Personal injury claims can help victims of all kinds of injuries get the damages they need. Proper compensation can help you get your life back on track after a serious accident, but it can be hard to know what your case is worth and whether insurance companies are paying what they owe you.
Our attorneys offer free case assessments where we can analyze your claim, look at the facts, and determine damages. From that point, we can collect additional evidence, build a strong case, and fight for you in court when needed.
For your free case analysis with our personal injury attorneys, call the Law Office of John J. Sheehan at (617) 925-6407 today.
When to Call a Personal Injury Lawyer
Your case is likely serious enough to bring on a personal injury lawyer if you suffered any of the following:
- Injuries that kept you from work
- Medical expenses that caused you a financial burden
- Pain and suffering
- Long-term recovery times
- Ongoing disabilities
- Ongoing mental/emotional distress
- Serious expenses that hurt your family’s financial wellbeing.
With any of these damages or injuries, you need help. Not only will you need compensation, but you will need help assessing how much those damages are worth.
Our personal injury lawyers can take your case no matter what kind of accident injured you, including car accidents, slip and falls, defective product injuries, work injuries, and more. Many of these cases are based on the same kind of legal framework.
What Do You Need to Prove to Win an Injury Claim?
When you file your injury case, the case is likely filed as a “negligence” claim. You do not need to prove that you were injured on purpose or through some scheme to leave you in danger. Instead, you merely need to show that the defendant broke a legal duty, thus causing your injuries.
In technical terms, negligence claims are based on four elements:
- Duty – the at-fault party owed you a legal duty
- Breach – they violated that duty
- Causation – that breach caused your accident
- Damages – you suffered harm.
In these claims, breaches of duty come in two types:
- Negligence per se – violation of a law or rule meant to keep people safe. This accounts for things like traffic violations or building code violations leading to injuries.
- Ordinary negligence – failing to use the care or skill demanded of an “ordinary person” in the same situation.
While negligence per se is based on a specific legal violation, other claims are based on the relationship between the defendant and the victim. For example, a property owner owes certain obligations to a guest or customer to keep their property safe that they would not owe to a trespasser.
What Evidence is Admissible in a Personal Injury Case in Bellingham?
For any evidence to come in at trial, it must meet a few standards and requirements. However, admissible evidence comes in many forms, from in-person testimony to records and bills to photos and video.
Relevance
To be relevant, evidence must have a tendency to show that certain facts are more or less likely. For example, in a car accident case, evidence that the driver is generally a heavy drinker might have no bearing on your case. However, heavy drinking on the night of the accident certainly is relevant in a drunk driving case.
Prejudice
Evidence might not be admissible if it paints a party in a bad light. This might limit what can be said about a person, especially if the evidence is both irrelevant and prejudicial.
Hearsay
Usually, statements must be made in court to be admitted. Statements from outside of court cannot be offered as truth unless they meet certain standards. Courts prefer to have witnesses testify live.
This might ban certain records, reports, and second-hand information. For example, police reports might not be admissible, especially sections based on what the officer heard instead of what the officer witnessed personally.
Opinions vs. Expert Opinions
Witnesses usually cannot give their opinion on who is at fault – and they can only make statements about what they saw or heard, not what they assumed or figured out.
However, “expert witnesses” instead give opinions and reports based on their expertise in a field. This can help in cases involving medical malpractice, complicated injuries, defective products, and more.
Examples of Strong Evidence in an Injury Case
If you have any of the following pieces of evidence, they will likely be important to your case:
Your Testimony
You know better than anyone what happened to you, what led up to the accident, what the defendant did to you, and how the accident affected you. Being able to talk about what you personally felt and witnessed is vital to building your case’s story.
Eyewitness Testimony
If anyone else saw what happened, their testimony is also vital. If their story matches your story, it helps strengthen your claims.
Photos
Many accidents involve some sort of scene, be it the scene of a car crash, the spill you slipped in, or what’s left of a dangerous tool or appliance. Taking photos of this can help show a jury what happened, what the dangers were, and who was responsible.
Video
If there is video of the accident happening, it will make proving your case easier. Security footage of you tripping on a loose step, store workers ignoring a dangerous spill, or a customer reporting a danger an hour before it injured you can all go a long way as evidence, for example.
Records of Damages
Financial records, bills, statements, pay stubs, and more are all important in proving the value of your damages. Without damages, you have no case – and without solid proof of how much the damages are worth, it is hard to prove the value of your claim.
Call Our Personal Injury Attorneys in Bellingham Today
For a free case evaluation, contact the Law Office of John J. Sheehan’s personal injury lawyers at (617) 925-6407