Personal Injury

The Key to a Fair Settlement

Protecting Your Rights
Write everything down. Jot down things about the accident as soon as possible after it happens, including details of your injuries and their effect on your daily life.

Physical evidence
Examples include a worn or broken stair which caused a fall; the dent in a car showing where it was hit; an overhanging branch that blocked visibility on a bike path.

Photographs
Take a number of photos from different angles so that you can later pick out the ones that show most clearly whatever it is you want to highlight to the insurance company.

Returning to the scene
If an accident occurred somewhere other than in your home, return to the scene as soon as possible to locate any evidence and photograph any conditions you believe may have caused or contributed to the accident.

Witnesses
A witness to an accident can be immensely valuable to you in making your case to an insurance company. Witnesses may be able to describe things in an accident that confirm what you believe happened.

Five Commonly Asked Questions
How Do I Legally Prove What Happened?
You just need to make a reasonable argument--in plain language--that the other person (or company) was careless, even if there are also plausible arguments on the other side.

Can I Get Compensation If the Accident Might Have Been Partly My Fault?
Even if you might have partly caused an accident yourself, you can still receive compensation from anyone else who was careless and partly caused the accident.

What If My Physical Limitations Make the Accident More Likely or Made My Injuries Worse?
All people, regardless of physical ability, have a legal right to make their way through the world without unnecessary danger.

How Do Insurance Companies Decide How Much They'll Pay?
A claims adjuster begins with the medical expenses. Then the intangibles--pain and other noneconomic losses--are added in by multiplying the medical expenses by 1.5 to 2 times if the injuries are relatively minor, and up to 5 times if the injuries are particularly painful, serious or long-lasting. Finally, lost income is added to that amount.

Who Pays for Accident Injuries?
If one person in an accident was less careful than another, the less careful one must pay for at least some of the damage caused.

How Traffic Laws Help Determine Fault
Your argument to the insurance company that the other driver was at fault can be strengthened if you find some official support.

Slip or Trip and Fall Accidents
Each case turns on whether the property owner acted carefully so that slipping or tripping was not likely to happen--and whether you were careless in not seeing or avoiding the thing you fell on.

Property or Business Owner's Liability
To be legally responsible for the injuries you suffered from slipping or tripping and falling, the owner of the premises or the owner's employee: must have caused the spill, worn or torn spot, or other slippery or dangerous surface or item, to be underfoot must have known the slippery or dangerous material or object was underfoot but did nothing about it

Reasonable Care of Property
In determining a property owner's "reasonableness," the law concentrates onwhether the owner makes regular and thorough efforts to keep the property safe and clean.