law

Determining Fault in Personal Injury Case

Tue, 27 Nov 2012 08:17:46 +0100

Proving other person's liability is the key to win a personal injury case. If you are person who believe that you were wrongfully injured due to another's wrongful act, prior understanding about personal injury law is vital if have a goal to recover the damages incurred to your person. To bring your case in court, you first need to determine the offender's legal responsibility. Even-though you are confident that you are a victim and there was no negligent act on your part to cause the injury, if you will not allow your case to be settled with the other party, the case have to undergo the due process of law. This is to find out whether the other party truly violated personal injury law and he or she have a legal responsibility to compensate your injuries.

Determination of Legal Liability: A challenging part of a personal injury case is proving the court that the other person is indeed liable. Personal injury cases is a subject of debates since the legal theory of negligence is also difficult to prove. Lawyers usually thoroughly review and investigate these cases to determine who among the two parties have been less careful. The primary rule in proving legal liability is 'when the person involved in an accident was less careful than the other, the less careful one will be the person to compensate for the damages of the more careful person. '

The propositions that determine legal liability:

If the injured was in a place where he is not should be or a place where warnings about the danger exists, the person to cause the injury might not be liable to compensate the injured since the person has no "legal duty" to practice care. No legal duty, means no breached legal duty so the injured person may take the responsibility for himself.
If the victim have also shared his piece of negligence to cause the injury, the compensation to his damages may be limited to the extent of his participation to the accident.
If the accident was caused by a poorly maintained property imposing harm to the victim, the property owner is liable to the injured. Property owners especially of commercial establishments have a responsibility to maintain their property to be safe at all times.
If an employee has been negligent while on a working duty to cause another's injury, the employer may also be responsibility to compensate the damages for the injured.

How Can Your Own Negligence Affect Your Personal Injury Claim?

The rule concerning comparative negligence measures the amount of your own negligence that resulted to your injury. In most states, you can still get compensation even you are partly responsible for the accident.

Not Only One is At Fault.

If there are not just one party to cause the accident, any one of the parties responsible may compensate you in your claim. You should ask the assistance of your lawyer to identify the responsible parties as well as in notifying them. Depending on the result of the investigation, you can file to an insurance company to compensate you as per agreed by the responsible parties.

About the Author

Atty. Emery Brett Ledger is a personal injury lawyer from California. With his expertise in personal injury, he was able to build The Law Offices of Ledger&Associates. It is a professional law firm protecting the rights and interests of personal injury victims. Through their effective representation, they were able to recover millions of compensation fees in behalf of their clients.

Atty. Ledger build this blog to inform/educate victims of personal cases. You can also find him in Twitter @emerybledger, Facebook @/EmeryBrettLedger or Visit Website

Forget No Penny in Fighting for Your Indemnity

Fri, 02 Nov 2012 08:15:06 +0100

It's always the conviction of the offender and the compensation for the injuries incurred by the victims that matter in a personal injury case. But, nonetheless, to win or lose it is not a choice which is automatically given to both sides; there's should still be a legal battle between the former praying for acquittal and the latter hoping for the verdict of guilt. And such process is never as simple as any layman can think about for it is like a war which would end only after the fight had ceased.

Suppose you are a victim in a truck accident who had incurred serious brain injury, what will you do to seek for justice? Or how will you fight for your compensation or indemnity? Of course, we're not making a story just to set an example. That's already a reality to all those who have suffered from catastrophic accidents that have caused their injuries or deaths of their relatives. Yes, it's definitely tough to decide what step to take to avoid landing on a grievous end. Thus, the following tips are provided so you'll forget no penny in fighting for your indemnity:

Consult a Lawyer – in a legal claim like yours, this is always necessary since it is only through a lawyer that you'll be able to know what to do in properly filing the case in court, and the pros and cons of your action. However, you should be wise in consulting or hiring the right attorney for your case because the outcome of your case also depends on how your lawyer fights for it.

Cooperate with Your Attorney – if your lawyer, for instance, requests you to send him your hospital bills, medical certificates, and other proofs in your possession, then you should be responsible for such; otherwise, your indolence will be the cause of your failure.

