Lynn, MA Personal Injury Lawyers

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Injuries from random accidents can often cause serious effects on your life. Lost wages, expensive medical bills, pain and suffering, and permanent disabilities could entitle you to substantial compensation. But getting this compensation might not be very straightforward.

For help getting compensation for the damages you faced in an accident, get help from a Lynn personal injury lawyer. An attorney can help negotiate your case and fight the insurance companies to get you the damages you deserve. If defendants and their insurance companies are unwilling to cooperate, we can fight your case in court.

For a free case review, call the Law Office of John J. Sheehan’s Lynn personal injury lawyers at (617) 315-6329 today.

Filing an Insurance Claim vs. a Lawsuit for Injuries in Lynn, MA

Many people have the initial thought of filing an insurance claim after an accident. In cases involving car accidents or injuries at someone else’s house or business, insurance is often set up to handle these cases faster than a lawsuit. But these cases are not always paid at their full value through insurance settlements.

When determining whether to accept an insurance settlement or fight the case in court, always speak with an attorney first. Our Lynn personal injury lawyers can help you understand what damages you are entitled to in your injury case and whether the insurance settlement offer is enough to cover your damages. Generally speaking, the first offer you receive will often be low since insurance companies want to save money and get the case resolved quickly.

If you receive a low settlement offer, our attorneys can start by trying to negotiate the case with the insurance company. Even if you are filing with your own insurance company for damages, the insurance company may try to reduce the payout to save money. Showing them the evidence against them and having your attorney arrange a meeting with their counsel might be enough to convince them that the case against them is strong and they should settle.

If things fall through and negotiations cannot continue, we may be able to file a lawsuit and pursue your case in court instead.

How Long You Have to Prepare Your Personal Injury Case in Lynn, MA

Many injured victims need some time to recover from their injuries before speaking to a lawyer. Even after they talk to a lawyer, they might need more time to consider all their options. While you should not make hasty decisions about filing a civil case, you should also avoid taking too much time. Plaintiffs have only so much time to prepare and file their case before they are time-barred from doing so.

The Statute of Limitations

The statute of limitations is a law that imposes a strict time limit on civil claims. Different statutes may govern different claims, and your attorney can help you figure out which one applies to your case. In Massachusetts, personal injury cases fall under Mass. Gen. Laws Ch. 260 § 2A. Plaintiffs have only 3 years to file their cases before they may be barred from doing so. The 3-year limitation period typically begins on the day of the accident, so the clock might already be counting down on your case.

People sometimes overestimate how much time they have to prepare their case. However, it takes time to prepare a civil lawsuit effectively. Many plaintiffs work on their cases with lawyers for months or even longer before anything is filed. If you run into problems collecting evidence or tracking down witnesses, you need to make sure you have enough time to get the case ready. In short, speak to a lawyer about your accident and injuries as soon as possible.

Tolling Options

The statute of limitations is a strict law, but it is not without a few exceptions. Plaintiffs often have difficulty getting cases filed on time due to circumstances outside their control. The law has carved out several reasons that a plaintiff may have the limitation tolled or paused, thereby buying them more time.

Fraudulent concealment involves a defendant concealing their actions or misleading the plaintiff about the accident so that the plaintiff does not file their case on time. For example, a doctor might lie to a patient about leaving behind surgical tools after surgery in the hopes of avoiding a medical malpractice case. According to § 12, the period of time prior to the plaintiff’s discovery of the fraud may not be counted toward the limitation period.

Another possibility is that the defendant is not a resident of Massachusetts and left the state after the accident. While long-arm statutes are designed to bring such people back within Massachusetts jurisdiction, they are not effective in 100% of cases, and defendants might be beyond your reach. According to § 9, plaintiffs may have the limitation period tolled for the time that the defendant is outside the state.

Proving Fault in a Lynn Personal Injury Case

You can usually sue for intentional injuries or accidents. In a lawsuit for an intentional injury, you will usually sue for a tort like battery (typically alongside assault). In these cases, you must prove that the defendant intentionally injured you. In accident cases, intent is not usually in question, and the case deals more with whether the defendant was “negligent.”

To make out a negligence case, you must show four main elements:

The defendant owed you a legal duty.
The defendant breached that duty.
The breach of duty caused your injuries.
Your injuries involve damages the court can compensate you for.

Usually, the legal duty in these cases is based on some law or the relationship between the defendant and the plaintiff. For example, another driver on the road has to follow traffic laws intended to keep everyone on the road safe. In other cases, the owner of a store where you are shopping has a duty to keep the premises safe for customers. In most cases, the duty is based on what a reasonable person would do in the same situation.

