Personal Injury

"Personal injury" is a very broad term in the law primarily used by legal experts to distinguish injury to property (property damage) as opposed to injury to the person’s body(Bodily Injury or Personal Injury).

There are immeasurable ways people can sustain injuries to their bodies and therefore the attorney’s initial inquiry will focus on how the injury occurred. For example, if it was a vehicular collision, did it involve a pickup truck, a tractor-trailer, a modified construction vehicle (crane), an automobile, a motorcycle or a bicycle. The type of vehicle, work being performed and the location may determine how your claim will be handled.

Of course a Personal Injury may not involve a vehicle at all. It could be caused by an animal such as a dog, horse, deer, cattle or another person; or a combination of a vehicle and an animal (car strikes cattle roaming in the roadway).

The personal injury may have been caused carelessly when a physician, dentist or other health care provider makes a mistake while treating you. These cases are commonly referred to as "Medical Malpractice."

There are so many different scenarios under which a person may suffer Personal Injury, the prospective client must investigate if that lawyer has experience handling your type of Personal injury. For example, the Personal Injury lawyer may be quite familiar with auto accidents, but has never handled Maritime Cases (injuries occurring in navigable waterways which may be decided under Federal Law, not State Law.)

In reality, a lawyer who handles Personal Injuries tells you very little about the lawyer’s experience handling your kind of case. Don’t hesitate to ask the lawyer how many cases like yours he has handled and if he was successful.

REMEMBER, YOU THE CLIENT, HAVE A RIGHT TO KNOW ABOUT THE LAWYERS TRAINING AND EXPERIENCE, AND TO HAVE THIS GIVEN TO YOU IN WRITING IF YOU REQUEST IT.