Types Of Cases In Washington D.C.

Personal Injury Attorneys

Accidents happen every day. Fortunately, most accidents are not too serious and do not result in any injury or damage. However, when accidents do result in injury, the victim may be left not knowing where to turn. A personal injury accident can leave the victim with expensive medical bills, lost wages, and permanent damage. It is only fair that the person responsible for causing the injury be held accountable for the damage they’ve done. Even when the victim is not aware that someone else was responsible for the accident, their personal injury attorney can help them seek compensation for their injuries.

Personal injury cases come in all forms. This includes accidents from the dangers we come into contact with every day, including product defects, burn injury, construction site accidents, and bicycle accidents. It also includes less common accidents, such as skiing accidents, injury from an assault, and even Segway accidents. Given how much time we spend in our cars, it is not surprising to learn that many personal injury cases involve automobile accidents.

If you or a loved one has been injured in a car accident or any other type of injury accident, you should talk to an experienced Washington D.C. personal injury attorney. They will fight to get you compensation for your medical treatment, lost income, pain and suffering. The individuals or corporations responsible for your injury may try and avoid paying for the damage they caused. Your attorney will fight to get you the compensation you deserve.

Types of Personal Injury Cases

Personal injury cases can involve just about anything, including workplace injuries, recreational injuries, product defect injuries, and even injuries from intentional actions. This may include:

Construction Site Accidents
Defective Drugs
Defective Medical Devices
Product Defects
Electrical Injuries
Chemical Burns
Explosions
Dog Bites
Skateboarding Accidents
Skiing Accidents
Boating Accidents
Aviation Accidents
Environmental Injuries
Brain Injury
Burn Injuries
Horse Riding Accidents
Assault or Battery
Public Transportation Injuries
Wrongful Death
Class Action Lawsuits

Negligence Claims

In most personal injury cases, the injured individual may seek damages under the legal theory of negligence. This generally requires showing the defendant owed the injured victim a duty to act as a reasonable person, the defendant breached that duty which caused the victim injury. If the defendant is found to have negligently injured the victim, they may have to compensate the injured individual for their injuries. The defendant can be an individual, government agency a corporation, involve or multiple parties.

Product Defect Cases

In cases involving a defective device, drug, or other product, the plaintiff may seek compensation under a product liability claim. This may involve design defects, manufacturing defects, or failure to properly warn customers of a dangerous product. These claims do not generally require proving that the manufacturer or seller was negligent. Instead, the injured victim may only have to show that the product was defective in some way and the defect caused an injury.

Wrongful Death Claims

Some accidents are so severe that the victim is fatally injured. Family and friends may be left grieving their loss and not know where to turn. Under a wrongful death claim, the family can file a lawsuit against those responsible for causing their family member’s death. The family may be able to receive compensation for their suffering and fight to make sure others do not have to go through the same pain and loss.

Motor Vehicle Accidents

Every year, more and more Americans spend a greater share of their day sitting in a car. Commuters in the D.C. Metro area, with some of the worst traffic in the country, may spend hours a day behind the wheel. With so much time spent in our vehicles, it comes as no surprise that so many injury accidents involve cars. This may include a single-vehicle crash, multi-vehicle accident, or even an accident involving pedestrians.

Even though car accident cases are some of the most common personal injury cases, these cases can become very complicated, involving multiple insurance companies, drivers, and victims. This is why it is so important to have an experienced advocate on your side, to make sure your best interests are represented. Your insurance company may have conflicting priorities, with company profit as the primary factor. Your attorney represents only you and your best interests. After all, the insurance company and car companies have their own lawyers working for them. You should have a dedicated attorney advocate on your side as well.

Motor vehicle accidents can be caused by any number of reasons, including operator error, drunk driving, automobile defects, and accidents caused by poor road conditions. Automobile accident cases may include:

Head-On Collisions
Rear-End Collisions
T-Bone Accidents
Side-Impact Collisions
Multivehicle Accidents
Rollover Accidents
Design Defects
Manufacturing Defects
Unintended Accelerations
Airbag Malfunctions
Defective Seat Belts
Defective Seat Recline Mechanisms
Motorcycle Accidents
Truck Accidents
Bus Accidents
Taxi Accidents
Accidents Involving Lyft or Uber
Overloaded Trailers
Brake Failure
Driverless Vehicle Accidents
Hit and Run Accidents
Parking Lot Accidents
Minor Collisions
Poor Road Conditions
Poorly Designed Traffic Controls
Fender Benders

Accidents Caused By Negligent Drivers

Negligent and careless drivers are all around us. We may see them every day on our daily commute. Fortunately, most of the time we can avoid an accident with a careless driver because responsible individuals are driving defensively. However, even the safest driver can become involved in an accident with a negligent driver. This can lead to serious injury, expensive medical bills, lost wages, reduced future earning capacity, pain and suffering, and even result in harm to our loved ones.

Injuries can occur in even the most minor of car accidents. Fender benders, parking lot accidents, and rear-end accidents can be deceptive. The driver or passenger may feel shaken up but not feel any serious injury at the time of the accident. They may even avoid exchanging insurance information because they feel no damage was done. However, a couple of days later, the pain may set in. They may feel neck pain, soreness, tingling in the extremities, blurred vision, or headaches. Only then may the driver realize they suffered an injury. If there is any chance of an injury, the driver and passengers should seek medical treatment.

