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Personal injuries can happen to you anyplace in Alexandria. They can happen in a semi-truck crash on I-49 or a drunk driving accident in town on a Friday night. You might slip and fall on a wet floor in Albertsons or get hit by a distracted or intoxicated Uber driver while you cross the street.

You cannot control what others do, no matter how much care you take. While you may observe traffic laws, others may not. When you expect a property owner to keep their property safe, they may cut corners.

The law does not allow someone to get away with careless behavior. Neither do we.

If you suffered an injury from something someone else did or did not do, you can take legal action against them. You may recover financial compensation if you can prove that they injured you.

Before you begin the legal process, you should contact an experienced lawyer to handle your case. Stewart J. Guss Accident Injury Lawyers work hard for the rights of injured accident victims. Your fight is our fight, as you seek the compensation you deserve when someone injures you. It starts with a phone call, which you should make to us as soon as possible.

We are a national law firm with multiple offices around the country. We also work with affiliate law firms in most states that share our focus and dedication to excellence. No matter where you are located, we may be able to help you, so call or contact us now. We are open for free, 24 hours a day, seven days a week, so contact us now by clicking here to submit your case for review.

Alexandria Personal Injury Guide

Common Personal Injury Cases We Handle

A personal injury refers to any injury to your body, reputation, or emotions.

You can suffer a personal injury in:

Car accidents
Commercial truck accidents
Pedestrian accidents
Bicycle accidents
Motorcycle accidents
Bus accidents
Slip and fall accidents
Premises liability injuries
Rideshare accidents

Although each personal injury case involves vastly different facts, these cases all rely on similar legal principles. Another common theme among these cases is that you should hire a personal injury lawyer to represent you from the beginning of your case.

Breach of Duty in a Personal Injury Case

Lawyers who have taken a torts class in law school have reduced the four-part negligence test to the shorthand of:

Duty
Breach
Injury
Causation

This means that someone must have owed you the duty to exercise reasonable care under the circumstances. You do not need a pre-existing relationship with someone for them to owe you a duty of care. If you are next to someone on the highway, they owe you a duty of care for the fleeting moment that they are around you. Certainly, someone you have a relationship with, such as your Uber driver or a business owner who invites you in as a customer, owes you a duty of care.

How Reasonable People Act in Alexandria

When someone owes you a duty of care, they must act as a reasonable person in their shoes will.

Here are some examples of what a reasonable person may do under the circumstances:

A property owner who invited you onto their property will periodically inspect their property and fix dangerous conditions. They will also avoid creating dangers on the property themselves.
A store owner will have their elevators and escalators inspected and repaired as necessary.
A driver will observe the posted speed limit and check their blindspots before they change lanes.
Doctors will take the time to treat their patients correctly and avoid medical mistakes.
A product manufacturer will test their product before selling it to the public, and they will avoid marketing any defective product.

You Need to Prove Your Case to Get Compensation

If someone has failed to live up to their duty of care, you may be entitled to financial compensation. In any personal injury case, you must meet your burden of proof to receive money for your injuries.

The good news is that your burden of proof is less than the one that a prosecutor must meet in a criminal case. The prosecutor must prove their case beyond a shadow of a doubt. Numerically, this standard will approach 100 percent certainty. In a civil case, the standard that you must meet is a preponderance of the evidence. Numerically, this standard will equate to 51 percent certainty.

Still, you must have evidence proving what the other person did, or you will end up empty-handed when the insurance company denies your claim or the jury rules against you. The evidence that you need depends on your specific case. What may prove a car accident case differs from evidence for a slip and fall claim.

How to Prove Your Personal Injury Case

Here are some potential forms of evidence that your attorney might use in a personal injury case:

Witness testimony from people who saw what happened
Pictures from the scene of your accident
A police report or an accident report was written after your injury
Security camera or dashcam footage of the incident
Corporate records that can relate to diligence or safety measures
Testimony from an accident reconstruction expert

Your attorney can obtain some of this evidence in time to file an insurance claim. If your case depends mainly on evidence in the responsible party’s hands, you may need to file a lawsuit to get the evidence in discovery.

Your personal injury attorney can take a tough and aggressive approach to get the required evidence. However, you should do your part by hiring our firm as soon as possible. Evidence can get harder to obtain or can weaken as time passes. Scheduling a consultation with our firm immediately after your injury can help us build the strongest case possible.

Your Legal Options After a Personal Injury

How you seek personal compensation depends on several factors. Your personal injury lawyer will advise on how to take legal action after your injury.

If your case is against a company (they are legally responsible for the actions of their employees that happen when they are on the job), you may lead to a lawsuit. If your case results from the actions of an individual, you may seek to file a claim against their insurance policy. There are no hard-and-fast rules about where you go first to seek compensation. The only rule is that someone must pay for what they did when you can prove that they were responsible.

