10 Reasons You Might Need a Personal Injury Lawyer

It is very common for people to not file a lawsuit, even when they have a right to take legal action. You can consider pursuing a lawsuit whenever you have experienced an event of negligence or intentional harm against you.

10 situations when you might need a personal injury lawyer

1. You were injured in a vehicular accident The National Safety Council estimates that 4.4 million people suffered injuries on the nation’s highways in 2015. Of those injuries, more than half of them required medical attention. Associated costs for injuries jumped 24 percent over the previous year.
2. You were injured while riding a bike Nearly 500,000 cyclists visited the emergency room due to bike injuries suffered while riding, and more than 900 cyclists lost their lives in accidents in 2013, according to the Center for Disease Control.
3. You were injured as a pedestrian The U.S. News reported that pedestrian deaths escalated by about 10 percent in 2015. The study cites significant concerns about the growing problem of pedestrian safety in the nation. If the trends in initial reports continue, the annual increase will be the largest in more than three decades.
4. You were bitten by a dog or other animal Victims suffer from an estimated 4.5 million dog bites annually in the country.
5. You were injured by a defective product Product liability encompasses a wide range of defective products, such as vehicle parts, furniture and more. Generally, more than one person complains about defects or harmful side effects of the product, resulting in a class-action lawsuit or claim.
6. You were injured due to unsafe conditions on someone else’s property Premises liability includes the failure of the property owner and/or landlord to ensure the safety of guests and visitors to the premises. Every year, about 8 million people visit the emergency room after a fall, making it one of the most common premises liability cases. Broken bones happen in about 5 percent of all falls, with hip fractures the most serious of these. About one-third of people over the age of 65 will fall each year in this country. About 50 percent of all accidental deaths at home happen due to a fall.
7. You were injured at work According to the Bureau of Labor and Statistics, work-related injuries resulted in nearly 1.16 million lost days from work in 2014. Nearly 4,700 people lost their lives on the job that same year.
8. You or a loved one was injured or abused in a nursing home In a study of 7,000 elders living in some type of community care, 11 percent suffered some type of mistreatment — physical, neglect, emotional or sexual — during the previous year.
9. You or a loved one was injured due to a medical mistake As reported by Time, more than 250,000 people lose their lives annually in the nation due to medical mistakes, which totals about 9.5 percent of deaths for any reason. Medical errors include mistakes in medication dosages, miscommunications between medical professionals, mistakes during surgery, misdiagnosis, neglect and other assorted mistakes.
10. Wrongful death Wrongful deaths generally happen in any of the previous categories when a person dies because of someone else’s negligence or accidents.

Considering Short- and Long-Term Injuries

The value of your case depends largely on the types of injuries that you suffered. For example, the court usually places a lower cost on short-term injuries, such as soft tissue injuries, than it does on long-term injuries, such as paralysis or head injuries that result in permanent damage.

Paying for a Personal Injury Lawyer

While expenses in a personal injury case can be significant, our firm works on a contingency basis, which means that you do not need to pay any money up front to our personal injury lawyer in Cleveland. Instead, our law firm covers these expenses, and you only pay us if you win your case. If you have questions about your situation, contact a personal injury lawyer in Clevaland for assistance.

Image provided by Pedro Ribeiro Simões under the creative commons attribution 2.o generic license.