Berwyn Personal Injury Lawyer
If you were injured in an accident, you may have a case. But you usually will not know for sure until you talk to a lawyer about it.
Our attorneys represent victims in all kinds of accidents and injury cases, from car accidents and slip and falls to products liability and medical malpractice. Our lawyers can seek out the at-fault parties, take them to court, and fight for fair compensation for your injuries.
For your free initial case evaluation, call The Reiff Law Firm’s personal injury attorneys at (215) 709-6940.
Does My Case Qualify for a Lawsuit?
Our personal injury lawyers can bring your case against any parties that might have injured you. Whether they are individuals, companies, or other entities – such as SEPTA – we can file a claim against them if your case meets all the elements of a personal injury claim.
Some claims are based on intentional injuries, in which case we need proof that they hurt you on purpose. In most cases, however, we file “negligence” claims.
In a negligence claim, you assert that the defendant injured you by breaching a legal duty they owed you. If this was the cause of your injuries, we can claim damages.
Negligence cases do not need proof beyond a reasonable doubt. Instead, you need to prove it was more likely than not that their rule-breaking or carelessness caused your injuries.
What Do I Need to Prove My Injury Case?
Our lawyers can focus on the evidence collection for you, but there may be documents and records you already have in your possession that we can use. If you think anything might be important, save it for us.
Otherwise, our attorneys will seek these major pieces of evidence:
- Eyewitness testimony – Someone other than you who saw what happened can back up your claims by saying what they witnessed.
- Medical records – Records of your injury and prognosis help us prove the accident caused your injuries and that they are serious enough to sue for.
- Financial records – Pay stubs and other records show how much income you lost from the injury.
- Footage – Security camera, dash cams, and even cell phone video of the accident happening can show the jury the accident.
- Photos – Pictures of the accident scene, your injuries, and the conditions that caused them can be helpful.
- Expert reports – some cases involve technical, medical, or other scientific info that only experts can explain.
- Other reports – police reports, businesses’ incident reports, and other records can help give contemporaneous reports backing up your claims.
Do not worry about asking for your medical records or police reports; we can usually retrieve these for you. However, if you already have any records, bills, or communications about the accident, please keep them safe for use in your case.
What Damages Can I Get in My Personal Injury Case?
Personal injury claims focus on getting monetary damages to the defendant to pay them back for any expenses the injury caused them. This means getting compensation for any of these:
- Car/other property damage
- Medical expenses, including therapy and other follow-up care
- Lost income and earnings
- Other incidental expenses for replacement household services.
In addition to these “economic damages” that already have financial values, you can also claim monetary payments for “non-economic damages.” These damages represent the intangible harms you cannot reverse, but they can still pay to compensate:
- Physical pain
- Mental suffering
- Emotional damages
- Mental anguish
- Embarrassment
- Discomfort
- Fear
Your spouse can also get compensation for lost intimacy and household services to the extent that the accident/injury caused those losses.
Can You Sue for Injury with Preexisting Conditions?
Sometimes preexisting conditions or earlier injuries can affect the case, but not always in a bad way. If you were recently injured by some other cause, the defense may try to say that that was responsible for your injuries, not this accident. In many cases, we can use medical records from before and after each injury to highlight the differences.
Anything we can attribute to this accident can be claimed as damages. That often includes worsened conditions. If the previous condition or injury left you with certain limitations or harms, you can still sue for the extent that this new accident made them worse or increased healing times.
Often, people who are already injured or disabled face a higher risk of injury, especially when it comes to dangerous property conditions. The defense cannot use your disabilities as an excuse and must “take you as you are.”
This also means the defendant must pay for the full extent of your injuries, even if they would not have been as severe for a “normal” or “average” person.
How is Pain and Suffering Determined?
Most injury cases serious enough to go to trial involve pain and suffering damages. These account for all of the non-economic damages discussed above, and they are usually calculated based on the total severity of your injury using one of two methods:
Multiplier Method
With the multiplier method, we choose a multiplier based on how bad your injury is. It usually ranges from 1.5 to 5. We then multiply that by the economic damages in your case to calculate your estimated pain and suffering damages.
Per Diem Method
If we have a closed number of days to claim pain and suffering for, we can often set a per-day value. This is based on how serious your pain and suffering is, often using income as a starting point.
Which Method to Use
Each method has pros and cons. For example, the multiplier method works well if your pain is ongoing while the per-diem method works well if your suffering is over and you can use a set number of days in the math.
In any case, we can use these calculations as starting points, then adjust up or down to a reasonable amount. The jury makes the final decision, using our estimate as a starting point.
Call Our Personal Injury Attorneys in Berwyn Today
For your free case evaluation, call The Reiff Law Firm’s personal injury lawyers at (215) 709-6940.
