Personal Injury Archives - Page 2 of 2

What Should I Do to Ensure My Rights are Protected in a Michigan Personal Injury Accident?

September 4, 2014 by Howard Slusky Leave a Comment

If you have suffered injuries as a result of a personal injury accident in Michigan you could be entitled to compensation for your injuries. Although we commonly use the word “accident”, the reality is that all too often the injuries were caused by a true accident but by the intentional, negligent, or wrongful conduct of another party. When that is the case, the victim could be entitled to both economic and non-economic damages. If you are a victim, there are a number of steps you should take to ensure that your rights are protected in a Michigan personal injury accident.

Submit to a thorough medical examination. Victims often refuse medical treatment at the scene of the accident. Not only does this increase the risk of serious, even life-threatening, injuries going unnoticed and untreated, but it also puts your right to compensation at risk. By going directly to the hospital for an examination, you might uncover a serious injury, such as a traumatic brain injury, that shows no outward signs or symptoms. In addition, a medical examination right after the accident provides a legal connection between the injuries you suffered and the accident.

Do not speak to the defendant’s insurance company. Never speak to the at-fault party’s insurance company until you have consulted with an attorney. The conversation will be recorded and you could easily say something that could be misinterpreted or that could place some of the blame for the accident on you instead of the defendant.

Document the accident. When you are able, get contact information for the at-fault party and any witnesses. Take pictures of the scene of the accident and anything else relevant. Also, keep a daily pain journal that details how you felt each day after the accident. This can be helpful when arguing for non-economic damages (pain and suffering).

Consult with an attorney. The best way to ensure that your rights are protected after a Michigan personal injury accident is to consult with an experienced Michigan personal injury attorney right away.

Injuries suffered in a personal injury accident can have long-lasting consequences. To ensure that you and your rights are protected and that you are fully and fairly compensated for those injuries, contact an experienced Michigan personal injury attorney as soon as possible.

Steps to Take Following a Michigan Dog Bite

August 26, 2014 by Howard Slusky Leave a Comment

A dog bite attack can be a terrifying experience for anyone. If the victim is a child, the terror caused by the attack is likely to be magnified and extended well into adulthood. Because of this, many states, including the State of Michigan, have taken a strict liability approach to dog bite cases. Basically, this makes the owner of the dog liable for your injuries regardless of the circumstances of the attack in most cases. Because you are unlikely to be thinking clearly at the time should you find yourself (or a child) to be the victim of a dog bite, it helps to know now what steps to take following a Michigan dog bite.

Michigan law relating to dog attacks is fairly clear and places the blame, or liability, directly on the owner of the dog. Michigan Compiled Laws Annotated 287.351 states:

“If a dog bites a person, without provocation while the person is on public property, or lawfully on private property, including the property of the owner of the dog, the owner of the dog shall be liable for any damages suffered by the person bitten, regardless of the former viciousness of the dog or the owner’s knowledge of such viciousness.”

Although every animal attack occurs under a unique set of facts and circumstances, the following steps are common steps to take after a dog bite occurs:

Prevent further injury. Dogs can be unpredictable. If the attack seems to be over, don’t assume it is. Remove yourself (or the victim) from a vulnerable position to prevent further harm.

Call for help. Call the police. This serves numerous purposes. First, it helps secure the scene and will summon medical help. Second, it may help identify the responsible dog if you don’t know whose it was. Finally, it will create an official record of the incident should one be needed for litigation purposes.

Identify the dog. Unless the dog is known to you, you may only have a short period of time to figure out where it lives. Of course, medical treatment is more important; however, if you have someone who can pursue the identification of the dog while you seek medical treatment that may be a good idea before the dog completely disappears. You can also check with animal control at a later time to see if the dog was captured.

Seek medical treatment. Always go to the hospital for an examination and treatment. Dog bites can be serious and are prone to infection, even if the dog was not carrying any serious diseases.

