Dedham, MA Personal Injury Lawyer

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When unsure whether to pursue litigation for personal injuries in Dedham, victims can turn to our lawyers to address their concerns.

Common concerns associated with filing personal injury lawsuits include whether or not a case is viable and difficulty meeting filing deadlines. Right away, our attorneys can review the accident with you to determine if another party is liable for your damages and injuries. We can then start preparing your case to file it before the deadline. We can estimate the length of your case based on certain factors, like the defendant’s apparent willingness to settle quickly and fairly. During settlement negotiations, we can evaluate offers and identify unfair proposals from defendants so victims do not accept less than what they deserve. From the early stages of your case, our lawyers will aim to preserve and collect compelling evidence capable of proving the defendant’s liability if your claim goes to trial.

The Law Office of John J. Sheehan’s Dedham, MA personal injury lawyers will assess your case for free when you call (617) 925-6407.

Addressing Victims’ Concerns About Filing Personal Injury Claims in Dedham, MA

Filing a lawsuit is a commitment, and victims might have concerns about the viability of their claims, the possible lengths of their claims, and their ability to prove fault or evaluate settlement offers. Our attorneys can address each of your concerns and prepare a case that gets you the compensatory damages you deserve in Dedham.

Case Viability and Filing

Preparing, filing, and overseeing litigation is very complicated, deterring some victims from seeking compensation because of the effort involved. While that concern is understandable, our attorneys can handle the complex aspects of filing your case so that you can focus on your physical and emotional recovery.

Initially, we will assess your case’s viability by reviewing its basic facts with you. For example, if you were hurt in a car accident, explain what the other driver did wrong and the exact circumstances of the accident. Some personal injuries are not obviously due to negligence, and our attorneys can confirm if someone else is liable for your damages. For example, a restaurant may be liable if you tripped as a guest because of poor lighting or uneven flooring.

In addition to determining liability, we can prepare your complaint in its entirety and file it before the deadline in Dedham. The statute of limitations for personal injury claims is typically three years under Mass. Gen. Laws Ch. 260, § 2A, though there are some exceptions in certain situations.

Length of Claims

Pursuing recovery might become less appealing the longer the process takes, which is understandable, especially when victims are physically recovering from serious injuries. Before filing your lawsuit in Dedham, our personal injury lawyers can assess your case for any signs that might indicate its overall length. For example, some defendants are eager to settle claims quickly to avoid trials and possibly being held liable for greater damages by juries. While settling fast might be appealing in such situations, if you could get more compensation by going to court, our lawyers may advise you to take your case to trial. We may also do this if settlement negotiations drag on for too long so as not to delay your access to compensatory damages unnecessarily.

Identifying Unfair Settlements

A lump sum settlement offer could seem attractive to any injured victim dealing with expensive medical bills and lost wages. However, getting a settlement offer from a defendant does not necessarily mean you should accept it. Evaluating settlement offers requires a thorough understanding of your specific damages, including those incurred to date and future losses.

When evaluating settlement offers from a defendant, our lawyers will consider various factors, such as our calculation of damages and the evidence we have to leverage. We can tally your damages as you incur them throughout your case. We will cite your requested economic and non-economic damages when we file your lawsuit in Dedham. Records of financial losses, like medical records, can support our request for compensation.

It is important to factor future damages into these calculations, as victims with serious injuries might never return to work and could need long-term treatments and therapies. If settlement offers do not cover future damages to any degree, we can continue negotiating.

Victims should not feel pressure to accept any settlement offers that do not fairly compensate them. At any time before signing a settlement agreement, you can decide to change lanes and move forward with a trial.

Collecting Evidence and Proving Negligence

Evidentiary concerns are also common, as victims might be too injured to preserve, obtain, or organize evidence themselves. As you recover in the hospital or at home, our attorneys can turn our attention toward preserving evidence. This may include interviewing eyewitnesses, obtaining surveillance footage, or getting the police report or any other incident reports about the incident. Furthermore, we can assist in organizing victims’ medical records so that there is clear evidence of their injuries from the date of the accident onward.

Successfully proving negligence requires a thorough understanding of the standard of proof applied to personal injury claims in Dedham. Typically, plaintiffs have to prove by a preponderance of the evidence that it is more than likely a defendant is liable.

This is done by establishing four elements, the first of which is that the defendant owed the victim a duty of care. This legal duty is present in all sorts of relationships and dynamics, from landlord-tenant to doctor-patient dynamics, and varies from situation to situation.

We can then show that the defendant breached their duty of care by acting negligently, which is the second element necessary to prove fault. The third step is proving causation, or showing how the defendant’s negligence caused your injuries. Finally, our lawyers will submit proof of your financial and emotional losses to show that the defendant caused you real damages because of their negligence in Dedham.