File Your Claim for Compensation on Time – most states usually provide for the time span or deadline for which the claimant should follow because failure to meet the given date will serve as a waiver that he will no longer ask for indemnity from the offender. For such reason, you should always note the important dates relative to the resolution of your case to avoid being victimized by mere obliviousness.

Present Proofs to Support Your Claim – don't just say you deserve a million dollar for what you've lost in medical expenses, support, future earnings, etc. without any proof because the court will only hear you, but will never listen to your allegations. The safest recourse then is to gather first your evidences before counting your possible assets.

Attend the Court Hearing – you are one important character in the trial scene, and your presence is gravely needed especially when the court requires you to testify, or just want to inquire about something relevant to your claim. Yet, attending such is also one advantage for you to know the status of your case right there and then.

Your claim for compensation is really not just a game of chance or hope because you have to fight for it first before the court can grant your prayer for indemnity. The reason why it's always safe and better to have a competent lawyer so you'll forget nothing in fighting and winning your personal injury case!

About the Author

Atty. Ledger build this blog to inform/educate victims of personal cases. You can also find him in Twitter @emerybledger and Facebook @/EmeryBrettLedger.

The Injury With No Equivalent Value

Wed, 17 Oct 2012 08:51:39 +0100

Personal injury is a legal term for injury of the body, mind and emotion. When you are filing for a personal injury claim, you would deliberately include medical expenses, lost wages, and damaged properties. These are losses by which you can have a counter economic value. Perhaps, a few dollars won't hurt for the riches. Yet, these are just add ons to injury you will suffer when you got severe injuries. That is psychological/emotional injury.

One of the result of an injury especially to family or couples is loss of consortium. It is an after effect of fatal injury that may have given permanent disability to either wife or husband. Having an injury may limit your capacity as a wife or as a husband and thus will weaken the relationship between the two of them.

Loss of consortium may result to divorce and other relationship struggles. It will affect the children and the way the family will be living. Yet, you can't never find a dollar figure for that loss, can you?

Pain and suffering from a fatal accident can also result to scars in the body. It can lessen self confidence but will increase inferiority. Perhaps, the most devastating injury is when you think you can't face any body else anymore. It can be in two ways: you don't want them to pity you or you don't want them to embarrass you. Injuries can make you create your own world, far from the people you use to talk and mingle with everyday.

Self confidence is one of the most important psychological need for it will make a person develop himself to become mature and independent. When you lose it you could probably deprive yourself of what else life could offer.

Another suffering a person injured in an accident is dependence. You can't do it on your own anymore. It can make you feel pity for yourself and you will feel being a burden to others. Feeling that way is troublesome. You will lose the spirit to live. Again you may enclose yourself in a dark empty room- a room of your own.

The question now is how will you incorporate psychological/emotional injuries in your claim? You can ever measure its impact to the injured party. You can't also deny that they will feel it that way. That's why most personal injury lawyers will always add pain and suffering when making draft for settlement negotiations. It is not just payment for bodily pain but an emotional struggle an injured person will have to live by.

Thus, everybody should always take extra safety in everything he or she does. You may pay for the physical injuries, or medical expenses,for therapy and other clinical tests but you can never pay something that lies within the person. Counseling may do great but it will take time and effort plus the involvement of everybody that surround the person. There is no need to take the risk, because there will always be an injury with no equivalent value.

Teens' Contribution To Accidents

Sat, 06 Oct 2012 06:54:33 +0100

When you drive going home, look at the both sides of the street because who can tell the next thing you'll know a teenager hit your car. Teenagers with ages 16-19 are more prone to accidents than any other age group. This is because of most teenager drivers are new to driving. They can't easily detect that dangers are on the way.

Teenagers are hard headed. They tend to underestimate the dangers they will be encountering. Most of them have too much belief in their selves in the way they will handle any possible hazard on the roads. Most of these teenagers are driving at night. Why? Because it's the time that they will be hanging out with friends.

