Waldron, AR Personal Injury Lawyer

Falling down, crashing a car, using a dangerous product, and other dangerous events can all fall under the umbrella of “personal injury” cases if the injuries can be attributed to someone else’s fault.  Our attorneys help injury victims from these accidents and more sue the responsible parties, getting them damages for the injuries, lost wages, medical expenses, and pain and suffering they faced.

Proving your accident often requires proof of some prior relationship resulting in a legal duty the defendant owed you.  Our attorneys can look into your specific situation and make legal arguments about laws or specific legal duties that applied, show the judge or jury how the defendant breached that duty, and prove the damages the accident caused you.

For a free case review, contact our Fort Smith, AR personal injury attorneys today at (479) 316-0438.

Proof Needed in a Personal Injury Case in Waldron, AR

To win a personal injury case, you need to prove all four elements of your claim “by a preponderance of the evidence.”  You also need to prove how much your injuries cost you to show the damages you deserve in your case.

Elements

A claim for injuries is commonly based on a legal “cause of action” called “negligence.”  To show that someone was negligent, you have to prove that they owed you a legal duty, that they breached that legal duty, that the breach caused your accident, and that your accident resulted in injuries and damages.

The legal duty in question is often based on an existing relationship, such as a doctor’s duties to their patient, a property owner’s duty to guests/customers, a product manufacturer’s duty to a consumer, etc.  Duties can also be based on specific statutes, such as traffic laws, that our personal injury lawyers can cite in your case.

When a breach occurs, it usually happens because they failed to use the proper skill or care that would be reasonably expected in that situation.  It might also stem from something more serious like recklessness or intentional breach of duty, but mere carelessness or a mistake is all we need to prove in most claims.

We also need to prove that this mistake/breach was what caused the accident, or else the blame should lie elsewhere.  And lastly, there must be actual damages or else there is nothing to sue for in your case.

Preponderance of the Evidence Standard

The “burden of proof” in your case rests on you as the plaintiff.  This means you need to bring sufficient evidence to convince the judge or jury that your claim is true “by a preponderance of the evidence.”  This is a “more likely than not” standard, meaning you need to show your side of the story is more likely than the defendant’s.  If you can meet this burden, you win your case.

This means you only need to show the judge/jury your claim is ever so slightly more believable; you do not need to prove it beyond a reasonable doubt.  Usually, these claims can be based on witness testimony alone or testimony plus photos and other evidence.  In some cases, we will need expert witnesses to analyze what happened and provide expert reports on scientific or technical evidence, such as medical records, manufacturing processes and mistakes, or the effects of certain chemical exposure on the human body.

Evidence of Damages

To prove the fourth element of your case – damages – you must also prove the amount of damages you are claiming in your case.  When it comes to damages for economic harms like medical expenses and lost earnings, you can provide hard financial records like hospital bills, pay stubs, and more.  Projecting future lost earnings can be more difficult to analyze and might require financial experts to discuss your projected retirement age and missed promotions/raises if you are unable to work anymore after the accident.

Emotional distress, mental anguish, pain and suffering, and other “non-economic” damages are not based on financial values but rather on the mental and emotional effects you faced.  We can prove these by showing their severity through your personal testimony and testimony from doctors, therapists, and loved ones.  We can also calculate these damages with some shortcuts by finding a per-day value or applying a multiplier to your other damages based on how bad the pain and suffering is.

Settling and Suing for Personal Injury Cases in Waldron, AR

Our attorneys will do our best to maximize the damages you can receive in your case.  This often means accepting a settlement early to avoid the cost of additional legal fees as the case goes on, plus the expense of filing in court, preparing exhibits, going through discovery (exchange of evidence), etc.  However, the defense is often unwilling to settle for a value that fairly covers your damages, meaning that going to trial is necessary to get you what you deserve.

When trying to settle a case, we will take into account the savings that you experience by not having to go to trial.  However, so will the other side.  This could mean you end up short on the damages you truly deserve, which might not be acceptable.  In many cases, if we progress to trial, we can put additional pressure on the defense and get them to settle for a better value, especially if they know they will lose at trial.

If the case does go to trial with strong evidence in your favor, it is possible you could win far more than the defense was willing to pay.  Your case will be more expensive, but it may be worth it in the end.  However, if your evidence is tenuous or your case is weak, it is possible the jury could always rule against us.  This could make trial too risky.

In any case, we can counsel you on the settlement offers the defendant and their insurance company offer, helping you determine whether accepting the offer or going to trial is best for you.  Ultimately, the decision to settle or not is yours, not your attorney’s.

Call Our Personal Injury Lawyers in Waldron, AR Today

For a free case review, call (479) 316-0438 to speak with our personal injury attorneys today.