Whether it was an accident or someone’s deliberate actions, you deserve justice and compensation for being hurt. Since the field of personal injury law is broad, you should speak with an experienced attorney about how to approach your case.
In many cases, the issue’s root is the defendant’s negligence. Although, some cases are based on intentional torts rather than accidents. Evidence is just as varied as injuries. Your attorney can help you use things like photos, videos, witness testimony, and records to prove your claims and get compensation. We need this evidence to prove that the defendant caused your injuries and damages. You should hire an attorney to help you evaluate your damages, find the right evidence to prove your claims and walk you through the complicated legal process of getting your case to court.
Make an appointment for a free case evaluation with our personal injury lawyers at the Rhatigan Law Offices by calling our team at (312) 578-8502.
What Leads to Personal Injury Claims in Springfield, IL?
As mentioned above, many personal injury claims are based on accidents and negligence. Even if the defendant’s conduct was unintentional, they should still be held responsible for your injuries. Other claims are based on intentional torts, which often involve the defendant’s intent to engage in dangerous conduct or even intent to cause harm.
Negligence
Negligence is at the heart of many personal injury claims. You might be pressured by the responsible party not to pursue legal action since they did not mean any harm. Even so, they should be held accountable, and you should be compensated for all that you lost and endured.
Negligence can be broken down into 4 legal elements: duty, breach, causation, and damages. Each element must be proven if you are to win your case.
The duty element refers to the legal obligation of care or safety owed to you by the defendant. What this duty entails will vary based on your relationship with the defendant. Even perfect strangers might owe you a duty of care. For example, on the road, all drivers owe a duty to drive with reasonable safety under the circumstances while obeying the traffic laws.
The breach element is how the defendant violated their legal duty of care. The breach might not be obvious at first, and you should speak to an attorney about determining how the defendant breached their duty. Continuing with the example from before, a driver might breach their duty of care by running a red light, speeding, or otherwise violating the traffic code.
To prove the element of causation, our personal injury attorneys must show how the defendant’s breach directly caused the accident and your injuries. The mere fact that the defendant breached their duty might not definitively prove that the breach caused your injuries. We need evidence from your accident to demonstrate causation.
Your damages are the final element. In short, your damages cannot be hypothetical or mere possibilities. They must be real and articulable. If you suffered no injuries or damages, you do not have a legal cause of action.
Intentional Torts
Not all personal injury lawsuits are based on negligence or accidents. In some cases, the defendant’s behavior was very much intentional. This might have been an intent to commit a reckless or dangerous act or an intent to cause harm. Either way, our job is to help you prove that the defendant had the intent necessary to be held liable for an intentional tort.
An intentional tort might be more obvious when the defendant intended to cause harm. For example, perhaps your neighbor intentionally backed into you with their car to hurt you after a heated dispute. They clearly intended to hurt you and should be liable for assault or a similar tort.
Other intentional torts are not as clear, as the defendant might not necessarily intend to cause harm, but they did intend to do something that caused your harm. For example, maybe you were in a car accident with someone engaged in illegal street racing. Even though the racer might not have meant to hit you, they intentionally engaged in dangerous, reckless conduct that a reasonable person would have known to be too risky, and they should be held liable.
Evidence You Might Use in a Springfield, IL Personal Injury Lawsuit
Various pieces of evidence might be gathered for your lawsuit. Evidence has a way of being very unpredictable. In some cases, it is plentiful and readily available. In other cases, it is harder to come by. Remember, if evidence is scarce in your case, it does not mean you do not have a valid cause of action. Many cases have been built on minimal yet powerful evidence.
Photos and videos are common in many personal injury claims. For example, after a car crash, drivers often take pictures to show to insurance companies. Those same pictures can be used as evidence of the crash in a lawsuit. Even if you are not sure about suing after an accident, it is smart to take some pictures anyway.
Depending on where your accident happened, there might be security camera footage depicting the accident. For example, if you slipped and fell in a shopping mall, there were likely mall security cameras monitoring the area where you fell. We might use this footage to show when and how you fell. We might also use it to show that mall personnel never cleaned up a spill or placed a wet floor sign to warn you of the danger.
Witness testimony is important in almost any case. Even if only one or two witnesses come forward with information relevant to your case, their testimony can help sway a jury to our side. Having other people back up your claims may be very convincing to a jury.
Call Our Springfield, IL Personal Injury Attorneys for Support
To schedule a review of your potential injury claims with our personal injury lawyers, call (312) 578-8502 and speak to the team at the Rhatigan Law Offices.
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