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robert2017-09-08 07:05:412017-08-04 15:11:58The Dangers of Do It Yourself Accident Claims
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robert2017-09-01 07:58:392017-08-04 15:05:31Pedestrian Accidents: Can the Pedestrian Ever be Liable?
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robert2017-08-25 07:54:432017-08-04 15:00:47Common Reasons for Personal Injury Claim Denial
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robert2017-08-18 07:26:032017-08-03 18:37:43What Happens in Car Accident Cases With Multiple Defendants?
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robert2017-08-11 07:17:162017-07-31 15:26:46Traumatic Brain Injuries signs and symptoms
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Meeting the Burden of Proof in a Car Accident Injury Claim
If you’ve ever been involved in a car accident with injury, you know there are facts and evidence you have to present to prove your case. This is called the burden of proof — proving to the insurance company, or the judge or jury, that all the allegations you are bringing forth actually happened.
Although car accident injury cases are complicated, fortunately, the burden of proof is lower in civil cases — i.e. car accident claims — than it is for criminal cases, because the civil burden is based on “a preponderance of the evidence” or “more likely than not” that the defendant is liable.
What elements do you have to prove in a car accident injury case?
In order to prevail in your car accident claim, you have to prove that the defendant was negligent. This is done by proving the following four elements of negligence:
What is duty of care?
Duty of care is a broad term that means someone had an obligation to be cautious and show reasonable care for the plaintiff’s safety.
One obvious example of duty of care is that you are required by law to drive cautiously and safely on the road. If you didn’t do that, you breached your duty of care.
Other ways the duty of care can be breached include:
If any of those offenses are listed in the accident report, then it’s much easier to establish that the defendant breached his or her duty of care.
Next, the plaintiff — or likely the plaintiff’s experienced personal injury attorney — must prove that the duty of care breach — the defendant’s actions and subsequent vehicle accident — caused injury to the plaintiff.
In other words, the plaintiff has to prove that the injury would not have happened if it weren’t for the accident, and that the injury did not exist before the accident.
Obvious examples of this include a broken foot if a pedestrian is run over by a car. But other times, the direct link between the crash and the injury is harder to prove, especially if the plaintiff had pre-existing health problems — like a back injury — that were exacerbated by the crash.
The last thing you have to prove is that your injuries are real. That’s not a difficult thing to do as long as you have documented medical records, photos and receipts.
No matter how minor or severe you think your injury is, if you or someone you love was injured in a car accident, you need the help of an experienced personal injury attorney. Contact Robert Armstrong’s office today.
Your Car Accident Injury Claim: Settle or Sue in Court?
It’s fun to imagine a dramatic courtroom and a judge or jury handling your car accident claim, but the reality is that most car accident injury claims are settled without a lawsuit ever being filed — and the ones that are filed don’t usually make it all the way to trial.
Sometimes, it’s necessary and better for the injury victim to go to court and let a judge or jury hear your case. Other times, it’s more practical to pursue a settlement. Each case is different, and there are many factors at play.
What are the advantages to settling your car accident injury claim?
Here are a few pros of settling your claim before filing a lawsuit:
What are the advantages to going to court?
Although most cases settle before court, there are a few advantages to taking your case all the way. These include:
Ultimately, you should always consult with your attorney before deciding whether to settle or file a lawsuit. He or she is the best person to help you make that decision.
If you or someone you love has been injured in a vehicle accident, contact Robert Armstrong’s office today.
How Long will my Personal Injury Case Take?
Personal injury cases can take anywhere from months to years to come to an end. Of course, all of this depends on the complexities of your case, the severity of the injuries, and many, many other factors.
Generally speaking, any personal injury case can be settled sooner than later — but you will have to be willing to take a lower payment for your suffering. The question you will have to ask yourself is: How much money are you willing to give up to get a check faster?
Why do personal injury cases take so long?
Personal injury cases can move at a snail’s pace for several reasons, the main ones being:
If any of the above factors are at play, you’re just going to have to be patient and wait for things to be resolved. If not, you will be forced to settle for “pennies on the dollar.”
Don’t let the complexities of your personal injury case get in the way of getting the amount of money you deserve. If you or someone you love has been injured, contact Robert Armstrong’s office today.