Another factor that made teenagers prone to accident is their attitude of showing up. Despite being drunk they will still drive going home. This is true when CDC showed that 39% of injuries in a crash can be either drunk or over speeding. Also, teenagers have the lowest rate for seatbelt use. In 2010, it was reported that 45% of teenage passengers/drivers do not wear seatbelt.

Because of this fact new rules for teenage driving should be implemented. A teenager must not be able to drive without completing programs for developing their driving skills as well as their awareness towards possible danger in roads. They must be properly trained and must be under probationary rpior to giving licenses.

Though some strict rules are already implemented, their rates of fatal accidents involving teenagers are still high. In fact in 2010, it was reported that 56% of teen drivers were killed because of drunk and drugged impaired driving as well as not wearing seatbelts. Also, these teenagers were seen on the roads during Friday, Saturday and Sunday. This is the time that they took their days off from school and other obligations.

These kids should be properly guarded by their parents because they are the cause of accidents 4 times greater than the adults. 34% of them are female and 66% are males, passengers and drivers respectively.

As you can see teenagers have large contributions in accidents. These kids are so young to suffer physical injuries that may lead to temporary and permanent disability, mental injuries and death. They should be allowed to drive when they are ready to face the roads.

Teenagers may be under aged and cases shall be passed to juvenile court. However, as you can see at an early age they should have clear records. And it's not just that your teens should not be involved in the accidents because they will suffer if they become injured and will have an everlasting trauma.

In line with this, teenagers comprise just 14% of the US population but the government is spending too much from the crashes they have made. In 2010 there was a $19 billion total costs of motor vehicle injuries caused by teenagers. That is already 30% of total expenses for that year.

Simply said teenagers are contributing a lot not to productivity but for expenses.

Personal Injury Lawsuit Process

Sat, 29 Sep 2012 07:23:40 +0100

Personal injury is a complicated and troublesome case. But when you follow the process it will be an easy one. Personal injury lawyers wanted their clients to have an overview of how the processes go on and the steps they will be taking. As a plaintiff you have to know what are the possible obstacles while you are on your way to compensation awards.

Prior blog entitled The Road To Compensation will give a detailed information of how the lawsuit will go through.

The Road To Compensation

Sat, 29 Sep 2012 07:45:14 +0100

It's not just life that passed through phases. Everything that we encounter, every experiences and memories that we have and every learnings we are told, all of it undergo a so called process. You can't skip these channels of life for it will guide you to what you should do for the next step of living. Just like any other processes, it has to have a start and an end. The end is something we look forward because we expect it to the best and can satisfy our life. It is something you viewed as the fruit of of endeavor.

LedgerLaw.com thought of personal injury case as an endeavor. It has to start with an injury or an accident by which a person can choose to either fight for his/her rights or just keep quiet and live with the agony it can bring.

Personal Injury case is a long process, it passed through 3 channels but will have lots of processes. These channel include the plaintiff's lawyer, the defendants' lawyer and the court including jury and justices. To every channel specif actions shall be taken prior to reaching the end point.

1st Channel: Plaintiff's Lawyer

The first part of having a personal injury case is having personal injury lawyer. The attorney shall be responsible of the following:

a. Initial Investigation

This is the phase by which the lawyer will gather personal details of plaintiff including SSN, DON, Address, Place of Employment, Relatives information, name of witnesses, insurance suppliers and other relevant details. Also initial investigation will incorporate gathering of evidences such as collecting photos from the scene of incident, interview with the witnesses, obtaining medical records, and some times relevant information from the defendant.

b. Settlement Negotiation

There are some who lawyers who make the draft of proposal for settlement. The draft shall include all medical records and the condition of the plaintiff. It will incorporate the proposed amount for settlement. However, sometimes the defendant's party will send a proposal for settlement, if the plaintiff didn't settled with it, the process will further continue.

c. Filing Of Lawsuit

If the settlement amount was deemed not worthy of the pain and suffering, the plaintiff's lawyer should file a lawsuit to the defendant. Documents of the lawsuit should be served to the defendant within 30-60 days.

