Phoenix Personal Injury Attorney
A serious injury can dramatically change your life in an instant. An injury can leave you with permanent disability, scarring, or disfigurement, create significant financial pressures from medical expenses and missed work, and even reduce or remove your ability to earn income in the future. However, you don’t have to deal with this uncertainty alone. At The Entrekin Law Firm, our Phoenix personal injury attorneys can help.
If you were injured in an accident that was caused by someone or something else, you may be entitled to compensation for your damages. Collecting what you are entitled to for your accident depends upon the quality, accuracy, and completeness of the evidence collected in support of your case, and how effectively it is drafted, filed, and negotiated.
The Entrekin Law Firm will ensure that your rights are protected and build a strong case to achieve the best possible outcome for you and your family. We will work to recover the full amount of compensation you are entitled to so that you and your family can move on from the accident without having to worry about being financially crippled from it. Call today for a free and confidential case evaluation.
Phoenix Personal Injury Resources
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Common Personal Injuries in Phoenix
What Does a Phoenix Personal Injury Lawyer Do?
Accidents That Lead to Recoverable Damages
Arizona’s Comparative Negligence Rule
Negligence Must Be Proven Before Damages Are Collected
What Do Damages Cover in a Phoenix Personal Injury Case?
When Can You Collect Damages in a Personal Injury Case?
Potential Damages Available in Your Case
Your Attorney Keeps You From Being Taken Advantage Of
Your Attorney Support You, From Drafting to Collecting
What Are the Upfront Costs of a Personal Injury Lawyer?
Frequently Asked Questions About Personal Injury Claims
Speak to a Phoenix Personal Injury Lawyer
Common Personal Injuries You Could Recover Compensation For
While no two personal injury cases are alike, there are certain personal injuries that lead to significant short- and long-term costs and expenses that we regularly represent clients on. These personal injuries include:
- Traumatic Brain Injury – a bump or blow to the head can cause irreversible injury to the brain
- Burn Injury
- Neck and Back Injury
- Spinal Cord Injury
- Arizona wrongful death action – when you have lost a loved one to an accident, you may be entitled to bring a claim on their behalf
Whatever the injury, it must have happened in an accident that was caused by someone or something else. The Entrekin Law Firm has specialists ready to take on your case, whether you’re pursuing a dog bite lawsuit or require a Phoenix construction accident attorney.
What Does a Phoenix Personal Injury Lawyer Do?
If you or someone you love has been injured by someone else’s negligence, you may be wondering what a personal injury lawyer can do for you. Here are some of the things a personal injury lawyer will do:
Speak with witnesses
If you’ve been injured, your personal injury lawyer will speak with any witnesses who saw what happened. This will allow your lawyer to get an idea of the circumstances around your accident and what led to your injuries.
Consult with expert witnesses
In some cases, a personal injury lawyer may consult with expert witnesses. These are professionals who have expertise in a particular area and can provide helpful insights into your case. For example, medical expert witnesses can help link your injuries to the accident, or your lawyer might speak with an expert who can reconstruct the accident scene.
Gather evidence
Your lawyer will also gather evidence related to your case. This may include medical records, police reports, photographs of injuries and property damage, and more. This evidence will be used to build a strong case on your behalf.
Calculates Damages
Damages are the financial losses you have suffered as a result of the injury. This can include medical bills, lost wages, and pain and suffering. Once damages are calculated or at least estimated, your lawyer will know how much compensation to ask for.
Negotiate with insurance companies
Insurance companies typically don’t have your best interests in mind after an accident. However, a personal injury lawyer will negotiate with these companies on your behalf to try to get you the compensation you deserve.
Take your case to trial
If necessary, a personal injury lawyer will take your case to trial. This is usually only done if the insurance company is unwilling to offer a fair settlement. You may be awarded damages if the judge or jury finds in your favor.
As you can see, there are numerous ways in which a personal injury lawyer can help you if you’ve been harmed by someone else’s negligence. If you’re looking for justice and compensation, hiring a qualified personal injury lawyer is the best way to ensure that your rights are protected every step of the way.
