Sustaining an injury can cause great pain, inconvenience, and disruption in your life. Likewise, if your injury is severe, you might require significant medical intervention and permanent loss of function.
However, when another party’s careless, reckless, or improper acts contributed to your injury, our dedicated attorneys could help you demand financial compensation. However, the law offers a limited time to seek damages. Speak with a Palm Desert personal injury lawyer today to determine whether damages might be available.
Proving Negligence in Injury Cases
People often use the word negligent without knowing its legal meaning. Negligence is failing to use the same degree of care a reasonable person would have used in the same circumstances and causing an injury due to that failure.
Proving negligence depends on the context. For example, if an injury results from a medical error, an attorney in Palm Desert must demonstrate that the medical professional did not apply the same knowledge, judgment, and skill that another provider would have used. On the other hand, if a vehicle accident caused an injury, proving another driver violated traffic laws when the accident occurred could establish negligence.
Sometimes it is not necessary to prove negligence. For example, California Civil Code §3342 makes an owner strictly liable if their dog bites someone, even if the owner was unaware their pet was aggressive. Likewise, if a faulty product, medical device, or drug causes an injury, the manufacturer is strictly liable if the injured person can prove a defect in the item’s design, manufacture, or label.
Recoverable Damages in Personal Injury Claims
When another party causes harm, a victim could seek damages for any injury-related expenses they experienced. These damages include monetary and non-monetary losses.
Economic Damages
Economic damages represent verifiable financial losses injured people underwent or will undergo due to the injury. Monetary damages could include:
- Medical treatment, including rehabilitation services
- Lost income, including unearned wages due to time off work and diminished earning capacity
- Future injury-related medical care
- Home renovations to accommodate an injury
- Incidental expenses
- Payment for housekeeping, gardening, or other household services the injured person cannot perform
Receipts, invoices, EOBs, employment records, tax returns, and other documents could prove an injured person’s economic damages.
Non-economic damages
The most devastating impacts of an injury are often not quantifiable. However, negligent parties are also required to compensate victims for these losses. Non-monetary damages could include payments for physical pain, disfigurement, inconvenience, humiliation, emotional anguish, and lost enjoyment of life. These losses can be proven through statements and opinions made by the injured person and their family, medical experts, photographs, and other reputable sources.
Punitive damages
In rare cases, an individual might seek punitive damages. Judges award punitive damages when a negligent party’s conduct is malicious or egregious. A court might award punitive damages if an injured person can produce evidence showing that a negligent party’s conduct was outrageous or intentional. A hardworking lawyer in Palm Desert could work to obtain the maximum compensation for injured individuals.
Seeking Damages After an Injury in Palm Desert
The first step in a personal injury claim is to review any available information about the accident and identify the potentially responsible parties. Then, depending on a person’s circumstances, a local attorney could conduct an independent investigation using local experts to gather more information about the cause of the accident.
After identifying the potentially responsible parties, a legal team member can send a demand letter to begin the negotiation process. Negotiations often proceed for some time, but most injury claims settle before trial. However, a legal professional could present the case to a jury at trial if the responsible parties do not negotiate in good faith.
Work With a Palm Desert Attorney to Pursue a Personal Injury Claim
You deserve compensation when another party’s negligent conduct causes you an injury. A Palm Desert personal injury lawyer could review your case, identify responsible parties, and fight to get you the compensation you deserve.
You can preserve your rights by contacting a legal professional immediately after an accident. Reach out today to get our knowledgeable advocates working for you.
