Personal Injury Attorney in Michigan City, Indiana
Types of Personal Injury Accidents
Guy DiMartino Law is a Michigan City personal injury law firm. This means that we handle matters in which a person was injured by another individual’s or company’s negligence. The term personal injury is just what it says “an injury” to “a person”. Compare this to a property damage claim for instance. In a property damage claim, you may have a tree limb fall on your car, or your parked car hit by a plow or another vehicle. Because personal injury claims impact the individual they are very personal.
Depending on the nature of the facts, personal injury claims fall into a number of categories.
Here are a few of the categories:
Other additional personal injury categories that can have are:
- Pedestrian Accidents
- Golf Cart Accidents
- Tractor Accidents
- Lawnmower Accidents
The hallmark of the above types of Michigan City personal injury matters is that they usually involve some type of vehicle or conveyance.
The next category of personal injury claims can include claims that happen on someone else’s property. These personal injury claims are termed premises liability claims. Here are a few examples of premises liability claims:
- Trip and Fall Injuries
- Slip and Fall Injuries
- Construction Injuries
- Injuries in apartments and houses
- Negligent security injuries
The next category of Michigan City personal injury claims can include those involving health and medical care providers, these claims would include:
- Pharmacy errors
- Chiropractic malpractice Injuries
- Hospital malpractice Injuries
- Nursing home Injuries
- Assisted living facility Injuries
- Home health care agency Injuries
The next category of Michigan City personal injury claims can fall into the products liability bucket. In these claims, a person is injured because of a problem with a product. Product liability claims involve certain defects that include defects in the design of the product, or the manufacture of the product, or failing to give a proper warning regarding the use and/or dangers of the product.
Product liability injury claims would include some of the following:
- Motor vehicle products claims, an example would be a faulty seatbelt
- A bad drug injury, pharmaceutical claim
- Household products and machinery claims
- Next, there are some miscellaneous claims, which fall into the personal injury category. These can include the following:
- Intentional Infliction of emotional distress claims
- Negligent infliction of emotional distress claims
- Defamation claims which involve injury to a person’s reputation
- Dram shop claims which involve alcohol
What Constitutes A Personal Injury Claim?
What Do All These Personal Injury Claims Have in Common?
I’m glad you asked, typically all personal injury claims, involve the following elements:
A relationship between the parties. Legally this is called duty. For instance, in a medical malpractice context, that relationship is doctor or hospital and the patient. In a car accident case, the relationship is between the folks who were driving the vehicles. Here is a direct link to Cornell Law for more information regarding Personal Injury Law.
The second element, most of the time, asks – what did the other party do wrong? Stated another way, was the other party negligent, or did they violate or breach their duty. Take a car accident. If you are driving through an intersection with a green light, the duty of the other driver with the red light is to stop and not travel into the intersection. If the other driver is busy texting, doesn’t stop at the intersection, and crashes into your vehicle, the driver violated or breached their duty of care. Let’s say we were at a restaurant and I asked you what the other driver did wrong? You would probably say, that driver didn’t stop at the red light. This second element is sometimes called negligence.
The third element is a little mushier. This is the legal requirement of causation. Legal causation requires a relationship between negligence and the fourth element or damages.
The fourth element is damage or injury. Under our law, if someone is careless and injures someone else, they are responsible for the losses that are related (caused) by the negligence. In a Michigan City personal injury matter, damages can include hospital and medical bills, lost time from work, and pain and suffering.
Remember, there has to be a relationship between all four elements in order to receive compensation for your injuries. For instance, say a knucklehead was racing down Franklin Street weaving in and out of traffic. The knucklehead runs the red light at Coolspring Ave. and you’re in the middle of the intersection and you are able to avoid the crash. You’re worked up, you miss work that day because of the stress, and you want to bring a claim against the knucklehead. Indiana personal injury law wouldn’t allow you to bring the claim because there wasn’t a crash. In most instances, there is no personal injury claim for “I almost died” or “I was almost severely injured.”
What to Expect During One of Our Free Case Evaluations
During the initial consultation, we will do an intake, in which we will get information about the accident, injury, and healthcare providers that the injured person is seeing. Insurance companies have an army of lawyers, investigators and adjusters who have a jaded opinion of injured persons. This is why it is important for us to obtain all past medical records (even though the client may think the records are not related to the accident) to make sure there is no documentation that the insurance company can attempt to rely on to say the injured person had a pre-existing condition that is causing the medical issues.
At Guy DiMartino Law, we work with a team of experts to pin down liability, prove that the accident was the cause of the injury victims problems, and support the nature and extent of damages. We have a history of success in mediation and trial as a result of the preparation that we go through in our personal injury cases. Additionally, we have the financial resources to prosecute personal injury claims against the largest corporations and insurance companies to get our clients the justice that they deserve for life changes injuries, such as:
- Loss of limb and amputation
- Spinal cord injuries
- Brain injuries
- Loss of life – wrongful death
The decision to hire a Michigan City personal injury lawyer should be made as soon as possible following your injury, and it is essential that you evaluate the reviews supplied by former clients of Guy DiMartino Law by searching Google for the law firm’s name. This can help you decide whether Guy DiMartino Law is right for you.
