Oro Valley Personal Injury Lawyer

Oro Valley Personal Injury Attorney

The term “personal injury” can apply to any situation in which one party’s failure to exercise reasonable care or illegal actions result in harm to another party. A personal injury claim is a legal vehicle through which the injured party can recover compensation for the damages the defendant caused. If you or a loved one recently suffered any type of personal injury because of another party’s actions, an experienced Oro Valley personal injury lawyer can help.

Legal Counsel for Oro Valley, AZ, Personal Injury Claims

The team at the Bleaman Law Firm, PC, has more than 20 years of professional experience providing client-focused personal injury counsel. In every case we accept, we take time to learn as much as possible about the client and their needs, tailoring our legal strategies on a case-by-case basis. When you choose our firm to represent you, we will do everything we can to streamline your legal proceedings and recover as much as possible for your damages.

You are under no obligation to hire legal counsel for your personal injury claim, but you are more likely to succeed with the claim and more likely to maximize your results if you have an attorney to represent you. Your Oro Valley personal injury lawyer can help gather the evidence you will need to prove fault for your damages and then guide you through the process of securing the compensation you legally deserve.

Understanding Personal Injury Law

It is possible for personal injury cases to arise in several ways. Some of the most common types of personal injury cases our firm handles in Oro Valley include:

• Motor vehicle accident cases. Car, truck, and motorcycle accidents often happen because of driver negligence or misconduct behind the wheel, and a driver at fault for an accident is liable for all resulting damages. We can help you recover from a vehicle accident with an auto insurance claim and/or personal injury suit against the at-fault driver.
• Premises liability claims. If you sustained an injury in a slip and fall or other incident on someone else’s property, it can form the basis for a personal injury suit under Arizona’s premises liability laws. Property owners must take appropriate care of their properties and address foreseeable safety issues when they appear. Failing this, they face liability for any resulting injuries to lawful visitors.
• Dog bite cases. Arizona is a strict liability state when it comes to dog bites. This means that if a dog bites someone without provocation and the victim was legally present at the location of the attack, the dog owner is entirely responsible for the resulting damages.
• Catastrophic injury claims. A catastrophic personal injury is any injury resulting in permanent harm or death. This could be a permanently disfiguring injury like a severe burn and/or a permanently disabling injury like a spinal cord injury. These cases can be more challenging to resolve than most other personal injury cases, but plaintiffs are typically able to recover substantial compensation to account for their pain and suffering.

Ultimately, you may have grounds for a personal injury case if you were harmed by the actions of another party. Success with your case will require clear proof of liability. This means you need to prove that the defendant was negligent in a manner that directly caused the damages or that they broke the law in a manner resulting in your damages. In either case, an experienced attorney can be an invaluable asset for recovering your losses.

Proving Negligence or Illegal Misconduct in a Personal Injury Suit

Before the plaintiff in a personal injury case will be able to recover compensation for their damages, they must be prepared to prove exactly how their damages occurred, and they must also show the defendant is entirely responsible for causing them. Most personal injury cases arise from acts of negligence, or failure to exercise reasonable care in a certain situation.

Proving negligence requires first proving that the defendant owed a duty of care in the situation. For example, a driver has a duty of care to abide by posted speed limits. Next, the plaintiff will need to prove a breach of duty. Following the previous example, speeding would amount to a breach of the duty of care to abide by a posted speed limit. After proving the defendant breached their duty of care, the next step is to prove the effects of their actions.

The plaintiff will need to prove they suffered actual harm, meaning the defendant’s actions resulted in a loss of some kind. They must also establish causation between their claimed loss and the defendant’s actions, meaning the loss could not have occurred due to any other cause. The plaintiff will need to show proof of the full extent of the damages they sustained solely due to the defendant’s actions.

One issue to remember when it comes to proving fault for your personal injury is the state’s law of pure comparative fault. This rule comes into play whenever more than one party shares fault for the damages cited in a personal injury claim. Each liable party has a fault percentage assigned, indicating the share of the total damages for which they are responsible. If a plaintiff bears partial fault, their fault percentage is taken from their case award as a penalty.

Damages Recoverable in a Personal Injury Suit

The main goal of any personal injury claim is to hold a defendant accountable for the results of their negligence or illegal misconduct and for the plaintiff to recover compensation for their damages. The average person may believe they know the full range of their claimable losses, but it is possible for them to overlook crucial avenues of recovery that a seasoned attorney will know how to thoroughly investigate.

A plaintiff in a personal injury case has the right to seek complete repayment of all the economic losses they suffered because of the defendant’s negligence or illegal misconduct. These economic damages generally include:

• Medical expenses. Most personal injury cases filed in Oro Valley pertain to physical injuries. If another party has physically harmed you, they are liable for the full scope of medical care you need to make a full recovery. This includes both immediate medical expenses like your hospital bills as well as future costs for ongoing rehabilitation if you suffered a serious injury.
• Lost wages. A plaintiff could be unable to work while they recover from their injury, in which case the defendant is responsible for the wages they are unable to earn during this recovery period. This also applies to future income if the plaintiff is permanently disabled. Your Oro Valley personal injury lawyer can help accurately calculate the future wages you otherwise would have been able to earn.
• Property damage. If the defendant in your case damaged or destroyed your personal property with their actions, they are liable for all associated repair and replacement costs. This may include damage to your home, your vehicle, or other personal belongings. Depending on the nature of your personal injury, some of these property losses could be recoverable through insurance.

With the right attorney handling your claim, you could discover that you have grounds to seek far more compensation than you initially anticipated. Your Oro Valley personal injury lawyer can help accurately calculate the full range of immediate and future economic damages you can claim from the defendant who injured you.

In addition to these economic damages, you also have the right to seek pain and suffering compensation from the defendant. This could form a sizeable portion of your total case award if you sustained any serious injuries because of the defendant’s actions. In Arizona, there is no limit on pain and suffering compensation in most personal injury claims, and there is no set formula you need to use to calculate how much to add to your claim.

Your Oro Valley personal injury lawyer can help determine a reasonable amount of pain and suffering compensation to include in your civil suit. If you suffered permanent harm of any kind, they may aim for a multiple of the total of your economic damages. Otherwise, if you are expected to fully recover in the short term, they may instead aim for an amount based on the time it takes for you to fully recover.

Find Your Oro Valley Personal Injury Lawyer Today

The team at the Bleaman Law Firm, PC, can provide the legal counsel you need at no financial risk to you. Many people mistakenly assume that legal representation is prohibitively expensive and they cannot afford to hire attorneys for their claims. Our firm accepts personal injury clients on a contingency fee basis, which means our fee will be a percentage of your final award that we will only collect if and when we win your case.

You must file your personal injury claim within the two-year statute of limitations, and while two years might sound like sufficient time to file your case, the reality is that this can pass more quickly than you expect. Contact the Bleaman Law Firm, PC, today to schedule a free consultation with an Oro Valley personal injury lawyer to start working toward your recovery with confidence.