Being involved in an accident or getting injured due to someone else's negligence is a tough blow for you and your family. Not only do you have to deal with physical recovery, but you're also likely being affected by lost wages, medical expenses, and other consequences of injury.
Fortunately, an experienced Lawton personal injury lawyer can make things easier. Here's how.
Our Lawton Personal Injury Lawyer Can Help You With Your Case
Don't wait after being injured due to someone else's negligence to learn about your legal options and what you may be able to do to get compensation for the injuries you or a family member sustained.
Below, we offer a complete guide on how to navigate Lawton personal injury claims and how Oklahoma residents can get the legal help they need to navigate legal issues and negotiate with their insurance company from a trusted personal injury lawyer.
Lawton Personal Injury Cases We Handle
At Richardson Richardson Boudreaux, we understand your family's unique challenges after you or a loved one has been hurt in an accident. The goal of each attorney at our law office is to help you find your way around the Lawton, Oklahoma legal system and make sure you're being offered the full and fair compensation you deserve for the suffering you've endured through no fault of your own.
We handle injury cases in the following practice areas and more:
Car Accidents
Car accidents are one of the most common causes of serious injury in Oklahoma, and if you or a loved one were hurt in a motor vehicle collision, an experienced lawyer can help.
Our law firm is well-versed in personal injury law. We can work with detectives, accident reconstructionists, and forensic experts to prove that the accident was someone else's fault and to fight for a positive legal resolution.
Pedestrian Accidents
Pedestrian accidents are serious and require swift action not only to get the victim medical help but also to report the driver and file a personal injury lawsuit. Injuries with these types of accidents tend to be the most severe, including traumatic brain injuries, broken bones, and even death.
Our law practice can meet with you to review your case's facts and talk about how the accident happened and what kind of financial restitution you may be eligible for if you win your case.
Slip and Fall Accidents
Slip and fall accidents are common in Oklahoma in places such as gas stations, grocery stores, and amusement parks. Business owners have a duty to warn patrons about spills or other known hazards, and failure to do so could mean that they are legally liable for any injury you may have suffered as a result of slipping or tripping in their establishment or elsewhere on the property.
Wrongful Death
If a loved one has died as a result of an injury caused by someone else's negligence, our law firm can help you pursue restitution for hospital bills, funeral expenses, and lost future wages for dependents. While nothing can bring a loved one back, having the money to cover the basic financial costs of their death can be a great relief while you go through the different stages of the grieving process.
Dog Bites
Dogs may be man's best friend, but they can also cause critical injuries when they attack. Our experienced Lawton personal injury lawyers understand the unique challenges presented by dog bite cases and know the law when it comes to animal attacks that cause injury.
Make sure you get immediate medical attention after the attack, even if the bites don't look very serious. They can be deep puncture wounds whose depth and severity are harder to see on the surface. But even if they look skin-deep or don't seem that bad, they can still result in an infection and potentially even blood poisoning if left untreated.
Medical Malpractice
Medical malpractice is unfortunately somewhat common in Lawton, and our law firm is committed to helping clients who have suffered an injury at the hands of a negligent doctor get the financial reparations they deserve.
Our personal injury attorneys will review your medical records in detail and look at the doctor's history throughout their career to identify potential reasons for your injury, like a mistake made during surgery or neglecting to run a specific test you requested.
Once we can prove that you were treated unfairly or negligently harmed, of which you suffered an injury. As a result, our attorneys will go to bat for you against the hospital and their large legal teams to get you the best resolution possible in your case.
Step-By-Step Process in Filing a Personal Injury Claim in Lawton, OK
Filing a personal injury lawsuit and pursuing financial indemnity for your medical bills and lost wages can seem intimidating.
Here's a step-by-step guide to how you can recover damages with the assistance of an experienced Lawton personal injury lawyer:
- Schedule a free consultation with a personal injury attorney. The very first step to getting the compensation you deserve for your injuries is to book a free legal consultation with a well-versed attorney.
- File a claim with the at-fault party's insurance company. Once you hire a law firm, they will contact the at-fault party's insurance company on your behalf to file a claim and demand payment.
- Negotiate a fair settlement. This stage of a personal injury claim can take a long time and involves your attorneys going back and forth with the insurance company to reach a mutually agreeable settlement offer. The insurer will probably try to contend that your injuries weren't that bad or that they were the result of a previous accident -- whatever they think can absolve them from having to cut a check for our compensation. A proficient personal injury lawyer can help you get through this stage quickly and beneficially.