The Personal Injury Claims Process

The legal process depends on how you seek financial compensation. A personal injury lawyer will advise you about your case’s most effective legal strategy.

If you file an insurance claim:

Your attorney will prepare your claim, including the evidence that supports someone else’s liability.
Your lawyer will estimate the value of the damages you seek in the claim.
You will file your claim with the insurance company.
The insurance company will deny your claim or make you a settlement offer.
If the settlement offer is too low (and it will be at first), you will negotiate higher compensation until you reach an agreement with the insurance company.

The PersonalInjury Lawsuit Process

If you filed a personal injury lawsuit:

Your lawyer will begin your case by drafting a complaint and filing it with the court.
The defendant will have a chance to make their filing that answers your allegations.
If your case survives the inevitable dismissal motion, it will proceed to the discovery phase. This phase represents the most involved and detailed part of the case, where you will make document requests for evidence that is in the defendant’s hands. You may even have your deposition taken, meaning you have to answer questions under oath from the defendant’s lawyer.
If there is no settlement, your case will go to trial in front of a jury.

Personal injury claims and lawsuits do not automatically mean you will have a trial. A jury trial is an exception rather than the norm. Most personal injury cases will settle before they reach a trial. You and the insurance company have too much at stake to go to trial unless it is necessary.

Of course, you always have the legal right to present your case to a jury if you choose. You will generally only need a trial when a reasonable settlement agreement is not a possibility. Ordinarily, a trial will add much time and risk to your case, and you will only go that far if necessary.

Have a Question? Contact the Guss Team

Personal Injury Compensation in Your Case

Even after you have proven liability in your personal injury case, you will need to haggle over compensation with the insurance company. In reality, the personal injury process is one large negotiation with the insurance company or the defendant (if they are self-insured). It is one thing to get a check for your injuries. Getting a check that fully pays you for the damages you have suffered is entirely different.

In a personal injury case, you might receive:

The entire cost of your medical care (reimbursing what your health insurance has already paid and what you will need to pay in the future)
Lost income, representing money that you should have earned had you kept working without interruption
Pain and suffering that compensate you for your ordeal, both physically and psychologically
Emotional distress for potential PTSD after the accident

Louisiana law allows a family to file a wrongful death claim when their loved one has died in an accident. Here, the harm is the family’s damages when they suddenly and tragically lose a loved one.

For example, your family might receive compensation for:

The income that your loved one should have earned for the rest of their career had they lived and continued to work
The loss of the close and loving relationship that you had with the deceased person
The trauma and distress that accompanies the sudden and unexpected death of a close family member

Why You Need a Personal Injury Lawyer

Hiring an attorney for your case is one of your first choices after an accident injury. In reality, this decision should be a no-brainer. There is simply too much money on the line to take any chances. Representing yourself in any personal injury case is a considerable risk, yet many people take it because they think they are saving money. The truth is that handling your case will cost you lots of money. Studies continuously show that those who hire a personal injury lawyer end up with more money than those who do not, even after paying the attorney their fee.

Your personal injury lawyer will handle all the details of your case from start to finish. All you need to do is make essential decisions on your lawyer’s advice.

Our personal injury lawyers can:

Answer your questions and explain your legal options during your free initial consultation
Investigate the cause of your accident and gather the evidence that you need to prove liability
Determine the responsible party (there can be more than one) and determine how best to take legal action against them
Prepare your claim or your lawsuit complaint
Estimate the value of your case after reviewing your situation and circumstances
Negotiate a possible settlement in your case with the insurance company or the defendant
Protect your legal rights when the insurance company tries to compromise them in the name of their profits
Try your case in front of the jury if you do not reach a settlement agreement (you need a lawyer with courtroom experience who is not afraid to take your case to trial if necessary)

Contact an Alexandria Personal Injury Lawyer Today

The Stewart J. Guss Injury Accident Lawyers are the tenacious and aggressive lawyers you need in your corner when cutting through the red tape. The insurance company will put up every barrier that they can, and it is up to you to overcome them. Hire us for the job, and we will take the fight to the insurance company. Your first step is to schedule your free initial consultation. Then, you can leave the rest to us.

The legal team of Stewart J. Guss Personal Injury Attorneys is nationally recognized for protecting the rights of injured victims for more than 30 years. If an accident injured you in Alexandria, call our office right now for a free consultation! Because we take all of our personal injury cases on a contingency fee basis, you will not owe us a dime unless we win your case. We are available 24 hours a day, seven days a week, so contact us now by clicking here.

​Alexandria Personal Injury Lawyer