Predatory Practice to Watch Out For After a Michigan City Personal Injury
There are a number of predatory practices used by businesses, corporations, individuals and insurance companies to take advantage of a person injured in Michigan City, Indiana. The purpose of these practices is to take advantage of the injured person’s lack of knowledge and experience when it comes to making an injury claim. An experienced lawyer knows how to deal with these issues and protect the injured person and their claim. Some of the tactics include:
- Failing to respond to inquiries by the injured party
- Denying the claim immediately without any meaningful investigation
- Delaying a determination of liability because the insurance company “did not speak to their insured”
- Misusing medical or legal terms in an attempt to lower the settlement value of the injured party’s claim
- Delaying payment of the claim without justification
- Failing to provide an exact reason for denying a claim
Attempting to drag out the claim and string the injured person along so the statute of limitations on the claim expires so they no longer have to pay for the claim
The danger is that many injury victims don’t realize they have been a victim of these tactics until later on the claims process. This delay can hurt because it may be too late to provide evidence to support the claim. The main job of a personal injury lawyer is to protect the injured person and maximize the settlement amount.
Common Questions Regarding Personal Injury Claims
Does My Accident Require a Personal Injury Lawyer
Believe it or not, no two situations are the same. The facts surrounding the accident and how the accident impacts the injury victim is unique to the client. Here are some scenarios in which you may want to hire a personal injury attorney.
There is a Dispute Over Who is at Fault for the Accident
If you were involved in a serious accident and you are unsure who is at fault or the insurance company is blaming you for the accident, then you should consult with a personal injury lawyer. The attorney will give you an objective opinion regarding the facts of the case and will also be able to explain the legal issues that you are confronted with.
You Experienced a Serious Injury as a Result of the Accident
If you or a loved one has experienced a significant injury because of the accident, you need a lawyer, there is really no choice. The moment someone is seriously injured or died as a result of an accident the insurance company mobilizes investigators and lawyers to protect the company’s or their insured’s interests. There is no room for chance if you face a lifetime of pain and suffering because of the accident.
There are Multiple Parties Involved in the Incident
Imagine that you are involved in a multiple vehicle crash on I-94, and the driver that ran into you, says that they were pushed into you because they were hit in the rear-end. The question then becomes who is the at-fault driver or is there more than one at fault driver, and if so, how do you apportion the fault between the other two drivers? A personal injury attorney will give you the best chance of sorting the facts of the case out, and will be able to deal with the multiple insurance companies and competing interests of each driver, so you get the compensation that you deserve.
How Much Does a Michigan City Personal Injury Lawyer Cost?
A personal injury attorney only gets paid by winning money for their client through a claim or lawsuit. The money will come from either a jury award, in-suit mediation, or pre-suit settlement.
Injury lawyers do not charge their clients any upfront costs or attorney’s fees. Instead, most personal injury attorneys work on a contingency, which means if there is no recovery there is no fee. The purpose of a contingency fee is to level the playing field for people who are injured in an accident. How is an injured person going to pay $400 an hour or more to hire a lawyer if they are unable to work because of the accident? The contingency fee allows the injured party to focus on what’s important, “getting better”, without having to worry about racking up attorney’s fees for calling the lawyer’s office.
How much the contingency fee will be is based on a percentage of the amount the lawyer recovers for the client. Typically, contingency fees will range between 30%-40% depending on the facts of the case and where in the stage of claim the case resolves.
How Do I Find the Best Personal Injury Lawyer Near Me?
There are a number of good personal injury lawyers in the Michigan City area, here are some important factors to consider when choosing an attorney to help you with your case.
Does the Firm Have Good Reviews?
A major portion of our personal injury clients are referred by other clients who have been satisfied with the service that we provided. Reviews from former clients provide valuable information for an injury victim when making a decision to hire a lawyer.
Does the Lawyer Focus on Personal Injury Claims?
A jack of all trades is a master of none. At Guy DiMartino Law we do not handle criminal, divorce, bankruptcy, worker’s compensation, products liability or social security disability. We limit our practice areas because it is pretty hard to competently handle a bunch of areas of law to a high level.
Is the Firm Respected by Other Lawyers in the Community?
At Guy DiMartino Law our second highest number of referrals come from other lawyers. We are referred personal injury cases from local and out of state attorneys. Additionally, we have litigated cases against:
- American Family Insurance
- Allstate Insurance
- Local Hospitals
- Michigan City
- Progressive
- USAA
- GEICO
- Meijer
- State Farm
- Farm Bureau
… just to name a few.
Does the Lawyer Have Time for You?
Throughout the country there are personal injury attorneys that market themselves on TV and billboards, they make themselves local celebrities, however, in reality, these lawyers are not dealing with the clients of the firm, they are just the fact of the firm. Most of the time, in these firms you will be dealing with a junior member of the team, who will be handling your case.
At Guy DiMartino Law, you get Guy DiMartino. You won’t be dealing with a second or third year associate, your lawyer will be the person that you hired. The benefit is that you will have my personal cell phone for direct communication, because I am concerned about the quality of the service provided to our clients.
If you are looking for a Michigan City personal injury attorney, Call Guy DiMartino Law.