In these cases, courts do not look for intentional acts that result in injury. Instead, they look for carelessness or lack of attention that leads to a breach of that duty. Generally, a breach results when someone fails to use the proper care or skill in doing something. If at any point they fall below what is “reasonable,” they could be held accountable for any resulting injuries.

The causation element is usually not questioned in cases unless it is possible that someone else’s interference caused the injuries or in cases where the injuries were unavoidable and not the defendant’s fault. You should collect any evidence that could prove or support negligence, including police reports, medical records, and photographs. Regardless, if you cannot prove the defendant caused the injuries, the court cannot award compensation.

“Damages” refers to a wide range of compensable injuries for which your Lynn personal injury lawyer can help you file a claim.

Evidence We Might Need for Your Lynn, MA Personal Injury Case

Evidence tends to be different in each case. Evidence that works for some plaintiffs might be unnecessary or even unavailable for others. While your evidence will likely be unique to your circumstances, we should investigate certain common forms of evidence when we start preparing your case.

The scene of the accident might contain valuable evidence, but it might be lost if it is not collected quickly enough. Unfortunately, injured victims are often in no position to start bagging up evidence after an accident. Even if they could, they might not know what evidence is important. However, one thing you can do is take lots of photos of the scene immediately after the accident. Your photos might save details that are lost later.

We should also try to find security camera footage if any exists. Where did your accident occur? Could there have been a security camera nearby? If you were injured inside a store or business, there were very likely cameras recording everything. It is imperative that we find these cameras, figure out who owns them, and get copies of the footage before it can be erased or deleted.

While having evidence we can hold up in front of a jury can be very helpful, testimonial evidence is also very valuable. If other people saw your accident or otherwise have personal knowledge relevant to your claims, they may testify as a witness. While witness testimony might not be as irrefutable as some other forms of evidence, it can still be powerful. A witness with a clear memory and who is confident in their testimony may help persuade a jury of your claims.

Damages Recoverable in Personal Injury Cases in Lynn, MA

“Damages” is both the name used for the harms you face and the actual money that you receive as compensation for those harms. In personal injury cases, the main areas of compensation that the victim is concerned with include the following:

Medical Expenses

Damages for medical bills can cover any treatment related to the accident. If you had to go to the hospital for surgery, that is clearly related to the accident, but so are bills for physical therapy or even mental health counseling to deal with the traumatic effects of the injury. In many cases, future damages are also claimable, but it is important that these damages are properly projected. You usually cannot go back and claim additional damages later if the costs end up being higher than you anticipated. Your Lynn personal injury lawyer might hire expert witnesses to help prove what the medical care will cost you going forward.

Lost Wages

Damages for wages you already lost and will lose in the future can be claimed in a lawsuit as well. Projecting the future impact on your earning capacity is difficult and usually requires the help of financial experts to testify about how long you might have been able to work and what raises and wages you will miss out on in the future.

Pain and Suffering

A vital part of many injury lawsuits is the compensation for pain and suffering. Especially for severe injuries, these damages can be essential to helping you move forward after a serious injury.

Who May Be Held Responsible in a Lynn, MA Personal Injury Case?

Defendants in personal injury claims may be as varied as the accidents they encompass. You might have a claim against one person, multiple people, a business, or even certain governmental entities. Whom you sue is just as important as why you sue, and you should discuss it with your attorney as soon as possible.

Individuals

If you know the name of the person who caused the accident, we may be able to file a case against them. For example, car accident cases often involve an individual defendant, usually the other driver. While having one defendant can make the case easier in some ways, it can be challenging in others. For example, it may be easier to gather evidence against only one evidence rather than two or three. However, if we cannot prove that defendant is responsible, there may be nobody else to cover your damages.

Businesses or Organizations

If your accident involved a business, you may be able to sue the entire business rather than any specific person. A slip and fall accident in the grocery store might allow you to sue the entire business. If you were injured while having dinner at a restaurant, you can sue the restaurant. Businesses are sometimes bigger than we realize. Were you injured at a business with only one storefront or was it part of a larger chain? These are all important details to go over with your lawyer.

Governmental Entities

You might be able to sue a governmental entity for damages. According to Mass. Gen. Laws Ch. 258 § 2, public employees may be sued for personal injuries in much the same way as private individuals. Public employees may be held responsible for personal injuries they caused while acting within the scope of their normal job duties. For example, if you were struck by a public bus, you could sue the bus driver and possibly the public transit entity behind them.

However, there may be a few additional legal hurdles to jump because the defendant is a governmental entity. The notice requirement under § 4 means that you must submit a notice of your claim to the executive officer of the defendant within 2 years of the accident. The executive officer must deny your claim for the case to move forward. If you do not submit the notice, your case cannot move forward even if you have a valid cause of action.