2nd Channel: The Defendant's Lawyer in Action

When the lawsuit is filed and already served in the defendant's desk. The defendant's lawyer shall be responsible for the following:

a. Response to the Lawsuit Filed

After getting the lawsuit documents, the defendant's lawyer is given 30-+60 days to respond. Though it is expected that they will ask for 15 days grace period, they are required to make actions on the case filed.

b. Discovery (Exchange of Information)

This is a point by which both parties should exchange information with each other. It can be done in many ways but the standard one is through questions and answers./ Both lawyers will ask other party and will be given 35 days to answer each other's question. The discovery phase will also involved exchanging of evidences in a way where witnesses will be interviewed by lawyers of both parties. The whole discovery phase can take more at least 9 months but not greater than 1 year.

C. Defense's Medical Examination

It will be usual for the defense to ask for medical examination of the plaintiff with their own doctors. However, when the process is undertaken, there must be a lawyer to watch over.

D. Oral Deposition

This is phase by which witnesses will be interviewed and all statements will be transcribed by court interpreter. Anything the witness will say can be used in court.

E. Motion

To try to stop proper litigation, the defendant's lawyer may move to dismiss the case. It is when they believe that the evidences are not substantial and the case is just a waste of time. If the court find it dismissable the case will be dropped but if not it will be pursued in litigation.

3rd Phase: The Court Decides

Prior to trial a mediation will happen. It is an alternative resolution by which both lawyers will be in a meeting with a mediator. He is skilled person and will serve as referee between to parties until they agree for settlement. However, this is not binding.

If still settlement has not agreed with the mediator then trial will be taken. The length of trial will depend on the complexity of the case but it will usually take 4 days to 2 weeks before the jury can make their decision. When deliberation has been done and judgment was made, it will be announced by which both parties are present.

The last phase shall be disbursement of compensation awards. The personal injury lawsuit process is a long way to go. But with someone to lean on you can be successful.

California Lemon Law Protects You!

Sat, 29 Sep 2012 07:49:13 +0100

In 1978 lemon law was established to ensure every consumers they have been given a fair treatment when their car is reported as a lemon. Lemon is a term that refers to product with manufacturing defects. Although these days it is hard to show proof that your car is a lemon, as what we can see, most manufacturing companies make sure their every product such vehicles are free from substantial defects. But then, defects can't be identify easily. Thus, lemon law is a way to guarantee product consumers to voice their grievances about their lemon products which not repaired properly or it needs constant repairs, though they bought it new.

Lemon laws are not all the same, this will vary from state to state. While in California, new, used or leased cars are all protected by California Lemon Law. However, the law could be a complicated process. Under California Lemon Law, a car could be considered as a lemon if:

it needs a certain number of repairs or more times for the same defect within the manufacturer's warranty period
it has been in the repair shop for more than a certain number of days, but still the defects have not been fixed.

For example, your car brakes don't work, or your car won't start on cold mornings, and the rear door opens all alone (unless you have a friend ghost!) these will consider as lemon and you must tell your manufacturer about the mechanical issues, so that right then and there they will provide you assistance or will repair the defects, particularly the brakes, it's too risky if you ignore it.

Don't wait things will be getting worse. You must act quickly. However, if the product can't be fixed in a reasonable number of repairs, maybe it's time that you and the manufacturer will engage in an arbitration. The objective of the arbitration program is to promote the use of "alternative dispute resolution" instead of court action also to reduce the tension between the two parties, (both consumer and manufacturer). As well as to lessen the cost of consumer and the court system.

However, if this doesn't work, you can consult a California Lemon Law attorney or your local lemon law attorney to know what will be your chances to claim what supposed to be yours. More likely going to court can be difficult thus you need one.

Corresponding with a Wrongful Death Lawyer

Sat, 29 Sep 2012 07:41:46 +0100

The responsibilities of a wrongful death lawyer include everything that relates to the legalities of the case. However, the truth behind the crime scene must be well taken and must be well understood by him and that is through a true confession to him. We cannot deny the fact that in court, it is not the battle of truth but a battle of evidences. With a good lawyer at hand some can turn around the table.

