At Morgan, Collins, Yeast & Salyer, our personal injury attorneys work for you. Firm partners Roy Collins and Dan Yeast worked for insurance companies for years, so we have an inside perspective on how they operate. We give you the Kentucky Courage you need to fight aggressive insurers and demand the fair compensation you deserve.
Contact us now to schedule your free personalized consultation. Our lawyers are ready to discuss your case and answer all your questions.
What Do You Have to Prove in a Personal Injury Case?
It may seem like you have a cut-and-dry personal injury case. After all, you were hurt, and someone else was at fault. You should be compensated, right?
Unfortunately, it is not that simple. Under Kentucky personal injury law, there are four elements you must prove in order to have a successful claim.
These four elements include:
- Duty of care: Most of the time, people have a responsibility to behave in a reasonable manner to keep everyone else safe. For example, all drivers must act in a manner that keeps everyone else on the road safe. In personal injury law, though, there are some exceptions to this, such as property owners who don’t have a duty of care toward trespassers.
- Breach of duty: When individuals do not act in a reasonable manner, they have breached their duty of care. This is commonly referred to as acting negligently. This is a simple concept, but proving negligence is often very difficult and requires the help of an experienced personal injury attorney.
- Causation: This means that you must prove that someone else’s negligent actions caused an accident. Even if a person acted negligently, you still must be able to show that action contributed to your accident.
- Damages: Personal injury lawsuits are meant to provide compensation that will make accident victims whole again. If there are no injuries or losses, there is nothing to compensate for, and so there is no claim.
These four elements are of proof sound fairly straightforward. Facts quickly become twisted in personal injury claims, though, and you may not know what evidence to look for to prove your claim.
At Morgan, Collins, Yeast & Salyer, our experienced Kentucky personal injury lawyers can help you craft a strong case and demand the full compensation you need to recover.
Common Types of Personal Injury Cases We Handle
For years, our dedicated legal team has been standing strong for Kentuckians who were unjustly injured in accidents that could have been prevented. We handle a broad range of personal injury cases, including:
It takes courage to fight back when an accident has left you with serious injuries or claimed the life of a loved one. Our Kentucky personal injury lawyers provide the support you need to hold those responsible accountable for what they have done to you and your family.
Types of Damages You Could Recover in a Personal Injury Claim
When you file a personal injury claim, your goal is to recover total compensation for all your injuries and losses, both now and down the line. In a personal injury lawsuit, this compensation is known as damages. There are several common types of damages. These include:
- Medical expenses: These costs often make up the bulk in personal injury cases. You can claim both current medical expenses and future medical costs. Our attorneys may work with experts to accurately estimate what your future medical costs could be.
- Lost income: Accident victims are often so severely injured that they cannot return to work. Sometimes this is for days or weeks, while other times individuals can never work again. You can claim all this lost income in a personal injury lawsuit.
- Reduced earning capacity: Sometimes, individuals can return to work, but it’s not the same line of work they once enjoyed, and it may not pay as much. When this is the case, you can demand compensation for that reduced earning capacity within your claim.
- Pain and suffering: Personal injury claims are meant to make up for all the losses accident victims suffer. This includes the physical pain and suffering you experience due to your injuries.
- Emotional distress: In addition to physical pain and suffering, accident victims often feel emotional distress. If someone was in a bad car accident, for example, he or she may have nightmares about it for a long time after the crash. You can pursue compensation to account for this level of distress.
- Loss of consortium: These damages are meant to compensate for intangible losses such as the loss of companionship or the loss of an intimate relationship with a spouse. Our attorneys can help you put a value on this type of loss.
These are just a few of the most common types of damages available in a claim. A Kentucky personal injury lawyer from our firm can advise on all the damages available if you’ve been hurt in an accident. We will work tirelessly in pursuit of the maximum amount of compensation you deserve.