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Jeffrey Harlan Penneys, Esquire

Injury Lawsuits

No one wants to file a personal injury lawsuit. Just as no one wants to get hurt through no fault of their own. But Philadelphia personal injury accidents and other incidents do happen. Innocent people become victims.

 

The person responsible for those injuries, directly or indirectly, must make the situation right. That person is required to pay compensation to the victim for the injuries and other damages suffered. If they disagree with that situation, Pennsylvania law and the legal system can be mobilized for the injured party. When that happens you need a legal representative to guide you through personal injury law in Pennsylvania.

 

Jeffrey H. Penneys might be the best choice you can make if you have a personal injury case. He is rated as one of the top 3 personal injury lawyers in Philadelphia

Damages in Personal Injury Lawsuits

The best Philadelphia personal injury attorneys help ensure that their clients receive all the compensation (called damages) to which they are entitled by personal injury law. Things for which injured parties are legally entitled to compensation for may include:

 

  • lost wages
  • loss of earning capacity
  • past and future medical expenses
  • damages for both physical and emotional pain and suffering, and
  • damages for disfigurement
 

Under some circumstances, a close family member of the injured person, such as the spouse, may also be entitled to be awarded damages. This is referred to as “loss of consortium damages”, which is intended to compensate the loved one as much as possible for the loss of the injured or deceased’s services and companionship.

 

Other kinds of damages that injury attorneys may win for you, depending on the facts of the particular case, include hedonic damages, which are awarded as compensation for loss of enjoyment of activities once valued that the person can no longer participate in as a result of the injuries suffered.

What are Punitive Damages in Personal Injury Law?

Thought not common, punitive damages may be awarded to the victim, in addition to other compensation. This happens when the conduct was particularly egregious and the court (or jury) determines the defendant should be punished for their actions. Compelling a payment of an amount above and beyond the plaintiff’s actual damages requires an experienced attorney. A side effect of punitive damage awards is that they may serve to deter others from engaging in similar wrongful conduct.

Types of Personal Injury Claims

Personal injury claims can be filed for any situation in which an individual believes another person is responsible for their injuries. Examples include:

Compensation is typically paid through insurance companies. Insurance company lawyers will often intimidate personal injury victims. Having an injury lawyer working for you means you don’t have to face insurance company lawyers who want to pay you less than you deserve.

Personal Injury Claims, Settlements, and Lawsuits

Not every injured person is entitled to recover damages for the injuries sustained. Besides proving the injury, attorneys must also establish, through credible and relevant evidence, that the defendant is legally responsible for the injuries.

 

Attorneys must present proof of causation – both “actual causation” and “proximate (aka legal) causation”.

 

  • Actual causation is determined by literal cause and effect. The action the defendant took or neglected to take is the “cause” and the injury is the “effect”. Whether a lawyer can establish legal causation depends on the facts and circumstances of the particular case in question.
  • Legal causation may be established if the attorney can show that the defendant engaged in intentional conduct. This means that the wrongdoer purposefully harmed the plaintiff or knew that the conduct in which they were engaged had a substantial likelihood that harm would result.

Negligence and Strict Liability in Personal Injury Law

Other injury claims or lawsuits are based on the concept of fault called “negligence”. Under the negligence theory, defendants in personal injury claims can be held liable for the results of either action, or inaction. We all know about actions causing injury, but what about inaction? This is when an “ordinary person in the same position should have foreseen that the conduct would create an unreasonable risk of harm to others”. An example of this might be not using a turn signal that results in a car or motorcycle accident.

 

Sometimes, personal injury claims are based on “strict liability”, which is a no-fault system under which liability may be established regardless of the fault of the various parties in the incident. Strict liability may be applied in product liability cases; for example, when a manufacturer or seller allows a defective product into the hands of a consumer and the product injures them.

 

The defendant in an injury accident can be held liable for actions taken or for actions not taken. An example of this is the driver of a car who fails to stop at a red light and ends up causing a car accident in which the other driver or passengers are injured is liable based on her negligent act of running the red light.

 

Another example: a property owner who fails to remove ice and snow from the front steps of a business that is open to the public may be liable for his inaction if a patron falls and breaks his arm.

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