A Wrongful Death Lawyer will exert all effort to prove the innocence of his client or at least the possibility of being not directly involved in the incident. However, it all depends on how you would respond to him. Confessions are hard to make because it may not be on your side. However, in wrongful death cases you must be able to take the risk and trust your lawyer. They will surely work in a professional basis.

Being the cause of a wrongful death must be an emotional torture but you surely would not want to spend your time in jail. But with a good wrongful death lawyer the punishment could be lessen. He will collect evidences and testimonies to prove your credibility as a person and that you are not capable of doing the crime. However, since wrongful death is a negligent act, you must be able to show that it was not intentional and that the other person has also an involvement of his own death.

To make your case, a success you must have a tell all testimony with your lawyer. Don't hesitate to share what really happened and even you've got a mistake, you should not keep it. A good wrongful death lawyer knew what to say in court that will favor you. With a wrongful death lawyer you are not avoiding or escaping the responsibility but you are simply lessening the punishment. The law provides fair privileges between two people involved in a case. You are just exercising that right and that is with the help of a wrongful death lawyer.

The Time To Hire A Motorcycle Accident Attorney

Sat, 29 Sep 2012 07:35:47 +0100

Meeting a motorcycle incident ought to be a simple outdoor incident. Solely only a few would care regarding getting a motorcycle accident attorney as a result of they believed that it might simple downside and no massive deal regarding it. More often, the community take the service for a motorcycle accident attorney when any variety of incidence has been long due or the injury is already irrevocable. Though it's still attainable to sue somebody who have triggered such hurt, it'll be a lot vital if you take actions at the soonest attainable time. Immediately, you ought to hire a motorcycle accident attorney.

I had encounter a motorcycle incident however I did not take any measures relating to it. I did not ask or look for motorcycle accident attorney. I used to be merely strolling round the part of the community when a motorcycle owner hit me. However I took it for granted I believed it won't hurt me that much besides the result wasn't that massive. After a few days time I was bedridden, sick and trembling. I visited a medical doctor and he said that I had a bruised that triggered an inner blood loss in my head and he asked me if I met any variety of accident lately. I virtually forgot regarding the bike incident, however I informed him that a motorcycle hit me however I neglected it because I did not thought my head was bruised. He informed me to ask for for a motorcycle accident attorney and file a case as a result of the damages and medical anxieties. I had to go through treatment or medical procedures.

I knew a good law company and requested for a motorcycle accident attorney and ask if I can still sue for somebody who had created an injury with me though it's been quite a moment when I had the incident. The motorcycle accident attorney informed me that I should have reported and filed a case when the incidence occur. Fortunately through him and therefore the medical data we have, we did win the case. I used to be ready to get settlement and monetary circumstances for my therapies.

I had realized that no-one ought to take with a pinch of salt to any incident that one could experience as a result of it should be one thing price taking actions. After you had a motorcycle accident, decide on getting a m motorcycle accident attorney instantly.

Personal Injury Lawyer For Slip And Fall Injuries

Sat, 29 Sep 2012 07:39:47 +0100

In most cases, accidents are often not intended. Many accidents occur because of negligence or shortcomings from other people. On the other hand, accidents could also happen intentionally with an aim from a person to hurt another person. In this case, one could be hurt physically or even psychologically and it can happen anywhere like at workplace, school, on the road or even if one is only staying at home. Such accidents are often unexpected. In addition, the nature of the injury varies depending on the person and the place. And a personal injury lawyer is responsible for settling such cases.

One of the most common kind of injury that people encounter or might encounter in a day is the slip and fall accidents. A person can file a lawsuit against the owner of the building regardless if the damage is serious or minor. When the floor of the building is slippery and there was no sign or caution being put and because of that a person incurred an injury, the owner of the building should be liable for it and a personal injury lawyer is the one to call for in cases like this. The person who incurred such injury should be given compensation and this would be possible with the help of a personal injury lawyer who specializes in such cases. A personal injury lawyer will be the one to secure that the plaintiff will receive enough compensation depending on the gravity of the damage and the danger of the situation. Cases like this are often neglected by people especially if they think that the damage is bearable. However, having such lawyer the scope and limitations of the person's rights will be understood better and such personal injuries will be avoided.