Most car accidents are caused by driver error. This could include speeding, failure to stop, reckless driving, failure to obey traffic signals, texting while driving, distracted driving, failure to yield right-of-way, drowsy driving, or drinking and driving. Even when another driver is clearly at fault, they often deny responsibility and try and put the fault on the innocent driver. A driver may even admit to causing the accident at the scene and then change their story when the insurance companies get involved. Having an attorney to fight for you can ensure you have an advocate on your side to seek compensation for your injuries.

Vehicle Malfunctions and Design Defects

Over the years, automobiles have become increasingly reliant on technology and computers. Car manufacturers are also under pressure to put cars out fast and cheaper. This may lead to increased incidents of vehicle defects, design defects, manufacturing defects, and parts malfunctions. Unfortunately, the consumer may be the last to find out that the car they are driving is defective and possibly dangerous. Drivers may only find out about the dangerous defects when it affects their own automobile.

Some common automobile design defects include seat belt malfunctions, airbag malfunctions, brake failure, faulty seat recline mechanisms, and unintended acceleration. Vehicle manufacturers may be aware of these defects or malfunctions; however, instead of warning consumers, the companies may try and settle lawsuits privately and keep the problem a secret rather than have to go through an expensive product recall. This leaves drivers and their passengers susceptible to dangerous auto accidents all because the car company is emphasizing profit over safety.

A number of Toyota and Lexus vehicles have been plagued with unintended acceleration. This may involve a car continuing to accelerate even after the driver has taken their foot off the gas. The driver may have difficulty stopping the vehicle or slowing the car to avoid an accident. The car companies initially denied there was any defect with the vehicles. However, a government investigation later found that the car companies were aware of the problem and intentionally misled consumers about the dangerous defect.

In some vehicles, there were design problems with the driver-side trim which prevented the accelerator from returning to a fully closed position after the driver took their foot off the gas. In other vehicles, a floor mat design defect caused a similar problem. The electronic control systems were also blamed for runaway vehicles. These defects led to a number of accidents caused by unintended acceleration, injuring drivers and passengers, and even leading to a number of deaths.

Another recent recall effort involves airbag malfunctions. Millions of cars, including the most common makes and models of vehicles in the U.S. have potentially dangerous versions of Takata airbags. The safety defect involves a cheaper inflator material. When the airbag is deployed, it may send metal shards into the face of the driver, resulting in injury or death. Cars in hot and humid environments are especially prone to the dangerous defect.

Brakes are a primary safety feature of all vehicles. Functioning brakes allows a speeding vehicle to safely come to a stop or slow down to avoid a collision and keep vehicle occupants, other drivers, and pedestrians out of harm’s way. However, when brakes fail, a driver is left with little ability to stop their speeding vehicle, often leading to an unavoidable accident.

Most car accidents involving a design defect, manufacturing defect, or faulty vehicle part are out of the control of drivers. They may be totally unaware of the dangerous defect until they are involved in a serious accident. In many cases, the police, insurance company, and other drivers do not believe a driver when they say they were not responsible for the accident.

Unfortunately, most drivers who are victims of automobile defects never pursue their claim beyond what their insurance company tells them. However, automobile defect accidents are complicated and may require an in-depth investigation. Your attorney will take your claim seriously. They will investigate the accident to determine whether a defect was to blame for the accident. Your attorney can then pursue an automobile defect claim against the car company, dealer, or parts manufacturer responsible for causing your injury.

Dangerous Driving Conditions

Some accidents are not caused by dangerous drivers or dangerous vehicles but instead by dangerous driving conditions. Dangerous driving conditions can include roads in poor repair, improper signage to warn drivers, unsafe speed limits, dangerous road construction sites, or traffic flow changes. These accidents may be caused by road construction crews or government agencies. When dangerous driving conditions increase accident risk, the agency responsible for allowing the dangerous driving conditions should be held accountable for the damages.

Damages in a Personal Injury Accident

Injured victims may be unsure what they can gain through filing a personal injury lawsuit. In a civil personal injury or product defect case, the injured plaintiff can seek monetary damages for their injuries. These are compensatory damages, which are intended to put the injured victim into the same position they would have been if the accident had never occurred. This can be difficult to quantify but generally, includes both economic and non-economic damages.

Economic damages include the actually financial value of the injury. In most personal injury cases, this will include medical bills, future medical treatment costs, lost wages, lost earnings, and property damage. Non-economic damages may not have an exact dollar amount. It is usually up to the jury to determine the costs to the injured victim in terms of pain and suffering, loss of ability to enjoy life, emotional distress, and loss of companionship to their loved ones.

Washington D.C. Injury Attorneys

Your injury may have been caused by another driver, a negligent company, or a careless public employee. Whoever was responsible for your injury, you should not have to suffer because of someone else’s negligence. Contact an experienced Washington D.C. personal injury attorney to make sure you are compensated for your medical bills, lost wages, and pain and suffering. If you were injured in an accident, contact the law firm of Gilman & Bedigian to pursue your injury claim. Our experienced attorneys have years of experience handling automobile accident, personal injury, and medical malpractice cases throughout the D.C. Metro area. Contact our offices today for a free consultation.

Types Of Cases In Washington D.C.

Personal Injury Attorneys

Types of Personal Injury Cases

Types of Personal Injury Cases

Types of Personal Injury Cases

Negligence Claims

Product Defect Cases

Wrongful Death Claims

Motor Vehicle Accidents

Accidents Caused By Negligent Drivers

Vehicle Malfunctions and Design Defects

Dangerous Driving Conditions

Damages in a Personal Injury Accident

Washington D.C. Injury Attorneys

Contact Us Now

Menu