Personal Injury Lawyer in Ventura
Navigating the Claim Process for Injured Clients Seeking Compensation
No matter how careful you are on a regular basis, you can’t always avoid being in an accident that was someone else’s fault. After all, it’s possible for you to suffer severe injuries due to everything from defective products and medical malpractice to construction accidents and other unfortunate calamities. When these or other devastating events leave you injured, you could end up thousands of dollars in debt from medical bills, lost wages, and lost future income, all due to someone else’s negligence.
At Skinner Law Corp, we don’t think it’s fair for you to be stuck paying expensive bills due to an accident you didn’t cause, so we’re committed to fighting for you and your family if you decide to pursue a personal injury claim. In our experience, this is the best legal route to recover your losses so you’re not in debt long after the date of your painful injury. We believe you deserve to recover from your injuries stress-free, and hiring an experienced Ventura personal injury lawyer to pursue compensation for you can help with this.
Working with a skilled Ventura personal injury lawyer will help you hold the guilty parties accountable, gather evidence in your defense, talk to witnesses of the accident, and more. At our Ventura law firm, we’re here to help you with any personal injury case you are facing, so you can expect us to represent you in court, negotiate with insurance agents, and ultimately work to get you the outcome you deserve. If you have suffered injuries or lost a loved one from a negligent accident caused by someone else, please don’t hesitate to reach out. Call 310-356-0074 today to schedule a time to discuss your case with a caring personal injury attorney.
What Are the Most Common Types of Personal Injury Cases We Handle?
Any accident that was caused by someone else’s actions can lead to a personal injury claim. As long as you can prove you and your family were negatively affected by the accident, typically by serious injuries that cost a lot of money to treat, you can pursue compensation through the claim process.
If you decide to initiate this type of legal action, you should hire experienced personal injury lawyers to help you with your accident case. In general, most personal injury cases involve one person – called the plaintiff – suing the responsible party – called the defendant. If the plaintiff wins the case, the defendant will be required to pay for any damages related to the accident they caused.
The most common types of personal injury claims include:
- Wrongful Death: When someone dies because of their injuries after an accident, their surviving family members can pursue a wrongful death case. The compensation from these types of complex personal injury cases can be used to pay for funeral expenses, burial costs, medical bills, emotional distress, loss of income, and other losses suffered by the surviving loved ones
- Medical Malpractice: When patients get medical care that aggravates their pain and suffering, they can sue their doctor or healthcare team. Medical malpractice cases are complex, as you must prove that you received inadequate or dangerous medical care that led to painful injuries or disabilities
- Defective Products: Products that are available to consumers are required to be safe for them to use. If you used a product and it injured you in some way, you can sue the product manufacturer or distributor for damages
- Property Damage: Some legal claims don’t involve injuries at all. If your personal property, like your home or vehicle, is damaged by someone else, you can make a claim against the responsible party to ensure they cover the costs to repair or replace it
- Truck Accidents: Large trucks on the road have the potential to cause severe accidents that seriously or even fatally injure nearby drivers and passengers. If you were injured by a semi-truck or an 18-wheeler, you may have a Ventura personal injury case against the truck driver, trucking company, truck part manufacturer, or other liable parties that contributed to the crash
- Catastrophic Injuries: A catastrophic injury is an injury that impacts a person’s future, changing the way they complete day-to-day tasks. These severe injuries include spinal cord injuries, traumatic brain injuries, and more, and they’re often the result of car accidents, semi-truck crashes, or workplace incidents. These injuries usually lead to extensive medical bills and lost income, which you can collect damages for through the claim process
Even if you do not see your personal injury case described here, skilled Ventura personal injury lawyers can typically assist you in getting the compensation you deserve for your losses. We encourage you to reach out to our law firm today to speak with a compassionate attorney with the legal experience and education to guide you through your personal injury case.
Who May Be Found At Fault in a Personal Injury Case?
Determining fault is one of the most critical components of a personal injury claim. Because every personal injury case is different, the process of assigning liability varies from case to case, so it’s helpful to get guidance from trusted Ventura personal injury lawyers before you initiate a claim.
For instance, if you are pursuing a truck accident claim, you would likely hold the truck driver liable for the injuries you suffered. However, if the trucking accident was caused by faulty truck parts, such as defective brakes, you could assign liability to the truck manufacturer. You could also assign some liability to the trucking company that employs the driver, assuming there’s evidence that they pressured the driver to speed or skip out on sleep to reach their destination sooner. Your personal injury attorneys can investigate the crash and proceed with the case based on the evidence they find regarding liability.
