A personal injury claim may arise if you are injured in an accident, such as a car accident, a slip and fall, or a construction site accident. These events can cause mild to severe injuries and leave you with medical bills, lost wages, property damage, and other unexpected costs.
If the accident was caused by another person’s careless or reckless actions, you can try to hold them responsible through a personal injury claim. An experienced Baton Rouge personal injury attorney can guide you through this process and help you fight for compensation.
Let’s look at the basics of a personal injury claim in more detail.
How Do I Prove a Personal Injury Claim in Louisiana?
Most personal injury claims are based on negligence. To act negligently means failing to act the way a reasonably prudent person would under the circumstances.
To prove negligence in Louisiana, you must establish the following four elements:
Duty of care
You must show that the defendant owed you a duty of care. A duty of care is a legal obligation to adhere to a certain standard of conduct regarding the safety of others. Normally, one has a duty to act with the ordinary care and caution that a reasonable person would in the same situation, though there are different standards of care in some situations.
Breach
You must show that the defendant breached or violated the standard of care. This will often require showing that they acted unreasonably under the circumstances.
Damages
You must show that you suffered damages due to the defendant’s actions. Damages are the losses you suffered because of the accident or injury.
These may include economic damages, such as medical expenses, lost wages, property damage, and loss of future earning potential. They may also include non-economic damages, such as pain and suffering, loss of companionship, and loss of quality of life.
Causation
You must show that the defendant’s actions caused your injuries. This requires proving that the defendant was both the actual cause and the proximate cause of your injuries. The actual cause means that the accident would not have happened without the defendant’s actions. The proximate cause means showing that your injuries were a reasonably foreseeable consequence of the defendant’s actions.
Can I Recover Compensation If I’m Being Blamed for an Accident In Louisiana?
In Louisiana, you can still recover compensation if you were partly to blame for an accident. Louisiana has a pure comparative negligence law, which means each party to an accident is assigned a percentage of blame. You can recover compensation from another at-fault party whether you were 1% or 99% to blame, but your compensation will be reduced in proportion to your degree of fault.
How Long Do I Have to File My Personal Injury Case in Louisiana?
As of 7/01/2024, Louisiana residents have two years from the date of an accident to file a personal injury lawsuit. However, if your injury occurred prior to 7/01/2024, you may have as little as one year.
This deadline is called the statute of limitations. You must file your lawsuit on time, or you won’t be able to seek compensation in court.
That means time is of the essence. An experienced Louisiana personal injury lawyer will ensure that your case is filed on time.
An Experienced Baton Rouge Personal Injury Can Help with Your Claim
Were you injured in an accident in Baton Rouge? You may be able to recover compensation for your injuries through a personal injury claim.
An experienced Baton Rouge personal injury attorney can discuss your case and help you begin the process of pursuing compensation through a personal injury claim.
Contact a Baton Rouge Personal Injury Lawyer from Mansfield Melancon Car Accident and Personal Injury Lawyers for Help Today
For more information, please contact Mansfield Melancon Car Accident and Personal Injury Lawyers to schedule a free consultation with a personal injury lawyer in Baton Rouge, LA today. We have three convenient locations in Louisiana, including Baton Rouge, New Orleans, and Lafayette.
We proudly serve East Baton Rouge Parish, Lafayette Parish, Orleans Parish, and its surrounding areas:
Mansfield Melancon Car Accident and Personal Injury Lawyers – Baton Rouge Office
404 Europe Street
Baton Rouge, Louisiana, 70124
(225) 263-4787
Mansfield Melancon Car Accident and Personal Injury Lawyers – New Orleans Office
318 Harrison Avenue Suite 107
New Orleans, Louisiana, 70802
(504) 294-3804
Mansfield Melancon Car Accident and Personal Injury Lawyers – Lafayette Office
1318 Camellia Boulevard Suite 206
Lafayette, Louisiana, 70508
(337) 473-2991