Personal Injury Lawyer Monroe

Personal Injury in Monroe, Michigan

When you've been injured by someone else's carelessness in Monroe, Michigan, it is important to take some initial steps toward making sure your injury claim can be settled fairly and as quickly as possible:

• Write down everything you can remember about how the injury occurred, including the names, addresses and phone numbers of potential witnesses, police officers and insurance company representatives (or company or workers' compensation representatives if it was a work-related injury)
• Talk to a Monroe personal injury lawyer before making any statements, written or verbal, to insurance company adjusters or representatives
• Let anyone you think may be responsible for the injury know right away that you are intending to file a claim against them
• Take steps to protect any evidence you may need to prove your injury, such as your totaled car, photographs of an accident or injury scene, clothing you were wearing, damaged personal belongings, and so forth

How Do I Figure Out Who Is at Fault?

In most cases, in order to collect on an injury claim in Monroe, Michigan, you must prove the person who caused the injury was "negligent" - they didn't exercise reasonable care. In Monroe, Michigan, you must prove:

• The person who caused your injury owed you a duty
• The other person broke or breached that duty
• You suffered damages
• The other person's failure caused your injury

Michigan's "comparative negligence" law allows you to recover against another person, even if you were also negligent, as long as the other person was more negligent than you. If more than one person was negligent towards you, they are each proportionally responsible to you for their share of the damage they caused. If one of the people is 60 percent or more responsible for the injury, you can recover the full amount of the damages from them directly. That person can then seek recovery for the portion above what they were responsible for from the other person responsible for the injury.

If you have been injured using a consumer product, the manufacturer or the seller of the product may be responsible under "products liability" law if the product wasn't reasonably safe for use by you. You need to prove:

• The product had some sort of defect, either in how it was designed or in how it was made, or it lacked adequate warnings
• The defect or lack of warnings caused your injury
• You suffered damages

What Is My Claim Worth?

Under Monroe, Michigan law, the person who injured you is responsible for:

• Past, current and future estimated medical expenses
• Time lost from work, including time spent going to medical appointments or therapy
• Any property that was damaged, such as your vehicle
• The cost of hiring someone to do household chores when you couldn't do so
• Any permanent disfigurement or disability
• Your emotional distress, including anxiety, depression, fright, shock and any interference with your family relationships
• Physical pain and suffering
• Change in future earning ability due to the injury that you suffered
• Any other costs that were a direct result of your injury

In some cases you may need an expert to explain your injuries and why you're entitled to certain damages. This is very common in medical malpractice cases. A Monroe Personal Injury lawyer will know what type of expert witness to hire to best prove your damages.

How Long Do I Have to File a Legal Claim?

In Monroe, Michigan, you only have two years to file a lawsuit against the person who injured you. If your lawyer has not been able to come to an agreement with any involved insurance companies, you will definitely want to file a lawsuit before the two-year statute of limitations runs out.

Questions for Your Monroe Personal Injury Lawyer

• Can I still file a lawsuit if I accepted a settlement offer from the other person's insurance company before I contacted you?
• The insurance company seems to be taking me and my injuries seriously. Why do I need to hire a lawyer?
• Is the other person's insurance company entitled to look at my medical records without my permission? Should I let it have access to my records?