Similarly, if you are pursuing a workplace accident lawsuit, you might assign fault to your supervisor for not installing proper safety measures. However, if the accident was caused by a coworker acting negligently in any way, resulting in serious injuries for you, you could pursue a claim against them with the help of a Ventura County attorney.
In short, determining liability in a personal injury case isn’t always a straightforward process, and it’s difficult to do on your own when you’re in pain from the accident. When you hire our law firm, you won’t feel alone when it comes to your case. From the beginning, you can count on our trusted Ventura personal injury attorney to examine the facts of your case and determine who to hold liable and how best to pursue financial compensation. To learn more about how we can assist you through legal representation, contact our Ventura, CA law firm today.
What Damages Can You Get in a Ventura Personal Injury Case?
When you decide to seek monetary compensation in a personal injury claim, it is essential for you to prove that you have suffered certain damages. These are financial and emotional losses that you sustained as a direct result of the accident and the injuries you suffered during and after it.
Once you prove that you have suffered damages, you and your attorney can then prove that the liable party owes you monetary compensation as a result. In most cases, accident victims can pursue three types of damages.
Financial Damages
Financial damages, often called economic damages, have a specific dollar amount attached to them. They’re meant to make up for the money you spent or will spend on the losses you suffered in a car accident or other painful event. They can include:
- Medical bills as a result of injuries from the accident
- Future medical expenses, like physical therapy, surgery, or counseling
- Future lost wages
- Lost income
- Personal property repair or replacement
Your Ventura, CA attorney can give you an estimate of the economic damages to expect once you’ve described your financial losses to them during your free consultation. You can streamline this process by showing your lawyer the bills you’ve paid and any estimates for future costs related to the accident.
General Damages
General damages, also called non-economic damages, are subjective and do not have a specific dollar amount assigned to them. They require subjective calculations and can include the following:
- Emotional distress
- Pain and suffering
- Loss of enjoyment of life
- Loss of consortium
- Loss of companionship
- Loss of use of a body part
The non-economic damages you’re entitled to will depend on the circumstances of your accident, such as the severity of your injuries and how your life has been affected overall. In general, you can expect more compensation if you suffered permanent injuries than if you sustained minor injuries that don’t affect your ability to work or enjoy life. However, only an experienced attorney familiar with your case can tell you how much to expect in non-economic damages, so call us to learn more.
Punitive Damages
Punitive damages are typically only awarded if the negligent party acted in an intentionally harmful or grossly negligent way. These types of damages are meant to punish the liable party and discourage them from repeating the act.
These damages are most commonly awarded in drunk driving cases. If a defendant is found driving under the influence and injures or kills another person as a result, the court may require the drunk driver to pay punitive damages on top of financial and general damages. Your Ventura, CA attorney can review your case and let you know if you will likely be awarded punitive damages.
Do Personal Injury Cases Go To Trial?
While going to court is certainly always a possibility, very few personal injury cases actually go to trial. In most cases, the liable party or their insurance company is willing to negotiate and provide compensation. Settling cases outside of court saves time and money for both parties, making it the more attractive option in most instances.
If your case does go to trial, our personal injury lawyer will represent you in court and present evidence to prove your claim. Our trial attorney has years of litigation experience, having handled numerous complex personal injury cases for injured accident victims. So, if your case doesn’t settle out of court, we’ll represent you in the courtroom, fully prepared to present photos, videos, and witness testimony proving that the other party is at fault for your injuries.
For more information about your personal injury lawsuit, you should call our Ventura, CA law firm as soon as possible. After all, personal injury cases in California fall under a statute of limitations during which you can take legal action against the liable party. Once that statute of limitations expires, you will no longer be able to seek compensation in court, so it’s essential to avoid waiting too long to pursue damages.
In Ventura, CA, the statute of limitations for a personal injury case is two years from when the accident occurred. If you’re filing a wrongful death claim after losing a family member to the at-fault party’s negligence, the statute of limitations is two years from the date of their death. Either way, you don’t want to risk missing out on the chance to pursue compensation after the accident.
