Natick Personal Injury Lawyer
One of the most commonly filed types of civil claims is the personal injury claim. A personal injury might include a wide variety of bodily injuries inflicted under an equally broad array of circumstances. If you believe someone else is responsible for your injuries, call a lawyer right away.
To begin a personal injury claim with your attorney, you must gather evidence and evaluate your damages to present in a complaint to the court. On top of that, you and your attorney should begin working on legal strategies to help you effectively prove your case to a jury. While many potential plaintiffs assume that the trial is where the attorney does most of their job, this is not true. The trial is only one small yet crucial part of the entire justice system. Most of the work you and your attorney must do will likely happen before you get to the courtroom. As such, you should immediately speak to an attorney about your personal injury claims.
Set up a free review of your accident and legal claims with our personal injury attorney by calling the Law Office of John J. Sheehan at (617) 925-6407.
How to Begin a Personal Injury Claim in Natick
Initiating a personal injury lawsuit is no small feat. There are extensive preparations to be made, and our personal injury attorneys must abide by very specific procedural requirements when submitting forms to the courts. Before the case is even filed, we must gather evidence and evaluate damages. We must also consider various legal strategies to determine which works best for your claims.
Gather Evidence
Gathering evidence might be a vastly different experience for different plaintiffs. In some cases, evidence is abundant, and plaintiffs do not have to look far for compelling evidence. For others, evidence is more challenging to come by for various reasons. Perhaps the police cleared away the accident scene before we could take a look, losing valuable evidence. Remember, the fact that evidence is hard to find does not mean your claims are weak or invalid. It only means we must strategize differently when preparing your lawsuit.
One great way to preserve evidence before it is lost is to take photos and record videos of the area where you were injured. This is a popular tactic in car accident cases, as many insurance companies like to see photos of the accident scene to evaluate claims. These photos may also be used as evidence in the courtroom. In some cases, photos might capture details that are in dispute or shed light on how the defendant caused your injuries.
We can also use your photos, police reports, and your memory of the incident to locate witnesses. Depending on where and how you were injured, there might be multiple witnesses we can have testify in court. For example, other drivers or pedestrians can testify about seeing the defendant hit you with their car. Even if witnesses were not present when you were injured, they might have firsthand knowledge relevant to your case.
Evaluate Damages
As we prepare your lawsuit, we need to determine what kind of financial compensation to request. To determine this, we need to assess your damages, which encompass the various losses and injuries you incurred because of your injuries.
Among your many damages are various costs and expenses. Personal injury claims are about more than just bodily injuries. They are also about the economic costs of dealing with those injuries. One of the largest costs that injury victims deal with is medical bills. Plaintiffs often deal with high medical bills for treatment, including emergency room visits, x-rays, surgery, medication, and other medical care.
Other significant costs to consider are property damage and lost income. In the accident, you might have lost valuable personal belongings. In cases like car accidents, you might have lost an entire vehicle. If your injuries are bad, you might lose time from work and precious income. All these costs should be accounted for in your damages.
We must also include claims for non-economic injuries like bodily pain, emotional suffering, humiliation, damage to your reputation, and other painful experiences. While these experiences do not exactly have a designated dollar value, juries might still award considerable compensation.
Draft a Complaint
Lawsuits are full of various documents, forms, and paperwork. Among them is your complaint, which kicks off your lawsuit. Your complaint is more than just a formal allegation against the defendant. It must contain a long list of details the court needs to evaluate your claims.
Among the many details in your complaint are evidence and damages. As described above, we need evidence to prove your claims and get compensation for your damages. While we do not need definitive evidence or all evidence possible when we file your complaint, we need enough to show the court that your legal claims are valid and deserve a trial. Similarly, we must fully explain your damages so the court understands why you deserve compensation.
Develop Legal Strategies
While your complaint describes how your accident happened, who was involved, and why you deserve compensation, it is only one piece of the legal puzzle. We must develop effective legal strategies to help you win the case and get the compensation you deserve.
The right legal strategy depends on the unique circumstances of your case. For example, if you were injured by a defective power tool while making repairs around your home, we could sue the manufacturer. Our strategy might be to show how the defect was a design flaw that rendered the power tool unsafe even when used for its intended purpose. Another possible strategy would be to argue that the power tool was damaged before it left the factory and that the manufacturer should be liable for placing a dangerously damaged item on the market.
Contact Our Natick Personal Injury Lawyers for Help
Set up a free review of your accident and legal claims with our personal injury attorney by calling the Law Office of John J. Sheehan at (617) 925-6407.
