Glendale Personal Injury Attorney
Every day, hundreds of people suffer injuries in preventable accidents in the Glendale, Arizona area. Unfortunately, even a mild to moderate injury can result in significant costs in terms of medical bills and future treatment as well as lost wages and earnings potential at work. If the injuries are severe, these costs can be even greater.
If you or a loved one has been injured as a result of the actions of another person, you may be eligible for financial compensation. At The Entrekin Law Firm, our Glendale personal injury lawyers can help you identify who is responsible and maximize the value of your claim, allowing you to recover and move forward.
We offer a free and confidential case evaluation, so call to speak with an attorney as soon as you are able.
Glendale Personal Injury Resources
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Why Hire a Personal Injury Attorney?
Compensation Available in Personal Injury Cases
Common Types of Personal Injuries
Potential Damages in Your Case
Proving Negligence in a Personal Injury Case
How Much Time Do You Have to File an Injury Claim?
Cost of an Attorney
What to Do After an Accident
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Why Hire A Glendale Personal Injury Attorney?
Most people don’t know much about the legal system or how insurance claims work, which makes them vulnerable when dealing with insurance adjusters. An insurance adjuster is not on your side, no matter how friendly they are. They work for the insurance company, and their job is to save the insurance company money by getting you to agree to the lowest settlement as quickly as possible.
This often means that they will pressure you into taking a quick settlement that is significantly lower than what you might be entitled to receive. When you have a lawyer helping you, they can negotiate on your behalf so that you get what you’re entitled to.
They can present evidence and make arguments that could increase the compensation you receive from an insurance company or another party responsible for damages. If you aren’t able to get a settlement amount that is fair, your lawyer can take the claim to court and fight for you at trial.
Compensation Available in Personal Injury Cases
Personal injury law allows injured persons to recover financial compensation from the legally responsible person or entity. In most cases, liability is based on the concept of negligence. If a person’s careless, reckless, or intentional actions or failure to act causes someone to be injured and suffer tangible losses, they may be held legally responsible.
However, recovering the compensation that you are entitled to for your personal injury requires that you collect evidence to prove that someone or something else was at fault for the accident. This can include police or incident reports, surveillance footage, maintenance logs, eyewitness testimony, photographs, accident reconstruction, vehicle black box data, and many other forms of evidence depending upon the circumstances
There are many different types of accidents that may result in a valid personal injury claim. However, the most common include:
Motor vehicle accidents – This can include car accidents, commercial truck accidents, collisions with pedestrians, and Uber or Lyft accidents. With the meteoric rise of Amazon and food delivery applications like Grubhub, Doordash and Uber Eats, collisions involving delivery trucks and gig economy vehicles have increased as well. A Glendale car accident attorney can help you explore your legal options and seek compensation on your behalf.
Premises liability – When someone is injured on another person’s property there is the potential for a premises liability claim. Most commonly, they involve slips, trips and falls, dog bites, negligent security, and swimming pool accidents.
Work-related accidents – Being injured on the job can dramatically affect your life. While the safety net of workers’ compensation is available to most employees, in certain situations you may be able to file a personal injury case. Work injury cases are extremely common in the construction industry.
Wrongful death – The tragic loss of a loved one leaves both an emotional void as well as a financial one. Wrongful death claims can recover compensation for surviving family members to cover funeral costs, loss of companionship, and the lost earnings that the decedent would have earned.
Common Types of Personal Injuries
A serious injury can result from any type of accident, from car collisions to slip and falls. However, some injuries cause greater financial strain than others. These include:
Traumatic Brain Injury: A traumatic brain injury, or TBI, can lead to long-term health implications that result in significant medical costs and also an impact on your ability to work and support yourself and your family. A TBI is caused by a bump, blow, or penetrating wound to your head, and is most often caused by motor vehicle accidents or falls. It can cause permanent chemical changes in your brain that can impact your ability to concentrate and even impact your personality, impacting your ability to work and live the same life as before the accident.
Burn Injury: Burn injuries can be severe and are among the most painful injuries one can suffer.
They also result in significant scarring and disfigurement in many cases and require painful and expensive skin grafts. Full-thickness burns on extremities can even require amputation.
Spinal Cord Injury: An injury to the spinal cord can cause temporary or permanent paralysis, including paraplegia, quadriplegia and tetraplegia. The lifetime costs associated with serious spinal cord injuries are staggering and your attorney must be aware of your needs moving forward.
Broken bones and fractures: Even a hairline fracture can be extremely painful and take months to heal. More severe breaks such as an open fracture can be catastrophic.
Ligament and nerve damage: Ligament damage can greatly impact your mobility and often requires surgical intervention to heal correctly. Nerve damage can be difficult to identify, but make it impossible to live a normal life without intense physical therapy and treatment.
Of course, there are many other injuries – both moderate and severe – that may result from an accident. In some cases, an injured person may suffer a combination of several different serious injuries.
Damages Include Both Medical Bills and Lost Income
The damages for your personal injury will include both short- and long-term medical bills, like emergency room bills, medications, and any ongoing treatment, rehabilitation, and other ongoing medical costs. Additionally, your damages will include the replacement of any lost wages and work benefits during your recovery, and compensation for any of the lost earnings potential your injuries might cause in the future.