While two years may sound like a long time, it really isn’t when it comes to the legal process. These cases can take years to prepare and file, whether your legal team is negotiating with the insurance company or getting ready for your lawsuit to go to court. So, if you were severely hurt in an accident and would like to pursue compensation, you should schedule a free consultation with a personal injury lawyer today to discuss your legal rights as an injured victim or grieving family member.
What Can a Personal Injury Lawyer Do for Injured Victims?
When you work with a Ventura personal injury lawyer, you get a legal professional who is dedicated to getting you the compensation you deserve. Our Ventura personal injury attorney will stick with you throughout your entire case, walking you through the legal steps you need to take to pursue damages.
Here are just some of the steps our trusted law firm will take when handling your personal injury claim:
- Provide a case evaluation. Before you start working with us, we will meet with you to learn more about your case and your goals for your claim. We will listen to the facts about your accident and your injuries to determine if you have a case that could be successful
- Gather evidence. In our years of experience, we’ve observed that the most successful personal injury cases are built upon solid evidence. Fortunately, we know how to gather the evidence necessary to get you the outcome you deserve. You can sit back and focus on healing while we collect important items that include photos, videos, witness statements, medical records, and police reports to bolster your claim. After all, the more evidence we can find regarding the impact the accident has had on your life, the more likely you are to win the fair compensation you seek from the negligent party
- Negotiate with the insurance company. In many cases, filing a claim with the at-fault party’s insurance is the most straightforward way to get the payment you deserve. If we determine this is the best option for you, we will contact their insurance company and speak to insurance agents on your behalf, negotiating the maximum payout you can receive
- File a personal injury lawsuit. If the at-fault party is unwilling to pay you what you deserve, or if the insurance company will not give you the maximum compensation, we can file a claim in court on your behalf. Filing a claim involves filling out complex legal paperwork that must be submitted to the court correctly and within a certain time period, so it’s best to let experienced Ventura personal injury lawyers handle these tasks while you heal from your injuries
- Represent you in court. Not all personal injury claims go to trial, so you might not have to even consider this step as you seek to recover compensation. However, if your case does go to trial, it should give you peace of mind to know that we will represent you in court and present your evidence before a judge. We will not stop fighting until we get the best outcome possible for your case
If you have questions about how experienced attorneys can assist you with getting the financial compensation you deserve, contact our Ventura law firm today. We want you to rest assured that you’re on the way to getting a fair settlement, so please call us for a meeting with a compassionate Ventura injury lawyer at our firm.
Why Should You Contact a Personal Injury Lawyer in Ventura?
If you were injured or lost a loved one in an accident in Ventura County, you deserve compensation for your life-altering losses. Hospital visits, lost wages, and future medical treatment can all quickly add up, leading to thousands of dollars of debt for you and your family to struggle with for years to come. This can feel impossible to deal with when you’re in physical or emotional pain, especially if you’re busy going to frequent doctor appointments for your injuries or planning a funeral after a loved one’s wrongful death. This is why you should seek legal representation from trusted law firms serving clients across Ventura County.
At Skinner Law Corp, our personal injury attorneys have a proven track record of helping injured and grieving clients with the challenging task of financial recovery after car accidents, slip and fall accidents, and other devastating events. Whether you suffered neck injuries in a car accident or lost a family member to the negligence of a drunk driver, the guidance of skilled Ventura personal injury attorneys can help you get the financial compensation you’re entitled to.
If you’re concerned about how you’ll be able to afford the legal fees associated with your claim, it’s important to know that our Ventura County law firm works on a contingency fee basis. This means you will only pay for our legal services once you’re compensated at the end of your case. Our firm will take the agreed-upon percentage from the compensation you’re awarded, so you won’t have to pay any legal fees out of pocket.
At our Ventura County law office, one of our primary practice areas is personal injury law, and it has been for years. You can rest assured we’ve handled countless cases involving car accident injuries, workplace accidents, truck crashes, wrongful death, and more. We understand the complexities of cases like yours and know the importance of collecting enough compensation to pay for your medical costs, lost income, property damage, and other devastating consequences of serious accidents.
When you hire our law firm, you’ll get help seeking the compensation you deserve and holding the guilty parties liable for your damages. If you’re unsure of your legal options after a car accident or want to know if you should accept the insurance company’s offer, we can assist you. Call 310-356-0074 today for immediate attention from a Ventura personal injury attorney eager to discuss your legal rights.