Bar Fight Injury

I got a call recently from a guy who had been punched in the nose recently at a bar and had sustained some injuries.  He wanted to know if he could sue the bar for his injuries.  I explained that in order to hold the bar responsible, it would be necessary to show that they were somehow negligent in allowing this to happen.  Or, for example, if it was one of their employees, or bouncers, who did the punching, the bar could potentially be liable.  But just being punched in the face while in a bar is not, in and of itself, enough to hold them liable for your injuries.

Car Wreck Injury

I once spoke to a client who was upset with the outcome of a criminal prosecution involving a driver who had been in an accident which killed a member of the client’s family.  The other driver had been acquitted by a jury.  It was difficult explaining that the civil case and the criminal case are different from eachother.  An injury attorney could still bring a civil claim against the other driver, no matter what happened in the criminal case.  The two are different, and one doesn’t impact the other.  An experienced injury attorney is going to know the difference, and pass that along to the client.  The bottom line is the criminal case is handled by the state and the solicitor’s office, while the civil claim is handled by an injury attorney.

Hernia Injury

Just fielded a call from a potential client regarding a hernia injury she sustained on the job. 

Unfortunately, the state of the workers’ compensation laws is not very good.  There is a different standard of proof for hernia cases, and if we are successful, it is difficult if not impossible to get compensated for any permanent disability.  Thus, most injury attorneys are reluctant to get involved. 

I had to decline this case, even though I felt bad for the lady.  I gave her some instructions as to how to handle it herself, but at the end of the day, she probably won’t find an injury attorney to represent her.

Injured Worker Benefits

If an injured worker is out of work drawing temporary total disability payments, he cannot also file for unemployment benefits.  The two are exclusive of each other.  I often have clients ask me this question, and I make sure I tell them that if they are drawing TTD payments from the workers’ comp insurance company, that they not file for unemployment.  This is the kind of question that we injury attorneys get all the time.

Preexisting Injuries

If a person has a preexisting condition, and hurts himself either at work or in a car wreck, he can still recover either under the workers’ comp. laws or the third party liability laws as long as the injury is demonstrated to aggravate the preexisting condition. 

This is usually done by way of a letter from the treating physician, or perhaps a deposition.  There are too many potential clients out there who just assume because they had a previous problem with the same part of the body that they are not able to make a recovery.  This is simply not true

Injury at Work

Typically, an injured worker cannot recover for both a burn on an injured body part, as well as function loss to that same body part.  It has to be one or the other.  For example, if a worker burns his arm, but also has difficulty using that arm, when it comes settlement time, he cannot recover both for the disfigurement as well as the functional loss of use.  The exception to this is when the scar is raised, or a keloid scar. 

This is just one example of the kind of statutes and regulations that a competent workers’ compensation attorney needs to keep up with.  It would be very difficult for an injured worker to handle this himself without the services of an injury lawyer.

‘Get Your Legal Question Answered’ -New Injury Attorney Site

If you are looking for an injury attorney in Columbia, SC, it’s because you either have -or want to find out if you have- a case or claim.

Let’s face it, there are a lot of complexities in the personal injury law ‘world’. Whether it’s wrongful death, workers’ compensation, auto accidents or another type of accident or injury, the laws are complicated. Working as a personal injury attorney for over 20 years, I find that people are often confused by the entire personal injury process, and the coplex laws and have a lot of unanswered questions.

That’s why I created the ‘Get Your Legal Question Answered By An Injury Attorney‘ site. Go check it out and ask your legal question!

Injury Attorney News in Columbia SC -Truck Overturns (Vehicle Accident)

A truck accident happened in a nearby town a few days ago…

“2 killed when truck overturns in Lexington”

http://www.thestate.com/local/story/895512.html

A vehicle accident like this case has wrongful death, personal injury, and potential workers’ comp implications which an injury attorney would want to jump right on.  First of all, the family of the passenger would have a wrongful death claim against the driver, since it was apparently a one-car accident.  Either of the occupants would have a workers’ comp claim which a workers’ compensation attorney would want to investigate if they were on the job at the time of the wreck.  Again, this is true regardless of who was at fault in the accident.  This is the kind of case that a competent wrongful death attorney, or injury lawyer, handles on a fairly regular basis.

Punitive Damages In A Hit and Run Case

Being an injury attorney in Columbia, SC, I take calls quite frequently from prospective clients who wonder if they may have a case.

Recently, I took a call from a prospective client who had been hit while walking across a crosswalk. The driver then sped away and left the scene, leaving the person injured.

The injured party received a call several days later from the police.

They had located the hit and run driver and he had been charged him departing the scene of an accident involving a bodily injury.

My prospective client will be able to pursue a personal innjury claim for punitive damages against the driver, as well as any claim for the actual injuries caused in the accident.

“Punitive damages” are a legal method of deterring this kind of conduct and punishing the perpetrator.  Fortunately, punitive damages are covered by liability insurance in South Carolina, so this has a good chance of being a successful punitive damage claim.

Injury Attorney Talks About “Proving Negligence”

This is an example of a case where proving negligence was the real key to the case.

I had a case a few years ago, where a horse got out through a hole in a fence, entered a road, and caused a severe crash with substantial injuries.  The issue became whether the horse owner had taken reasonable precautions to keep the horse confined, and we argued that he had not.

We tried to find witnesses, for example, who could testify that the fence had been in disrepair for a great length of time.  Often in these types of cases, there is no absolute right or wrong answer.  It all comes down to whether the defendant was negligent, which simply means that they were careless.  This is the kind of thing an injury attorney such as Best and Flatt, P.A. deals with all the time.