Damages for your personal injury generally include:
- short-term medical expenses like ER bills
- long-term medical expenses like treatments, surgeries, medications, and rehabilitation
- lost wages and work benefits
- any impact on your ability to earn income in the future
- potentially damages for pain and suffering, depending on the circumstances
You can only collect on damages that you can prove with evidence, and incorporate into a claim that you submit to the party responsible for your accident. The process can be complex and time-consuming, and it is best completed with the support of a local Glendale personal injury attorney.
Proving Negligence in a Glendale Personal Injury Case
A personal injury claim is a formal way of seeking compensation for damages sustained due to another party’s negligence or intentional act. A successful personal injury claim requires proof of negligence, which means proving the following four elements:
The Defendant’s Duty of Care
The first element that must be established is the defendant’s duty of care owed to the plaintiff. This means that the defendant had a legal responsibility to act with reasonable care and caution towards the plaintiff. For example, if you were injured in a car accident, all other drivers had a duty of care to drive safely and responsibly on the road.
Breach of Duty of Care
The second element requires proof that the defendant breached their duty of care owed to the plaintiff. Your attorney can prove this by presenting evidence that the other driver acted recklessly or was negligent while driving. For example, they were speeding or texting while driving.
Causation
The third element requires that your injuries were caused by the defendant’s breach of duty.
In a car accident situation, if another driver ran a red light and crashed into you, it would be pretty clear that the other driver’s negligence caused the accident.
Plaintiff’s Damages
The fourth element requires proof of compensable damages sustained by the victim due to the accident. This includes medical bills, lost wages, and other losses.
How Much Time Do You Have to File an Injury Claim?
In Arizona, personal injury claims must be filed within two years from the date of the injury: “Except as provided in section 12-551 there shall be commenced and prosecuted within two years after the cause of action accrues, and not afterward, the following actions: 1. For injuries done to the person of another including causes of action for medical malpractice as defined in section 12-561.”
This includes all types of injuries including slip and fall accidents, automobile accidents, medical malpractice, product liability claims, and more. If you fail to file your lawsuit before this two-year period expires, you will likely be barred from seeking compensation for your losses unless there is an exception.
Cost of a Glendale Personal Injury Lawyer
Most personal injury attorneys work on a contingency fee basis. This means that they don’t charge any money up front and instead take a percentage of any settlement or judgment awarded at the end of the case. Contingency fees typically range from 33-40%, depending on the attorney and how complex your case is.
Personal injury lawyers will sometimes negotiate lower contingency fees for cases that are likely to settle out of court. It’s important to ask your attorney about their contingency fee before signing a contract so that you understand exactly what their services will cost at the end of your case.
Steps to Follow After an Accident
Being involved in any type of accident is a traumatic experience. It can be difficult to know what steps to take immediately after the incident, and it’s natural to feel overwhelmed and confused. Knowing what to do in the aftermath of an accident is incredibly important. Here are the steps you should take:
Make Sure You Are in a Safe Spot
The most important thing is to make sure that you and anyone else who was involved in the accident are out of harm’s way. Make sure that all other parties are safe as well.
Call 911
If you suspect that there are injuries, call 911 immediately for medical assistance. It’s also important to have law enforcement arrive on the scene so they can create an official report of what happened.
Take Pictures or Videos with Your Phone
If you are able, take pictures or videos of the scene as soon as possible. This will serve as evidence if there is ever any dispute about how the accident happened or who was at fault. Depending on the type of accident, what you need to document will change.
For example, if you’re involved in a motorcycle accident, take pictures of any property damage, skid marks on the road, traffic signals and signs near the area, and anything else that could provide useful information about your case. A Glendale motorcycle accident lawyer can then help you with the legal components of your case.
Get Names and Contact Info from All Involved Parties and Witnesses
Write down the names and contact info from everyone who was involved in the accident as well as any witnesses who may have seen what happened. This will be helpful when filing paperwork with insurance companies or when working with a personal injury lawyer later on.
Seek Medical Attention & Follow Through With Recommended Treatment
Even if it doesn’t seem like you were seriously injured during the incident, it is always best practice to seek medical attention afterwards just in case there are hidden injuries that may not have been detectable at first glance.
Following through with recommended treatment is also important—even if it takes up more time than anticipated—to ensure that all medical needs are met before moving forward with other legal matters related to your case.
Contact a Personal Injury Lawyer
After addressing immediate safety concerns and any medical needs, you should contact a Glendale personal injury lawyer to discuss your next steps.
Connect with a Glendale Personal Injury Attorney for Help on Your Claim
With one of the dedicated Glendale personal injury attorneys from The Entrekin Law Firm on your case or claim, you can rest assured that you will recover the full amount in compensation that you are entitled to. We handle your claim every step of the way, and if a fair settlement cannot be reached, we take the insurance company to court on your behalf.
Our experienced Glendale personal injury lawyers are standing by, so schedule a consultation with us to explore options on your case. Don’t wait too long though, as you only have a limited amount of time to bring a claim to collect your damages.