Types of Compensation for a Spinal Cord Injury
Spinal cord injuries are among the worst types of injuries because they are almost always complicated — and severe. A spinal cord injury will most likely affect you and your loved ones for the rest of your life.
The costs associated with a spinal cord injury are hard to fathom: The Christopher and Dave Reeve Foundation estimates that a 25-year-old person with a severe spinal cord injury could incur anywhere between $2 million and $4.5 million in expenses over the course of his or her life.
What are the costs associated with spinal cord injuries?
There are several costs that can be incurred with a spinal cord injury. These include:
What types of compensation should you seek after a spinal cord injury?
If you sustained a spinal cord injury because of a business’s or someone else’s negligence, you are entitled to recoup all of the above expenses — medical, caregiving, loss of earning capacity, diminished quality of life, alternative treatments — plus more. These include:
Spinal cord injuries are anything but easy, and that’s where an experienced spinal cord injury attorney comes in. If you or someone you love has suffered a spinal cord injury, contact Robert Armstrong’s office for help.
The Dangers of Do It Yourself Accident Claims
If you’ve been in a car accident and were not seriously injured, or the damages to your vehicle weren’t very severe, you might start thinking about whether you can handle the insurance claim yourself, or if you need to hire a lawyer.
While it’s true that some car accidents are minor enough to not need a lawyer, you should think long and hard before you decide to go at it alone.
What are the dangers of representing yourself in a car accident claim?
Here are just a few of the downsides to settling a personal injury/car accident claim yourself:
While it’s true that some cases are more complicated than others and some require less work than others, the money you save by not hiring an experienced personal injury attorney could end up costing you more in the long run.
If you or someone you love has been injured in a car accident, contact Robert Armstrong’s office today.
Pedestrian Accidents: Can the Pedestrian Ever be Liable?
When it comes to pedestrian accidents, people often assume that it’s almost always the driver’s fault because of the old maxim, “The pedestrian has the right of way.” That’s not always correct, by the way, and there are several situations in which the pedestrian can be at fault — either totally at fault or partially at fault.
Of course, if you are a pedestrian and you’re hit by a vehicle and the accident wasn’t your fault at all, you will likely be able to recover damages for any injuries you might have sustained.
What are some common scenarios in which a pedestrian can be liable?
Have you ever heard the ice cream truck coming down the street and ran toward it without looking both ways? What if there was a vehicle coming and you didn’t see it? That’s just one instance in which you, the pedestrian, could be at fault for a pedestrian accident if that vehicle were to hit you.
Here are some more:
In all of the above situations, there’s a good chance that the driver also shares some of the blame because he or she was traveling too fast, was not paying attention, or didn’t stop in time because of some other circumstance.
What if the pedestrian and the driver share fault?
In most states, if the driver and the pedestrian are both to blame for the accident, then an insurance company, or a judge or jury, will determine the percentage of fault for each person involved and base recovery of damages on that percentage.
North Carolina, unfortunately, is not most states. North Carolina is one of only four states and the District of Columbia to follow the contributory negligence rule, which means that even if the pedestrian is only 1 percent at fault for the accident, he or she is not legally able to recover a penny from the other person’s insurance company. Essentially, it’s an “all or none” regulation.
In sum, pedestrian accidents are not all black and white, and the cases can get very complicated very quickly. That’s why it’s so important that you hire an experienced personal injury attorney like Robert Armstrong. Contact his office today for help.
Common Reasons for Personal Injury Claim Denial
If you’ve been injured in an accident and the other driver was at fault, the at-fault driver’s insurance company will do everything it can to give you as little money as possible. Unfortunately, that’s just the way insurance companies work.
Here are some common reasons why insurance companies could try to deny your claims:
There are many other reasons why insurance companies will deny your personal injury claims, which is why it is important to hire an experienced personal injury attorney like Robert Armstrong to stop the insurance companies from wrongfully denying your claim.
If you or someone you love has been injured in an accident, contact Robert Armstrong’s office today.
What Happens in Car Accident Cases With Multiple Defendants?