Consult with an attorney. The law is clear. In most cases, the owner of a dog is responsible for injuries if the dog bites someone. Though the physical wound may heal relatively fast, the emotional wound may be much slower to heal. All of those injuries are potentially compensable. Consulting with an experienced attorney is the best place to start when pursuing compensation.

As the victim, or parent of a victim, in a Michigan dog bite case you are likely entitled to compensation for both your physical and emotional injuries caused by the attack. Consult with an experienced Michigan dog bite attorney as soon after the attack as possible to determine how best to proceed.

How Is the Worth of a Personal Injury Claim Calculated?

August 12, 2014 by Howard Slusky Leave a Comment

If you have been injured in a personal injury accident you are likely suffering both physical and emotional injuries as well as financial hardship as a result of the accident. If another party caused, or contributed to, the accident you could be entitled to compensation for the injuries you have suffered. Understandably, you may wish to know how the worth of a personal injury claim is calculated. Although a universal formula for calculating the worth of a claim does not exist, there are some common factors used when determining the value of a personal injury claim. A better understanding of those factors may provide some insight into your claim.

In a personal injury accident, the victim often suffers actual physical injuries as well as emotional trauma. With this in mind, the law allows a victim to pursue both economic and non-economic damages. Economic damages are easily quantifiable and include things such as the cost of repairs to your vehicle or other personal property, medical bills, and lost wages. Economic damages are out of pocket expenses and are, therefore, fairly easy to calculate. Although the defendant could bicker over the amount of a bill, at least you will have actual proof of the economic damages you incurred as a result of the defendant’s negligence.

Non-economic damages are what most people refer to as “pain and suffering” and are intended to compensate a victim for the emotional trauma the defendant’s negligence caused. Non-economic damages are much harder to quantify because you do not have bills or statements showing the value of the non-economic portion of a claim. When evaluating the non-economic portion of a claim, the following factors may be considered:

Type of physical injuries
Extent of the physical injuries
Number of physical injuries
Age of victim
Victim’s career and/or education
Health of victim prior to the accident
Disfiguration, scarring, permanent damage
Future prognosis

Along with determining the value or your economic and non-economic damages, any fault on your part must also be factored into the value of the claim. If you were 10 percent at fault, for example, the value of your claim must be adjusted accordingly. Imagine that your claim was worth $50,000 but you were 10 percent at fault. Your claim would then only be worth $45,000 ($50,000 – $5,000 (0.10 percent) = $45.000).

Each personal injury accident claim includes a unique set of facts and circumstances. Only an experienced Michigan personal injury attorney can evaluate the facts and circumstances of your case and determine what the case may be worth. Ultimately, the decision to accept a settlement or not is yours alone to make; however, having an experienced personal injury attorney on your side ensures that your interests are protected throughout the lawsuit.

How Much Compensation Are You Likely to Receive from Your Personal Injury Lawsuit?

July 31, 2014 by John Walt Leave a Comment

For victims of a personal injury accident, the first concern is medical treatment for the physical injuries received in the accident. Eventually, however, a victim will start to wonder what those injuries are worth if someone else’s negligence caused, or contributed to, the accident. Because each personal injury accident involves a unique set of facts and circumstances, only an experienced Michigan personal injury attorney can provide you with an accurate estimate of the value of your case; however, a better understanding of the factors that typically impact how much compensation is reasonable to expect from your personal injury case may be beneficial in the meantime.

Negligence – negligence is the legal term used to refer to fault or blame. In Michigan, it is not necessary for a party to be completely at fault in an accident to be liable for damages. Michigan uses a comparative negligence standard, meaning that a party is responsible to the degree the party was negligent. For example, if you were 20 percent responsible for the accident, the other party would be 80 percent responsible, assuming only two parties were involved. Therefore, the other party would be liable for 80 percent of the total damages. If your total damages amount to $50,000, the other party would be liable for $40,000 ($50,000 x 0.80 = $40,000).

Physical injuries – the extent and severity of your physical injuries is a major factor in determining the value of your case. If you suffered a spinal cord injury, for instance, you will likely receive a much higher settlement or award than if your only physical injury was a broken arm.