Accidents that Lead to Recoverable Personal Injury Damages
You can recover compensation for damages from accidents caused by someone or something else. While nearly any accident could qualify as such, there are some common accidents that lead to personal injury cases that we regularly work with, including:
- Car Accidents
- Truck Accidents/18-Wheeler Crashes
- Motorcycle Accidents
- Pedestrian accidents
- Workplace Accidents
- Slip-and-Falls
- Rideshare accidents
Whatever the accident, if it was caused by someone or something else and led to injuries that caused you damages, you could be entitled to compensation. While these are some of the most common causes of personal injury cases that we have helped clients recover what they are entitled to, it is important to understand that you can only recover damages when another party was negligent. Negligence is a legal concept that your Phoenix personal injury attorney will prove by applying the unique facts and circumstances of your accident to the legal definition of negligence.
Arizona’s Comparative Negligence Rule
If you have been injured in an accident that was caused by at least partially by your own behavior, you may still be able to recover compensation for your losses under Arizona’s pure comparative negligence rule.
Under the pure comparative negligence rule, if you are found to be partially at fault for the accident, you can still recover damages. The jury will simply apportion responsibility for the accident between the parties based on each party’s degree of fault, and your award will be reduced accordingly. So, if you are 20% at fault for your own injuries, and the defendant is 80% at fault, you will be able to recover 80% of your damages from the defendant.
Pure comparative negligence permits plaintiffs to recover damages even if they are 99% at fault for an accident. The theory behind this rule is that even though you may have been primarily responsible for your own injuries through your own negligence, it is still unfair to completely bar your recovery when another party was also negligent and contributed to causing your injuries.
Negligence Must Be Proven for Damages to be Collected
You might be injured in an accident and have a variety of resulting bills and costs, but your local Phoenix personal injury lawyer can only help you recover compensation when the accident was caused by someone or something else. When someone or something else causes an accident, they are considered to have been negligent.
Negligence is a legal concept comprised of four parts, as follows:
- Duty
- Breach
- Causation
- Damages
All four elements of negligence must be proven by applying the unique facts and circumstances of your accident to the legal concept. The insurance companies have lawyers working to prove that their client was not negligent so that you will be liable for the associated damages. Working with an attorney of your own evens the playing field and ensures that you are not taken advantage of by the insurance company.
What Do Damages Cover in a Phoenix Personal Injury Case?
When you are injured in an accident caused by someone or something else, the purpose of your compensation is to “make you whole.” This is a legal concept that basically means to put you in as close a financial position to normal as possible, as though the accident had not happened. This includes covering all associated costs, including your medical and occupational bills and expenses.
The medically-related damages you recover from your accident are meant to cover both your short- and long-term medical bills and expenses. Some injuries require not only an initial visit to the emergency room, but also follow-up appointments, treatments, medications, and even rehabilitation. These can be very costly, and if they are not calculated and incorporated into your settlement, you and your family could be left paying the associated bills out-of-pocket in the future.
Being injured in an accident can also entitle you to occupational compensation for lost wages and work benefits in the short-term and lost earnings potential in the long-term. You are entitled to compensation to make up for any lost wages during your recovery, including lost work benefits like accrued sick and vacation time. If your injuries impact your ability to earn the same amount of money as before your injury, you are entitled to compensation for the difference from the time of your injury through your working life.
After you accept a settlement, you will no longer be able to pursue compensation for the damages associated with your accident, even if new damages are discovered in the future. If your medical condition turns out to be far worse and will cost hundreds of thousands in treatments, those costs will have to be covered by your family. Accurately calculating your damages, and proving them with evidence, is essential to recovering the full amount you are entitled to.
When Can You Collect Damages in a Personal Injury Case?
The amount of compensation you are able to collect, whether through an insurance claim or a lawsuit, is limited by the evidence you produce to prove your damages. For example, if you are in a car accident and cut your head striking it on the steering wheel during the collision, you will have a variety of injuries. The cut on your head during your initial visit to the emergency room may have cost hundreds of dollars for stitches to repair. The emergency room bill is evidence to use in support of your compensation. If that bill is all the evidence you have, that is all the damages you will be entitled to collect.
