One of the most common mistakes made by people after an injury is to assume they automatically have a lawsuit based on the injury. There are many different factors to consider, including if the negligence of another party or parties contributed to the injury.
In Minneapolis, as well as throughout the state, talking to a personal injury attorney should always be the first step in making this determination. While your friends or colleagues may tell you that there is a legal case, it is only an experienced personal injury lawyer who has the expertise and knowledge to provide that opinion.
Determining Fault
One of the important roles of a personal injury attorney is to determine the parties to be named in the legal action. In many situations, more than one party may be involved in a case, which makes the process more complex.
However, there are also situations where someone is injured due to their own actions or when their own actions contributed to the injury or accident. For example, if you are involved in a slip and fall accident on a damaged area of a business walkway in Minneapolis, but you were walking and texting and not paying attention to the condition of the sidewalk, the personal injury attorney needs to assess your options in proceeding with legal action.
Realistic Compensation
Another important role of the personal injury lawyer is to help the client to understand realistic settlements. Often clients assume that all types of damages, including pain and suffering, will be included in a settlement.
In most situations, the compensatory damages, those that compensate the individual for costs due to the accident, are covered in a settlement. Punitive damages, those that designed to place a punishment on the defendant, are much less common in most personal injury types of cases.