Emotional trauma – in legal terms, “non-economic injuries” refers to what most people know as “pain and suffering”. The value of your non-economic damages is harder to calculate because it is subjective. Things such as your age, health prior to the accident, family and work life, and the existence or absence of disfiguring injuries, scars, or permanent injuries will all impact the value of your non-economic damages.

Liability limits – the reality is that the policy limit of the negligent party’s liability insurance is often a factor when negotiating a settlement. Though you can pursue payment from the negligent party personally if the value of the damages exceeds the liability insurance limit, if the difference isn’t significant it is often better to simply reach an agreement for a settlement that is within the policy limits.

Punitive damages – punitive damages are only available of the negligent party’s conduct was particularly egregious; however, if punitive damages do apply, the overall value of your case can increase dramatically.

If you have been injured in a Michigan personal injury accident, it is in your best interests to contact an experienced Michigan personal injury attorney as soon as possible to determine what legal option you have as well as to obtain an estimate of the value of your case.

To learn more, please download our free Personal Injury Accident in Michigan here.

Is the Award for Damages Limited to Physical Injuries?

July 24, 2014 by John Walt Leave a Comment

As the victim of a personal injury accident you have likely suffered from emotional trauma along with the physical injuries the accident caused. As such, you may wonder if the award for damages is limited to physical injuries assuming you are successful in a personal injury lawsuit for damages in Michigan. Whether or not your damage award is limited to physical injuries depends on the type of accident in which you were injured and the severity of the injuries you received.

Although you likely envision a car accident when the term “personal injury lawsuit” is mentioned, there are a wide variety of other injury accident scenarios that could provide the basis for a personal injury lawsuit in Michigan, including, but not limited to:

Slip and fall injuries

Premises liability injuries

Dog bite injuries

Product liability injuries

Aviation and boating accidents

The type of accident that caused your injuries is relevant because the State of Michigan is a no-fault insurance state with regard to car insurance. What this means is that when you are injured in a car accident in Michigan your own insurance provider is responsible for covering the costs associated with treatment for physical injuries and replacement of lost wages if the accident was not serious. In order to pursue a traditional personal injury lawsuit, and therefore receive damages for pain and suffering, your injuries must have been serious enough to exceed the no-fault insurance threshold. Only an experienced Michigan car accident attorney can review the facts of your accident and advise you whether or not you exceed the threshold.

For other types of personal injury accidents, a victim may pursue a traditional personal injury lawsuit without having to surmount any obstacles first. In a traditional personal injury lawsuit a victim may be entitled to both economic and non-economic damages. Economic damages are out of pocket expenses such as property damages, medical bills, and lost wages. Non-economic damages are what people usually refer to as “pain and suffering” damages. The value of the non-economic damages portion of an award or settlement will depend on a number of factors and is much more subjective in nature than your economic damages are.

To ensure that you are fully and fairly compensated for all the injuries you suffered in a Michigan personal injury accident, consult with the experienced attorneys at Slusky & Walt, P.C.

Am I Entitled to Make a Personal Injury Claim?

July 22, 2014 by Howard Slusky Leave a Comment

Personal injury accidents occur all the time under a wide variety of circumstances. Although most people envision a car accident when they hear the term “personal injury accident”, there are actually a number of other common types of accidents and injuries that fall under the purview of personal injury accidents. Only an experienced Michigan personal injury accident attorney can review the specific details of your accident and tell you if you can make a personal injury claim; however, a basic understanding of personal injury law may help you decide if you should consult an attorney.

Personal injury law is part of the larger area of the law known as “torts”. “Torts” addresses injuries to people or property. Within the area of personal injury you will find car accidents along with other types of accidents including, but not limited to:

Slip and fall accidents
Dog bite accidents
Pedestrian accidents
Aviation accidents
Workplace accidents
Trucking accidents

To make a valid personal injury claim you must prove that the defendant’s wrongful conduct caused your injuries. Wrongful conduct can be the result of intentional or negligent conduct or can be based on strict liability.