Due to the wound to your head, you might also have experienced a traumatic brain injury, which could lead to hundreds of thousands of dollars in medical expenses and lost earnings. In order to collect compensation for these damages, you need evidence that the court would admit in support of your related damages. This evidence comes from medical and occupational experts who you will need to receive follow-up appointments from. Your local Phoenix personal injury lawyer has a network of these professionals and will help you schedule your appointments.
The medical expert will estimate the present and future medical costs associated with your traumatic brain injury, including medications, treatments, surgeries, and any rehabilitation that might be necessary. The occupational expert then applies your medical symptoms to your ability to work and measures the impact on your earnings in the long term. With evidence from these experts on hand, your attorney will be able to demand the full long-term damages linked to your head injury, and not just those related to your short-term emergency room and other bills.
Potential Damages Available in Your Case
To prove your case, you will need to show that the other party was at fault and that you suffered damages as a result of their actions. Some typical damages that are available in personal injury cases include:
Compensatory Damages
Compensatory damages are meant to compensate the injured party for their losses. They can be either economic or noneconomic in nature.
Economic
Economic damages are awarded to compensate the injured party for their financial losses that are directly related to the accident, and typically include the following:
Medical Expenses
This can include both current and future medical expenses related to your injuries. For example, if you incurred hospitalization fees, surgery costs, or rehabilitation costs, you would be able to recover those expenses.
If you will need future medical care, such as long-term care or future surgeries, those costs can also be recovered. To recover future medical expenses, you will need to provide expert testimony from a doctor detailing the expected cost of treatment.
Lost Wages and Earning Capacity
If your injuries have prevented you from being able to work or have caused you to miss work, you can recover lost wages. If your injuries are permanent and have caused you to lose earning capacity, you can also recover the difference between what you are able to earn now and what you would have been able to earn if you had not been injured. To recover lost wages or earning capacity, you will need documentation from your employer detailing your wages before and after the accident.
Non-Economic
Noneconomic damages are awarded to compensate the injured party for their emotional injuries, which most commonly includes the following:
Pain and Suffering
You can also recover damages for the physical pain and suffering that you have endured as a result of your injuries. This can be difficult to calculate because there’s no objective monetary amount that your pain and suffering is worth.
Mental Pain and Suffering
In addition to physical pain and suffering, you can also recover damages for any mental anguish or emotional distress that you have experienced as a result of your injuries. This might include depression, anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), or any other mental health condition that has arisen due to the accident.
In some cases, punitive damages may also be available if the defendant’s actions were particularly egregious.
Your Phoenix Personal Injury Lawyer Ensures You are Not Taken Advantage Of
In your claim, you will generally be trying to collect compensation for your injuries from the insurance company of the party that caused the accident that led to your injuries. Insurance companies do not work for injured persons, or even the people and companies paying their premiums, but rather insurance companies work for profit. They employ full-time teams of attorneys and claim analysts to carefully scrutinize all claims that come in so they can reduce or deny as many as possible in pursuit of higher profits.
Your personal injury attorney in Phoenix collects the evidence you need to accurately and completely measure your damages, then forces the insurance company to be accountable. This process begins with filing a complete and well-drafted claim that is fully supported by evidence from medical and occupational experts as we discussed above. The insurance company may try and negotiate a lower amount than our evidence proves, or they may deny your claim altogether.
When the insurance company denies your claim, there may be an option to appeal, which is generally much more difficult to achieve success on. More often than not, when a claim is denied, the best option to collect what you are entitled to is to file a lawsuit.
Your Personal Injury Attorney Covers Your Claim from Drafting through Collecting
With a local Phoenix personal injury lawyer on your claim, you can step back and focus on recovering from your injuries while your lawyer handles everything else. Once we are on your claim, we will take over the day-to-day demands, including everything from collecting evidence and drafting your claim to negotiating the best possible outcome with the insurance company.
