Sidewalk Injuries
Walking down a sidewalk is a fairly routine activity that many of us do each day, and in most instances, we are able to do so without incident. Unfortunately, there are many times each year in the United States that people are injured while walking on sidewalks, often due to poor maintenance or dangerous construction practices, and in the cases that someone else is to blame – even the town or city that the sidewalk is in – then the victim likely has a pathway towards compensation in a personal injury claim.
Trying to determine who to even contact after a sidewalk accident can be complicated, especially so when you are trying to manage the pain of the serious injuries you suffered during your accident. Working with a premise liability attorney is one of the best ways to make sure that you are able to navigate this complicated process with relatively low stress so that you can focus on your own needs, such as your physical recovery, your employment, and all of the other personal needs that you will need to manage through this difficult and confusing time.
Contact Fasig | Brooks For a Free Consultation After a Sidewalk Accident
The team at Fasig | Brooks offers a free initial consultation and case evaluation for victims of personal injuries, and your sidewalk injuries qualify you for this free consultation, as well. During our initial conversation, we will be able to go over the specifics of your accident, the extent of your injuries, and the impact that this accident has had on your life, as well as go through how we can help you from a legal perspective, and provide you with some advice along the way. The early days and weeks following any sort of serious accident can be bewildering, which is why it can be so helpful to speak with an experienced personal injury attorney as soon as possible.
Once we decide to begin working together, we will be able to take over nearly all of the communications and administrative details so that you can prioritize your recovery and focus on your personal needs above all else. Emotional stress is shown to have a significant impact on recovery from physical injuries, so the less you need to take on, the better.
Read more below to get a general idea of how we can help you recover compensation after a sidewalk injury, and contact us now to get started with a free initial consultation today.
Seeking Compensation After a Sidewalk Injury
In order to get compensated for your injuries, there are a few important steps that you will need to take – some more complicated than others. There is the matter of liability that must be determined before we can even begin to consider the amount of compensation that you deserve, and both can be complicated.
Determining Liability
Liability is determined by identifying the individual or entity that owed you a duty of care leading up to your accident, and proving that they failed to uphold this duty of care by either creating or ignoring a hazardous situation like the one that led to your injury. In the case of a sidewalk accident, this could be a construction company that was actively working on the sidewalk and didn’t take proper safety precautions, or it may be the municipality that failed to keep their infrastructure safe for transit. Regardless, we will help you determine who is at fault for your accident, and liable to pay for your damages as a result.
Calculating Compensation
Once we have established who the liable party is, we will then set out to seek fair compensation for all measurable damages, including both economic damages and non-economic damages. Economic damages are the simplest to calculate, as they seek compensation for measurable financial losses such as your medical bills, lost wages, and other actual costs. Simply put, anything that comes with a receipt, bill, or invoice – anything with a set dollar value – is economic damage.
Non-economic damages are more complicated to calculate because they seek compensation for damages that do not have measurable financial values. They include things like the actual pain and suffering of your injuries, as well as the emotional and psychological harm that your injury has had on your life. In addition, non-economic damages seek to compensate a victim for things like diminished quality of life, among many other factors that your personal injury attorney will help to both identify and quantify in terms of financial remuneration.
Negotiating a Settlement or Filing a Lawsuit
Once we have a clear understanding of the amount of damages we will seek, we will then move forward with negotiations either directly with the responsible party or through their insurance company. Regardless, there will be a wide margin to close between the initial offer that the defendant and their team offer and the amount that you are actually entitled to. We will work to close this gap and reach an out-of-court settlement or may determine that the best course of action is to file a lawsuit and take your case to a judge and jury. Regardless, you will understand each of the decisions in this process as we work closely together to get you what you deserve.