Car accident cases are almost always complicated in some way, but when there are multiple cars involved — or multiple parties involved in the claims process — it gets even more convoluted.
This is especially true in North Carolina, which is one of only four states and the District of Columbia that follows the pure contributory negligence rule. Alabama, Maryland and Virginia are the other three.
What is the contributory negligence rule?
If there are multiple cars or multiple defendants involved in the case, the chance that there are multiple people at fault increases. If you are determined to have no fault, then you will be able to seek damages from all the parties that were determined to be at fault.
What is vicarious liability?
One thing you might encounter if you’re involved in a car accident case with multiple defendants is vicarious liability. What’s that?
What happens when multiple people are at fault?
When multiple people caused the accident, then if you are 0 percent at fault, your personal injury attorney can go after all of the other people who caused the accident.
But there are also downsides to having multiple defendants:
If you have been involved in an accident and there are multiple defendants involved, it’s imperative that you contact an experienced personal injury law firm like Robert Armstrong’s office, immediately.
Cases involving multiple defendants take a lot more time, preparation and expertise, and without that expertise, you could be missing out on the money you are owed.
Contact Robert Armstrong’s office today for help.
Traumatic Brain Injuries signs and symptoms
If you’ve ever been in a serious automobile or motorcycle accident, it’s normal to feel off-kilter and out of sorts right after the crash. But how can you tell if that state of confusion stems from a traumatic brain injury?
You’ll need a doctor to determine that, but there are some signs and symptoms you should be on the lookout for in the days and weeks following your accident.
What are the symptoms of a mild traumatic brain injury?
If you have a feeling of disorientation, headache or confusion after your injury this could be classified as a mild traumatic brain injury, which is the most common type of traumatic brain injury. The Center for Disease Control clearly states that a concussion is a mild traumatic brain injury.
Here are the wide range of symptoms that are associated with mild traumatic brain injury:
If you experienced any of the above symptoms after an automobile accident, you should seek medical care as soon as possible, within one to two days of the injury.
What are the symptoms of moderate or severe traumatic brain injury?
To be classified a moderate or severe traumatic brain injury, you could have experienced any of the symptoms associated with a mild brain injury, in addition to the following troublesome signs:
Being unconscious for several minutes or several hours
Keep in mind that the “mild,” “moderate,” and “severe” descriptions of brain injuries are there to portray the level of impact the injury will have on your brain’s ability to function. Even if it’s considered a mild traumatic brain injury, your ability to function as you once did may be compromised and you should still seek prompt medical care.
If left unchecked, the temporary symptoms listed above could worsen or become permanent. People older than 65 are at an increased risk of brain injury after an accident, as are patients who are on blood-thinning medications.
If you or someone you love has suffered a brain injury from an automobile or motorcycle accident, contact experienced personal injury attorney Robert Armstrong today.
Should You Handle Your Own Personal Injury Claim or Hire a Lawyer?
It’s the moment no one is waiting for. You’re on your way to somewhere important, and then you get injured in a car accident.
What to do now? Do you hire a lawyer? Do you settle the claim on your own? These are complicated questions. There are a few benefits to settling the claim yourself if it’s a very minor accident with very little injury involved, but even in those cases, taking the case on your own without the guidance of an attorney is risky.
Saving the money on legal fees could end up costing you more in the end if you don’t have an experienced advocate handling all the convoluted details and advocating on your behalf. Keep in mind that an insurance company has lots of lawyers on staff who are trained to figure out how to pay you the least amount of money possible.
When should you hire an attorney for a personal injury claim?
It’s imperative that you hire a personal injury attorney if you have the following conditions:
How are your injuries measured?
So, you’ve been injured, but you don’t know if they’re considered severe. That’s one sign that you should consult with an attorney. Here’s how your injuries are measured:
These are all factors that will determine the severity of your injury in terms of an insurance claim, and the more serious the injuries, the more complicated the case gets.
What can insurance companies do to try to avoid paying you?
Without a lawyer, insurance companies have several methods for denying you what you are owed. These include:
For all of these reasons and more, if you are injured in an automobile accident, it’s best that you consult with an experienced personal injury attorney like Robert Armstrong. Contact his office today.