The Most Common Types of Personal Injury Cases
If you’ve suffered an injury to your body, mind, or emotions and are not responsible for the resulting harm, you might have a personal injury case. While having a personal injury case might sound intimidating, know that there are resources to help you.
Our team here at William D. Shapiro law, Inc. we proudly represent those who have suffered a serious personal injury in addition to heirs who have lost loved ones. Our practice areas include the most common types of personal injury, so we’re going to consider 10 common personal injury cases.
Motor Vehicle and Trucking Crashes
When it comes to getting injured in a motor vehicle accident on the road and highway, there are two injuries that could be suffered: personal injury damages (including medical bills, out-of-pocket expenses, lost wages, and pain and suffering) and property damages (including vehicle repair costs or the value of your car if it’s a total loss, and the value of personal items lost in the crash, like eyeglasses or computers).
Retaining a competent and experienced car accident lawyer is vital if you are injured in a wreck. It’s recommended to seek professional guidance and not go about your vehicle collision case alone. If you’re in the Inland Empire and are currently looking for a vehicle collision attorney near you, our attorneys can help.
Back & Spinal Cord Injury
Injuries to the back & spinal cord are serious because they can cause paralysis and even death. According to Mayo Clinic, emergency signs and symptoms of a spinal cord injury after an accident may include the following: extreme back pain or pressure in your neck, head or back; weakness, in coordination or paralysis in any part of your body; and numbness, tingling or loss of sensation in your hands, fingers, feet or toes.
When should you contact a back and spinal cord injury attorney? People can sometimes undermine certain feelings after an accident because they are unaware that they have a serious injury at the moment or they are unsure how to go about the legal process. If you were involved in an accident, whether minor or major, pay attention to your body.
Spinal cord injuries vary in severity, depending on how badly damaged the cord is and the location of the injury. If you begin to feel symptoms such as numbness, tingling sensations, pain, weakness, or paralysis, breathing difficulties, loss of bowel/urinary control, altered senses, or lack of coordination, please contact a back and spinal cord injury attorney immediately.
Don’t let uncertainties stop you from receiving the compensation you deserve. If you’re in need of a back & spinal cord attorney, the Shapiro team is happy to assist you.
Wrongful Death
This is a legal term that refers to situations when a person dies due to the negligence of another. Victims of personal injury are entitled to financial compensation for their past and future medical and property expenses, economic losses, incidental costs caused by the accident, and pain and suffering.
Our team has seen how devastating the sudden death of a loved one can be to a family. If you do not know where to start, we invite you to talk to one of our experienced, knowledgeable, and accomplished wrongful death attorneys. We have successfully helped many past clients with wrongful death cases and can assemble a professional expert team in accident reconstruction, wage loss, and life care.
Head & Brain Injuries
Brain injuries are often permanent, requiring the victim and the entire family to make adjustments for loss of memory, personality changes, and cognitive disability. Making matters worse, recovering compensation from the party responsible for causing the accident is often difficult, as the insurance company disputes the extent of damages.
Traumatic brain injury usually results from a violent blow or jolt to the head or body. An object that penetrates brain tissue, such as a bullet or shattered piece of skull, also can cause traumatic brain injury (Mayo Clinic).
If you begin to feel symptoms such as loss of consciousness, being dazed, confused, disoriented, or dizzy, experiencing headache, nausea, or vomiting, fatigue or drowsiness, problems with speech, or difficulty sleeping or sleeping more than usual, please contact a back and spinal cord injury attorney immediately.
Amputations
Losing a limb or control of your body functions is one of the most devastating types of injures we can suffer. Even with modern prosthetic devices, medical treatments, and physical therapy can require years of effort and expense. The entire family will be affected because of changes that must be made to outfit the house and car with assistive devices.
In our article about limb loss, we answer why a person should seek an attorney after undergoing limb loss surgery. Those who have undergone or will undergo limb loss surgery might have many thoughts pre- and post-surgery regarding life adjustments and financial matters. It’s important to consider every aspect of your life—finances, physical, mental, and emotional—and getting the professional advice of an attorney could help.
Defective Products
Auto and other manufacturers, distributors, and retailers have a legal obligation to make sure users of the products they produce, sell, install, or service is free from defects that can result in an injury to the user. This includes defects in cars or other vehicles, pharmaceutical products, consumer and industrial products, and toys and children’s products.
