Defining Common Personal Injury Terms
Every personal injury case is unique, and each case presents different challenges. The best way to face these challenges is to retain a personal injury attorney who understands how to obtain relevant evidence to support your personal injury claim. The amount of fair compensation that can be obtained in a personal injury case depends on many factors including the type of accident, seriousness of injuries, cost of medical treatment and therapy, to name a few. When you are injured and trying to heal, collecting vital evidence and building your claim can be stressful and a lot to handle. In cases where there is very little evidence, proving negligence can be intimidating. It is important to seek the counsel of a personal injury attorney. Insurance companies use all kinds of underhanded tactics to minimize or deny claims. If you are not knowledgeable about the personal injury claims process, you may not recover any compensation for your damages at all. If personal injury law or car accident claims are new to you, there is an awful lot you will want to know about the subject before you jump in and file a personal injury lawsuit or file a car accident claim. Even if you are one of the lucky people who have not been involved in an accident, you may still want to know more about the ins and outs of car accident claims. In this blog post, we will define some of the most common insurance and personal injury terms.
Bodily Injury Coverage. This is the insurance coverage in an automobile insurance policy that pays others for the negligence of the policyholder or others insured under the policy. In other words, if you crash into someone and it is your fault, bodily injury coverage pays for the injuries to the other person. On the other hand, property damage coverage pays for damage to the other person’s vehicle.
Comparative Negligence. Comparative negligence is a legal doctrine that states the rule that if you are in a car accident that is primarily the fault of others, but you are partly to blame, your verdict should be reduced by the amount of your own negligence. For instance, if someone rams into the rear of your vehicle as you turn and you do not have your turn signal on, a jury might find the person who hit you 80 percent at fault for not stopping and you 20 percent at fault for not using your turn signal. Florida is a pure comparative negligence state. In Florida, you recover even if you are 90 percent at fault.
Economic Damages. Economic damages are damages that can be easily quantified by a monetary figure, such as medical bills, lost wages, property damage and the like. This is contrasted with noneconomic damages which cannot easily be quantified, such as pain and suffering and emotional distress.
Discovery. Discovery is the process whereby each party to a lawsuit finds out information and receives copies of documents and records related to a lawsuit from the other parties. The most common discovery tools include interrogatories, requests for production of documents, requests for admissions and depositions.
Collateral Source. A collateral source is a source of payment of bills, expenses, or wages, etc., that an insured person receives from any source other than his or her own funds or those of another party to the accident. For example, if a plaintiff’s health insurance pays his or her medical bills, that health insurance is a collateral source. Similarly, if Social Security pays a plaintiff lost wages due to disability from an accident, then Social Security is a collateral source.
Burden of Proof. Essentially, this is the level of convincing that one must do in order to win their case. In other words, in order to win a case, a certain amount of evidence is required. Common levels or burdens, of proof include prima facie case, preponderance of the evidence, reasonable certainty, clear and convincing evidence and be- yond a reasonable doubt.
Bad Faith. Bad faith occurs when an insurance company or insurance adjuster for the insurance company acts in a way to intimidate, delay, or harass the insured with respect to their insurance claim. In the state of Florida, an insured can sue an insurance company for bad faith and recover what are often significant damages, even punitive damages.
Speak with a Personal Injury Attorney Today!
At times, the services of an experienced personal injury lawyer, or at least the threat that such a lawyer presents to an insurer are totally worth it. When an insurance adjuster can see that you are being represented by an experienced and skilled personal injury lawyer, the odds of obtaining a favorable resolution of your case go way up. At our firm, our policy is that if you don’t recover compensation, you won’t pay any fees for our services. Not to mention, we also provide free case consultations where we assess the circumstances surrounding your case and give you an objective overview of what steps you can take going forward if you decide to act against the party responsible for your injuries. For over 19 years, we have delivered quality legal representation for people who, through no fault of their own, have been injured in all types of accident and incidents. We are available 24/7 to give you a free, no risk case consultation.
We serve clients throughout Florida including those in the following areas:
Miami-Dade: Aventura, Coral Gables, Doral, Fontainebleau, Hialeah, Homestead, Kendall, Miami, Miami Beach, Miami Lakes, North Miami, Tamiami, and Westchester.
Broward: Fort Lauderdale, Hallandale Beach, Hollywood, Pembroke Pines, and Weston; and Palm Beach County including Boca Raton, Lake Worth, and West Palm Beach.