If the insurance company is unwilling to offer a fair settlement for your injuries, we will file a lawsuit on your behalf. Filing a lawsuit requires that all evidence follow the rules and procedures of your local court, and that the drafting itself meet a long list of formatting requirements and other details that must be included for the state to even begin to consider your case.
Filing a lawsuit is an extensive process that law students spend years in school studying, then years in practice trying to master. Going against the insurance company and their lawyers on your own in a lawsuit is not likely to lead to the best possible outcome, and will surely take a great deal of your time and effort to complete successfully. With an attorney on your case, you not only have to do none of the work, but the odds of winning are also exponentially higher.
The cost of filing the lawsuit and all other related expenses do not come out of your pocket, but instead we will handle everything. You pay nothing out-of-pocket, ever, and we only get paid if we win on your case.
What Are the Upfront Costs of a Personal Injury Lawyer?
At The Entrekin Law Firm, we take all cases on a contingency fee basis. Contingency means that we only get paid if we win, out of a portion of the earnings that we’ll agree upon before getting started. This arrangement allows clients who may otherwise not be able to afford an attorney access to quality legal services when they need it most – after an injury.
Your initial case assessment is free of charge. During this assessment, we will consider the basic facts and circumstances of your injuries and the accident that led to them. If we think your case might be something we can help on, we’ll complete some additional research and request further information to determine whether you have a case that fits with our firm.
Should you decide to hire our firm, we will present you with the terms of engagement which detail the attorney-client relationship that we would have if we take your case. This will provide the full details about how we will be paid when we win your case, and what our relationship will include.
You are invited to schedule your risk-free, cost-free case assessment, and from there we’ll see what options there are for us to help you recover the full amount of damages you are entitled to.
Frequently Asked Questions About Personal Injury Claims in Phoenix
How Much is My Case Worth?
The answer to this question is not always black and white because every personal injury case is unique. However, there are certain parameters that can help give you a general idea of how much your case may be worth. Here are some factors to consider:
1. Liability: Who is at fault for the accident? If you were injured due to someone else’s negligence, you will likely have a strong case. However, if you were partially at fault for your injuries, your case will be weaker and worth less.
2. The Severity of Your Injuries: Permanent injuries are typically worth more than temporary injuries because they have a longer-lasting impact on your life. For example, a spinal cord injury that results in paralysis will be worth more than a broken bone that heals within a few months.
3. Impact on Your Life: In addition to the severity of your injuries, the court will also consider how your injuries have impacted your life. For example, if you can no longer work or participate in activities that you enjoy, you may be entitled to receive compensation for lost wages and pain and suffering due to the impact the accident has on your life.
4. Medical Bills and Other Expenses: You should be reimbursed for all your medical bills related to the accident, as well as any other expenses (e.g., property damage, lost wages) incurred as a result of the accident.
If you have been involved in a personal injury accident, it is best to speak with an experienced personal injury lawyer who can give you a more accurate estimate of how much your case may be worth based on the specific details of your accident.
How Long Will My Case Take?
Many people who are considering hiring a personal injury lawyer want to know one thing up front: how long is this going to take? Unfortunately, there is no one-size-fits-all answer to this question. The amount of time it takes to resolve a personal injury case depends on many factors, including the severity of the injuries, the number of parties involved, the jurisdiction in which the case is filed, and whether or not the parties can reach an agreement out of court.
Generally, personal injury cases can take anywhere from a few months if a settlement can be quickly reached to a couple years if the case ends up going to trial.
Reach Out to a Local Phoenix Personal Injury Lawyer Now
The sooner you have a personal injury lawyer on your case, the sooner you can rest assured that you will collect the full amount in compensation that you are entitled to. Evidence gets less valuable and effective with the passage of time, so it is best to reach out to an attorney as soon as possible after your accident, after you have received emergency medical care. Your attorney will help you schedule follow-up appointments with medical and occupational experts to begin collecting evidence in support of your full compensation.
To begin the process of collecting the complete amount of compensation you are entitled to for your accident, schedule a consultation with an attorney from The Entrekin Law Firm today.