Intentional conduct, as the name implies, occurs when the defendant intended to injure you. For example, if you were an innocent bystander in a bar when a fight broke out and the defendant physically assaulted you that conduct could qualify as intentional conduct. While the defendant might also be charged with a criminal offense, you could file a civil personal injury lawsuit against the defendant for compensation based on the injuries you suffered.

Strict liability is a product of statute. Many states, for example, have laws that make the owner of a dog strictly liable for injuries caused if the dog bites someone. When a defendant is strictly liable it does not matter what the defendant’s state of mind was nor does it matter if the defendant took steps to try and prevent the harm. All that matters is that the harm occurred and the defendant is responsible.

Most personal injury claims are based on negligence. Negligence requires the defendant to have owed you a legal duty of care first. The defendant must then have breached that duty of care, causing you to be injured. A motorist driving on a public road, for instance, owes a duty of care to everyone else on the roadway. If the defendant is texting while driving, he has breached that duty of care. If that breach causes an accident and you are injured in the accident, you may be entitled to file a personal injury lawsuit for compensation.

Consult with an experienced Michigan personal injury attorney to determine if your specific situation qualifies as a valid personal injury lawsuit case.

What Is Strict Liability?

July 8, 2014 by Howard Slusky Leave a Comment

The State of Michigan is one of several states that have a strict liability dog bite statute. If you are a dog owner it is imperative that you understand Michigan’s dog bite laws. If you have been injured by a dog bite, or are the parent of a child who was injured by one, it is equally important that you understand what strict liability means as it applies to Michigan dog bite injury claims.

The area of the law that addresses injuries to people or property is known as “torts”. All personal injury accident lawsuits are a type of “tort”, including dog bite cases. A tort can be based on one of three types of “means rea”, or state of mind of the defendant. Those three are:

Intentional torts – an intentional tort is one committed “intentionally” or with pre-planning on the part of the defendant. Assault is an intentional tort. Though it may also be a criminal offense, assault can be the basis of a civil lawsuit for damages as well.
Negligent torts – most personal injury lawsuits are based on negligent torts. Negligence occurs when the defendant owed a duty of care to the victim and breached that duty of care causing injury to the victim. A car accident caused by a driver who was texting while driving is an example of negligence.
Strict liability torts – strict liability does not look at the defendant’s state of mind. In a strict liability tort the defendant is liable for damages regardless of any intention to harm on the defendant’s part or on any attempts to prevent harm by the defendant. In Michigan, dog bites are a strict liability tort.

Michigan’s dog bite law is found in Mich. Comp. Laws Ann., sec. 287.351, which states, in pertinent part:

“Sec. 1. (1) If a dog bites a person, without provocation while the person is on public property, or lawfully on private property, including the property of the owner of the dog, the owner of the dog shall be liable for any damages suffered by the person bitten, regardless of the former viciousness of the dog or the owner’s knowledge of such viciousness.”

In essence, the statute makes the owner of a dog liable for injuries caused by the dog if the dog bites someone who did not provoke the dog and who was lawfully on the owner’s property or who was on public property at the time of the attack.

Contact an experienced Michigan dog bite attorney if you were injured by a dog bite or if you are the parent of a child who was injured by an attack.

What If You Are Partly Responsible for Your Injuries?

July 3, 2014 by John Walt Leave a Comment

A personal injury accident often leaves the victim with serious injuries. Those injuries may be physical and/or emotional. A victim may also suffer financial hardship following a personal injury accident. If you have been injured in a Michigan personal injury accident that was caused by another party, the at-fault party may be responsible for compensating you for all your injuries. What happens though if you are partly responsible for your injuries? In Michigan, the other party may still be required to compensate you even if you were partial responsible for the accident that caused your injuries.

