If you have been hurt by someone else’s negligence, New Hampshire law grants you the right to file a personal injury lawsuit against them. Through a successful lawsuit, you can obtain financial compensation to help offset the financial burden your injuries will impose. The most common types of compensation awarded to accident victims in Claremont include medical expenses, loss of income, bonuses, and benefits, and pain and suffering.

Filing a personal injury claim successfully is never easy. Certain challenges will arise and if you do not know how to overcome them, it could significantly impact the amount of compensation you receive. A personal injury lawyer in New Hampshire will ensure you recover the full financial compensation you deserve.

What is Personal Injury Law?

Personal injury law is a legal area that allows injured individuals to file a claim against a negligent individual, business, or government entity. Negligence is another word for carelessness. To be successful with your claim, you must prove someone else acted negligently and that you become injured as a result. You must also prove the extent of your injuries and the damages you are pursuing to compensate for them.

Always work with a Claremont personal injury lawyer after someone injures you. If you make one small mistake, fail to collect important evidence, or do not file your claim on time, you jeopardize your claim. A lawyer will not make these mistakes and will recover the full settlement you deserve.

Areas of Personal Injury Law

There are a number of ways you can become hurt by another person’s carelessness. The most common areas of personal injury law are as follows:

  • Car accidents
  • Motorcycle accidents
  • Truck accidents
  • Workplace accidents
  • Product liability
  • Pedestrian accidents

Sometimes accidents are so severe that victims do not survive them. When this is the case, a wrongful death claim may be appropriate. Wrongful death claims provide loved ones with the compensation they deserve for their losses and they are governed by additional personal injury laws.

What to Do if You are Hurt

The steps you take after being injured by someone else’s carelessness will largely depend on the type of accident you were in.

If you were hurt in a car accident, you must first determine if you suffered an injury. Call 911 to report the accident. Ask for an ambulance to be sent to the scene if you think you are injured, as injuries will typically worsen as the adrenaline wears off in the minutes, hours, and sometimes days after a crash. As you wait for the responders, exchange insurance and contact information with all other motorists involved. Take photos of the scene, damage to the vehicles involved, and your own injuries. Then locate witnesses and ask them for their contact information.

After an injury on someone else’s property, it is important to tell the property owner. If the property belongs to a business, inform a manager, supervisor, or someone else in charge. They may ask you to fill out an incident report and while you can do this, always ask for a copy. Again, take pictures and locate witnesses so you can contact them later.

Settlements vs. Going to Trial

The vast majority of personal injury cases in Claremont settle outside of the courtroom. When working with a lawyer, they will negotiate with the at-fault party, and the insurance company that provides the coverage, on your behalf. Most of the time, these negotiations take place over a number of weeks or months. After that time, a fair settlement offer is reached.

Unfortunately, liable parties and insurance companies do not always want to offer a fair settlement. In these cases, it is necessary to go to trial to obtain the full compensation you deserve. Although this is rare, it is important to work with an attorney who has trial experience so you have the best chance of a favorable outcome.

FAQs for Claremont Personal Injury Cases

Our lawyers have talked with many accident victims who have questions about the process and their rights. Below, we reproduce some of the most common questions and our answers.

How do I know if my case will settle?

There are many factors, including the strength of the evidence. As your personal injury lawyers, our goal is to convince insurance adjusters that their client is at fault for your injuries. If we have solid evidence, then the odds of a settlement go way up.

Some roadblocks to settlement include disputes over fault as well as disagreements about the severity of your injuries. For example, an insurance company might not want to offer fair compensation for your pain and suffering. Our job is to effectively negotiate a meaningful settlement.

What is the average personal injury settlement in Claremont?

The only way to find the average is to add up all the personal injury settlements in a year and divide them by the number of settlements. To our knowledge, no one has done that type of calculation.

In any event, the “average” settlement isn’t very helpful when thinking about your claim. Instead, you should talk with a lawyer about how much you can receive for:

  • Medical care
  • Property damage (like damage to your car)
  • Lost income or wages
  • Pain and suffering
  • Emotional distress

If you lost a loved one in an accident, then you would request different damages.But our lawyers are experienced in the art of estimating settlements.

Is there a deadline for filing a lawsuit?

Yes. The amount of time you get will depend on who you are suing. If you are suing a private party, then you typically get three years to file from the date of the accident. If you go over this deadline, then you lose the ability to receive any compensation. Please call Sabbeth Law as soon as possible to protect your rights!

Can I receive compensation if I am partially responsible for my injuries?

Possibly. NH Rev Statute § 507:7-d says that you can receive compensation so long as your fault is “not greater” than the fault of all defendants. Essentially, you can be up to 50% to blame, but not more.

Even if you are 50% or less to blame, your compensation is reduced proportionally. Someone who is 15% at fault will receive only 85% of what they otherwise would receive. If you are 50% to blame, you will receive half.

Is it okay to give a recorded statement to an insurance company?

Not without a lawyer present! As mentioned above, your comparative fault could reduce the amount of compensation you receive—or prevent you entirely from receiving even a penny (when you are more than 50% to blame). Some insurance adjusters will try to get you to say something that shows you were at fault. For example, they might ask, “Were you looking at your phone?” and claim this shows you were texting and driving.

Most personal injury victims are in pain or suffering from poor sleep. They are not thinking clearly when an insurer calls up with questions. Unsurprisingly, people say things they don’t mean, but their words can come back to haunt them. You should have one of our Claremont personal injury lawyers sitting by your side whenever you talk to an insurance company.

What is a “judgment proof” defendant?

This is a term lawyers use to describe a defendant who has no insurance and no money to pay you compensation. For example, an uninsured driver might hit your car, causing a concussion and whiplash. The driver has no other assets, like money in a bank account, to pay a settlement.

Our law firm is experienced in finding sources of compensation. As an example, you might haveuninsured motorist insurance, which can cover a hit-and-run accident or other collision where the defendant is uninsured.

What should I look for when hiring a personal injury lawyer?

Ideally, you should hire someone with ample experience in personal injury law. This is a specialized field. The criminal defense attorney who handled a DUI or other criminal matter might be terrific. But they probably don’t know personal injury law because they handle very few of these cases. Sabbeth Law has tackled some of the most complex personal injury cases in Claremont and surrounding areas.

Also, hire someone you feel comfortable having a conversation with. Communication is essential to a thriving attorney-client relationship. For this reason, we highly recommend calling our firm and scheduling a time to meet with one of our lawyers.

Our Personal Injury Lawyer in Claremont is Here to Help

If you have been hurt by the careless actions of another person, our Claremont personal injury lawyer is here to help. At Sabbeth Law, we know how to hold negligent parties accountable, and we will put that experience to work for you. Call us now or reach out to us online to schedule a free consultation.