Product liability cases are complex and often involve multiple defendants. Many can require years to settle or come to trial. If you bought a product and it didn’t work as promised, you can reach out to a product liability attorney. To be successful with the case would mean to prepare evidence against teams of experienced corporate defense counsel. William D. Shapiro Law, Inc. offers the financial and professional capacity to handle complex product liability cases. If you have questions, reach out to us today.
Premise Liability
Whether it be homeowners, retail, mall, or other store owners or other private property owners, each has the obligation to keep their premises in reasonably good condition free of dangerous injury-producing defects. Every day people are seriously injured due to dangerous conditions on private property created when owners or those in control failed to properly maintain their property.
Whether a negligently maintained handrail, structure or building, hazardous stairs, poor lighting, poor floor conditions, or other condition that caused a serious injury, you should receive professional assistance as soon as possible. Premise liability attorneys assist to hold those accountable, who failed in their obligation to maintain their property in a safe condition.
Public Entity Liability
Tragic serious and catastrophic injuries are not always caused by human error. Often, such tragedies are caused by a dangerous condition on public property. Whether the injury was caused by a dangerous or defectively designed roadway, negligently maintained area, dangerous feature at a school or other public location, or the negligent driving of a public entity employee, there are attorneys who have the knowledge, skill, and experience in handling California, Federal, and other public entity Tort Claims. Such attorneys also handle litigating and trying these cases.
Working with the highest caliber traffic, mechanical, and civil engineers, we are assisted in the evaluation of and support of these claims. When serious or catastrophic injuries are caused by the abuse of public authority—whether from a shooting, beating, police chases, or other abuse—we likewise stand ready to represent those who have suffered great injuries from such abuse.
Medical Malpractice
If you sustained an injury as a result of a doctor or other medical professional failing to competently perform his or her medical duties, you might have a medical malpractice case.
Common types of medical malpractice are failure to diagnose, improper treatment, and failure to want a patient of known risks. It’s important that you don’t wait to reach out to an attorney. If you’ve suffered some sort of harm in this circumstance, it’s recommended that you reach out to a medical malpractice law firm as soon as possible, as timing could determine the failure or success of your potential case.
This is because there is a statute of limitations or a specific amount of time in which you must bring a medical malpractice claim in most states. Nolo states that this statute of limitations often ranges between 6 months and 2 years depending on the state and the amount of time could also be affected by the injury.
Contact us With Your Questions. We Have Answers.
When it comes to experiencing any of the most common personal injury cases, you can’t just have any lawyer. You need a top personal injury attorney on your side to make sure you receive the attention, commitment, and professional expertise that you deserve. William D. Shapiro Law, Inc. focuses in handling, litigating, and trying serious personal injury claims such as the most common types of personal injury listed above.
We’re located in Southern California and serve the Inland Empire, Orange County and Los Angeles communities so if you’re looking expert for personal injury attorneys our firm can help. We have the skills and the necessary resources to successfully meet whatever challenges arise. And we have your back.
As an injured person, you have every right to aggressively pursue justice, including payment for all medical costs, lost earnings, and pain and suffering. Depending on the circumstances of the accident, significant punitive damages may also be in order. Contact us today to speak with one of our attorneys if you think you might have a case.
William Shapiro has handled catastrophic injury/wrongful death actions for over 4 decades obtaining numerous seven and eight-figure verdicts and settlements. Honors include: 2022, 2016 and 2013 OCTLA “Top Gun” TLY; 2022 CAOC TLY Finalist; 2018 “Lifetime Achievement Award” Western State College of Law, 2021 & 2017 Best Lawyers, Lawyer of the Year; 2016 WSBCBA “TLY”; 2015 CAL-ABOTA “TLY”; 2014 “TLY” Consumer Attorneys of CAOIE; 2011 “Hall of Fame,” Western State College of Law; Fellow, American College of Trial Lawyers; International Academy of Trial Lawyers; International Society of Barristers; Diplomat, American Board of Trial Advocates (ABOTA); National Board of Trial Advocacy; specialist in Trial Advocacy, State Bar of California; “Best Lawyers in America” and “Tier 1 Best Law Firms” U.S. News; AV Preeminent, Martindale-Hubbell; SuperLawyers; Past President of: San Bernardino/Riverside chapter ABOTA; San Bernardino County Bar Association; Consumer Attorneys of Inland Empire; The Joseph. B. Campbell American Inn of Court; Consumer Attorneys of California; IE ; National Sec of ABOTA, Adjunct professor, Western State College of Law. Learn more here.