Caddo Parish Auto Accident Lawyers: Do I Have a Valid Car Accident Claim?
In Caddo Parish and other parts of Louisiana, you have a right to make a personal injury claim if you were injured. Even if only your car (or other property) was damaged, you still have the right to make a claim for compensation. Generally, the first step is to make a claim with the relevant insurance carriers. Eventually, it may be necessary to prosecute your auto accident claim through the filing of a personal injury lawsuit. To be sure,
You may benefit from seeking a consultation with an experienced Shreveport auto accident attorney.
Act quickly to preserve your legal claims because there is a one-year deadline for filing a Louisiana personal injury lawsuit against an adverse party.
Note that your claim is for compensation for your injuries and/or for the property damage that you suffered. Louisiana auto accident cases are not like "winning the lottery." You cannot just claim any amount and expect to be given a settlement check. Your settlement is proportionately based on the injuries suffered and on the extent of the damage to your vehicle and other property.
You may recover for things like:
Medical bills
Medications
Recovery devices (like crutches, wheelchairs, etc.)
Surgeries
Post-hospital rehabilitative therapies
Pain and suffering
Lost wages/income
Repair or replacement costs for your vehicle
Loss of normal life
Fear and anticipation of imminent harm
Disfigurement
Disability
And more.
Further, if proven, family members may also have their own separate claims, including compensation for loss of support, loss of companionship, loss of consortium, and more.
Note also that you have the right to make a claim under Louisiana law even if you had some fault in causing the Caddo Parish car accident. Louisiana is a "comparative negligence state," which means that legal liability is based on each party's percentage fault for the accident. If some amount of fault is assigned to the injured victim, then the amount of the settlement or award will be reduced by that percentage. For example, if the settlement/award is $1 million, but the victim is assigned 10% fault, then the ultimate settlement/award would be $900,000 to the victim assigned 10% fault. Importantly, the victim can still recover even if he or she is more than 50% at fault. To modify our hypothetical, if the victim were assigned 60% fault, then the ultimate settlement/award would be $400,000 to the victim assigned 60% fault.
Louisiana is a "must-prove-negligence" State. This means that to succeed with your Shreveport, Louisiana, car injury claim, the injured party must prove that the other party was at fault. In Louisiana, this means proving the four elements of negligence, which are
Duty
Breach of that duty
Proximate causation
Injury/damage
Contact A Louisiana Personal Injury Attorney Today
For more information, you are welcome to contact the Law Offices of Philip B. Adams if you have been injured in a Louisiana accident. Our Louisiana personal injury lawyer can help you with your personal injury claim for financial compensation.
To contact us, conveniently schedule a consultation through our "Contact Us" page here. You may significantly benefit by having an attorney with legal competence and experience assist you with your Louisiana personal injury case. We have offices in Shreveport and handle personal injury cases throughout all of Louisiana. Thank you for reading this blog post and visiting our website.