later after an accident in Red Bank could be vital to effectively handling these and other procedural roadblocks.
Getting hurt because another person was irresponsible can be a uniquely frustrating experience, as well as a challenging one to recover from financially. Fortunately, assistance is available from a capable legal professional with a track record of successful results in similar cases achieved on behalf of people just like you.
A dedicated Red Bank personal injury lawyer could be your ally from start to finish of your settlement negotiations and/or civil court trial. Call today for a consultation.