- Take additional legal action. If your personal injury lawyers aren't able to secure fair compensation for you, there are still other legal options available to you. Your Lawton personal injury lawyer can help you take the issue to court, where they will show compelling evidence of your injuries and make a strong case to a judge and jury as to why you deserve compensation after a life-altering accident.
Proving Negligence in a Lawton Personal Injury Case
There are four elements that clients will need to prove in a Lawton, Oklahoma negligence claim:
Duty of Care
First and foremost, you must be able to establish that the alleged at-fault party owed you a duty of care.
This means that they were obliged to act in your best interests or warn you of potential hazards nearby. Some examples of duty of care are a doctor's duty to their patient or a driver's duty to other people who are sharing the road.
Breach of Duty
Next, you need to show how the at-fault party breached said duty. For example, if a driver was breaking the law at the time of an accident, this would clearly indicate that they breached their duty of care to other drivers.
Causation
The third component of a Lawton personal injury claim is causation. You'll need to prove that the at-fault party's actions directly caused your injuries and that the injuries you're seeking compensation for don't have any other possible cause.
A good example of this is showing pre- and post-collision X-rays that indicate the injured person did not have any broken bones prior to the accident.
Damages
Lastly, you will need to prove that the accident directly resulted in damages, for which you deserve full compensation.
Your personal injury attorneys can show your medical bills, how long you were out of work, and other limitations or expenses your injuries caused to come up with a dollar figure of what you should be reimbursed.
Comparative Negligence in Lawton, OK
Sometimes, more than one person is at fault for an accident that causes someone to become injured; in some cases, it may even be the injured person himself. This is called comparative negligence and occurs when the victim's actions partially contribute to the accident or their own injuries.
If this happens, your claim could be lowered by the percentage of fault the court determines you contributed to the accident. Your lawyer will help calculate how much you would be financially responsible for and can help you negotiate a smaller percentage of fault depending on what evidence is available.
If you are assigned comparative negligence, your Lawton lawyer can still advocate for you to be compensated for the percentage of your injuries that you did not cause.
The Statute of Limitations for a Personal Injury Claim in Lawton
It's important to move forward with your personal injury case as soon as you know that you will likely file. The Oklahoma statute of limitations for accidents, medical malpractice, and other injury claims is only two (2) years.
This means that once two years have passed from the date of the incident, you can no longer file any related negligence claims, even with the help of your personal injury attorneys.
Damages You Can Recover After a Lawton Personal Injury
Depending on the circumstances of the accident, the injured party may be able to recover damages for several things, including:
Economic Damages
Economic damages refer to the cost of things directly related to the accident and that can be easily quantified, like medical bills and lost wages. This also includes the cost of medication, physical therapy, childcare costs if you were a primary caregiver, and things like that.
Ask your Lawton personal injury lawyers for a recommendation to a forensic accountant who can analyze your injuries and medical bills to provide a thorough estimate of how to recover damages for all of your current and future healthcare needs.
Non-economic Damages
Non-economic damages are those that don't necessarily have a known value but are still considered compensable under the law, like mental impact and pain and suffering.
Working alongside an experienced personal injury lawyer is key to getting the maximum compensation you deserve for your injuries and the hard work you've put into your physical and emotional recovery.
Punitive Damages
In an Oklahoma personal injury lawsuit where the at-fault party's actions exhibited extreme negligence or were particularly glaring, punitive damages may be awarded to the person(s) involved in the accident or who was otherwise injured as a result.
This means the person responsible for the injuries and medical expenses acted so grievously, caused so much suffering, or showed negligence so far outside the law that a court of law has determined they should receive additional punishment.
Punitive damages are also awarded to personal injury victims, and in many cases, this compensation can go past hundreds of thousands or even millions of dollars, depending on what happened.
Contact Our Lawton Personal Injury Lawyer From Richardson Richardson Boudreaux for a Free Consultation
If you or a loved one have been hurt by a defective product or were in an accident, don't wait to call a Lawton Personal Injury Lawyer for legal help.
With decades of combined experience, our attorneys have an established track record of helping families recover compensation after being injured for things like medical care, missed earnings, and other costs associated with the incident.
Call Richardson Richardson Boudreaux today by dialing (918) 393-5939 to book a consultation with one of our seasoned personal injury attorneys, or fill out our short online contact form and someone from our law office will get back to you as soon as possible.
