Hamburg, NY Personal Injury Lawyer
Many types of injuries and accidents can entitle victims to compensation for their medical expenses, lost wages, and other damages. In some cases, you may believe that the accident is your fault, but the law may actually entitle you to file a lawsuit against a property owner, product manufacturer, or other responsible party.
To get the compensation you need, work with an experienced Hamburg, NY personal injury lawyer. Without a lawyer, you might not be able to get a firm idea of what your case is worth, and insurance companies may attempt to take advantage of your gaps in legal knowledge to force a low settlement.
For help with your case, call our Hamburg personal injury lawyers at The Carrion Law Firm today at (718) 841-0083.
Who is At Fault in a Personal Injury Case in Hamburg, NY?
Determining which parties are at fault in your injury case often comes down to determining who was in a position to keep you safe and whether they breached any legal duties they owed you. For someone to be held responsible for your injuries, there typically must be some preexisting relationship on which to base the duty.
Some types of injury cases have a clear law that your Hamburg personal injury lawyers can point to to prove that there was a legal duty. For instance, property owners are usually required to have their property meet certain building codes to keep guests and residents safe, and they are required by many municipal ordinances to clear ice and snow in a timely manner to prevent slip and falls. Perhaps the clearest example of a legal duty is all of the traffic laws that drivers are required to follow to keep each other safe on the road.
In cases where the duty is based on some kind of relationship, a few different duties typically come to mind. First, an employer might owe their employees certain duties that can allow workers to sue if they are injured on the job. Second, a doctor or other health care provider typically owes their patient a duty of care defined by certain standards of care in their profession. Third, a property owner typically owes certain duties to other people who come on their property. This last duty might shift depending on the specific relationship, i.e., whether the visitor is considered an “invitee,” a “licensee,” or a “trespasser.”
There are also various other relationships that might create legal duties, such as the relationship between a carrier (e.g., a bus or truck driver) and a passenger, a manufacturer and the purchaser of their products, and more. If any of these duties are breached through negligence or recklessness, the breaching party can be held liable for the accident.
Holding Defendants Liable for Injuries in Hamburg, NY
As discussed above, these various laws and relationships create legal duties that people have to follow. If these duties are breached through negligence or recklessness, the victim can hold the breaching party liable for the damages they suffer.
For your Hamburg personal injury lawyers to prove that the breach involved negligence, they typically have to show that the defendant failed to use the proper care or skill when carrying out their duty. For example, a homeowner who fails to thoroughly clear snow off their sidewalk might leave enough ice behind that someone slips and falls. Similarly, a doctor who fails to run certain tests because they did not keep up with current diagnostic trends in their field could be responsible for misdiagnosing a patient.
To get damages from the defendant, your Hamburg personal injury lawyer will also need to prove that the breach of duty actually caused your damages. This is typically done by producing evidence that the accident only happened because the defendant acted the way they did. If the defendant did something wrong, but the accident was actually caused by some intervening force or another actor, then the defendant would not be responsible. Similarly, if the injury was unavoidable, whether or not the defendant did something wrong would not play a part in the accident.
You also have to produce evidence of the actual damages you suffered so that your Hamburg personal injury attorneys can prove the value of your case. Without proof of damages, there is nothing for you to claim in court.
Burden of Proof in Hamburg, NY Injury Claims
The “burden of proof” in a court case is the rule that says who has to prove the case and what level of proof they need. In an injury case, the victim and their injury lawyers will have to produce evidence and prove the case before the court will award them damages. The standard they must meet is known as a “preponderance of the evidence” standard. This standard essentially requires the victim to show that it is more likely than not that the defendant’s negligence indeed caused their injuries.
Many readers may be familiar with the burden of proof in criminal cases: the “beyond a reasonable doubt” standard. The preponderance of the evidence standard used in civil cases is a much lower burden that makes it easier for victims to win a civil injury case than for the government to win a criminal case. This can help victims get compensation more easily after an accident, but the actual process of filing a court case and getting compensation is still quite difficult and requires substantial legal knowledge. For help, always consider calling one of our Hamburg, NY personal injury lawyers before settling your case on your own.
Call Our Hamburg Injury Attorneys Today
If you or a loved one faced injuries in any type of accident case, call the Hamburg personal injury lawyers at The Carrion Law Firm today at (718) 841-0083 for a free case review.