In a personal injury accident a victim is required to prove that another party was negligent (in most cases) in order to be entitled to compensation for damages. All too often, however, it is not clear exactly how an accident occurred and, therefore, exactly who is at fault. Questions can remain even after an investigation determines exactly how the accident occurred. Those questions mean that it is frequently impossible to place 100 percent of the blame on a single party. For this reason, the law uses either comparative negligence or contributory when deciding if a victim is entitled to recover anything for his or her injuries.

In a contributory negligence system a victim cannot recover anything if the victim contributed at all to the accident. In other words, if you are involved in a car accident and it is determined that the other driver was 99 percent to blame and you were one percent at fault you are entitled to nothing from the 99 percent at fault driver. Fortunately, only five jurisdictions in the United States use contributory negligence. Michigan is not one of those.

All other states use some form of comparative negligence. Comparative negligence apportions the fault among the parties involved and then compensates the victim accordingly. In Michigan’s modified comparative negligence rule you are entitled to compensation as long as you are not more than 50 percent at fault. The compensation to which you are entitled is then adjusted pursuant to the level of fault you share in the accident.

By way of illustration, assume that you are in a car accident and it is later determined that the other driver’s drunk driving was 90 percent responsible for the collision; however, your speeding was 10 percent responsible. Assume further that you had medical bills and lost wages totaling $30,000. You would potentially be entitled to $27,000, representing 90 percent of your total damages.

Navigating the legal system can be confusing for the victim of a personal injury accident. Contact an experienced Michigan personal injury attorney today for a consultation to find out how we can help you.

Should I Hire an Attorney for My Child’s Dog Bite?

July 1, 2014 by Howard Slusky Leave a Comment

As a parent there is nothing worse than seeing your child injured. A child dog bite, therefore, can be a traumatic experience for both the child and the parent. If your child has recently suffered an dog bite attack you may be wondering “ should I hire an attorney for my child’s dog bite ?” The simple answer to that is that it is always a good idea consult with an attorney if you have suffered injuries in any type of personal injury accident. When the accident is a dog bite and the victim is a child it becomes even more important to talk to an attorney.

Any type of personal injury accident can cause serious physical injuries to the victim. A dog bite, however, also tends to cause serious emotional trauma to any victim. When the victim is a child, the emotional scars caused by the attack can last a lifetime. Even a relatively minor dog bite that causes only superficial physical injuries to a child can cause the child to fear dogs, and often all animals, for years to come. Often, a child dog bite victim requires years of therapy to try and erase the trauma caused by the attack. Therapy, of course, is expensive. As the parent, you should not be forced to shoulder the financial costs incurred in treating your child for a dog bite if the dog was not your dog. Fortunately, the Michigan legislators agree with this which is why the State of Michigan has a strict liability law that applies to dog bite injuries.

Mich. Comp. Laws Ann., sec. 287.351 states:

In essence, the law means that if your child was lawfully on the property where the dog bite occurred your child (through you as the child’s guardian) is entitled to compensation for all of the injuries suffered in the dog bite attack, including emotional or mental injuries.

Although the law favors victims of dog bite cases in Michigan it is still a good idea to have an experienced Michigan dog bite attorney on your side to ensure that your child is fully and fairly compensated for both the physical injuries and the emotional trauma suffered in the attack.

What Should I Do to Ensure My Rights are Protected in a Michigan Personal Injury Accident?

Steps to Take Following a Michigan Dog Bite

How Is the Worth of a Personal Injury Claim Calculated?

How Much Compensation Are You Likely to Receive from Your Personal Injury Lawsuit?

Is the Award for Damages Limited to Physical Injuries?

Am I Entitled to Make a Personal Injury Claim?

What Is Strict Liability?

What If You Are Partly Responsible for Your Injuries?

Should I Hire an Attorney for My Child’s Dog Bite?

Slusky & Walt, P.C.

Southfield

Flint

Saginaw

Romulus

East Side Location

Office Hours

Slusky & Walt

1-800-ABE-HELPS

1-800-223-4357

1-248-559-9100

sluskyandwalt@gmail.com