​Metairie Personal Injury Lawyer

Personal injuries that are someone else’s fault can happen anywhere in Metairie. They can occur if a truck driver hits you on Interstate 10. Another driver might run the stop sign at the dangerous intersection of Kawanee Avenue and Bissonet Drive and T-bone your vehicle. You can slip and fall in the parking lot at Lakeside Mall.

You can never entirely protect yourself from someone else’s lack of care. You may be entitled to financial compensation if you prove someone else was to blame for your injuries. Discuss a possible injury claim with Stewart J. Guss Personal Injury Attorneys as soon as possible.

We are a national law firm with multiple offices around the country, including Louisiana. We also work with affiliate law firms in most states that share our focus and dedication to excellence. No matter where you are located, we may be able to help you, so call or contact us now. We are open, for free, 24 hours a day, seven days a week, at 800-898-4877, or you may contact us now by clicking here to submit your case for review.

Many thousands of people have trusted our legal team to handle their injury claims and get them the possible money for their injuries, and you should trust Stewart J. Guss Personal Injury Attorneys, too. Contact us today for your free initial consultation.

Metairie Personal Injury Guide

Examples of Personal Injury Cases

Personal injury law encompasses a wide variety of cases. They can arise when you have suffered any type of damage to your person from someone else’s actions.

Here are some examples of different kinds of personal injury cases that our firm regularly takes on:

The Metairie area saw 39 traffic fatalities in one recent year, with many more people needing medical treatment for accident-related injuries. With many people commuting to and from New Orleans from Metairie, the chances of car crashes increase significantly. Many people in the area will feel the effects of a traffic accident at some point. You need the right legal support when this happens to you.

Liability in a Personal Injury Case

You may wonder how to qualify for financial compensation in a personal injury case.

Your personal injury case generally involves two different parts:

  • Proving that someone was to blame for your injuries
  • Getting the money that you deserve in compensation

Negligence is the keyword you need to know regarding liability for any personal injury claim. This concept applies in nearly every personal injury matter unless the accident happened due to intentional misconduct.

You cannot receive financial compensation unless you prove someone else was negligent. In every personal injury case, negligence has a similar meaning. Essentially, you must show that someone else did not live up to their obligations under the circumstances.

People may owe you a duty of care by virtue of your relationship with them. Even if you never meet someone in your life, they have a relationship with you that calls for a duty of care when they are near you on the highway. For example, all drivers owe others a duty of care to drive reasonably and safely to avoid crashes and injuries.

Our injury attorneys at Stewart J. Guss Personal Injury Attorneys know how to identify negligent parties, so we seek compensation from the proper sources.

​Metairie Personal Injury Lawyer

How to Prove Negligence in Your Personal Injury Case

You have the burden of proof to show negligence by a preponderance of the evidence. You must show that your version of the facts is more likely than not to be true. Otherwise, you will not be in a position to talk about actual financial compensation.

You must meet four elements to show that someone else was negligent. If you fail to prove any of these elements, you cannot win your case.

The four elements of the negligence test are:

  • Someone else owed you a duty of care
  • That person breached the duty of care by acting unreasonably under the circumstances
  • You suffered an injury
  • You would not have suffered an injury had it not been for the acts or omissions of the other party

The most common element that is in dispute is whether someone else acted unreasonably under the circumstances. An insurance company or a defendant may also dispute that they were the cause of your injuries, often trying to blame your injuries on something that you did.

Examples of Negligence in a Personal Injury Case

What may be a negligent action depends on the particular case. You must show what the responsible party did and what a reasonable person should have done.

Here are some examples of negligence in a personal injury case:

  • A driver rear-ends you because they were looking down at their phone and did not see you ahead of them (the act of rear-ending a driver is often negligence in itself, and you will not need to prove that the driver was on their phone).
  • A commercial truck driver violated the hours of service restrictions and fell asleep at the wheel, losing control of their semi-truck and crashing into your case.
  • You were struck as a pedestrian in the crosswalk because the driver of a passing car failed to yield the right way.
  • You slip and fall in a store because another customer spilled a liquid in the aisle, and the store employees did not notice it and clean up the mess within a reasonable time.

Our law firm knows how to identify and prove negligence whether your injuries stemmed from a car crash, truck accident, or another incident.

Proving Your Case Requires Evidence

In each case, you can see how some evidence is required to show that the responsible party was negligent. For example, in a slip and fall case, you will need testimony showing that the store employees knew or should have known the danger and did nothing to fix the problem.

Our attorneys will aggressively work to gather the necessary evidence as soon as you hire us. You need to promptly hire an attorney because you may lose crucial evidence shortly after your injuries. If you take your case to court, we will also boldly seek all the relevant information that can help prove your case in the discovery process.

Insurance companies know that Stewart J. Guss's Personal Injury Attorneys will aggressively do what it takes to obtain financial compensation for their clients. They know us, and they fear us.

How to Get Financial Compensation in Your Metairie Personal Injury Case

You can get financial compensation in a personal injury case in two primary ways:

  • Assuming that the responsible party had insurance coverage, you can file a claim and receive up to the policy maximum if you can prove that the person was negligent.
  • You also have the option to file a lawsuit against the responsible party in court, either right after the accident or when you cannot work out a settlement with the insurance company.

Your Lawyer Can Help You Figure out How to Best Get Compensation

If you show that the responsible party was negligent, you have the legal right to financial compensation. It is up to you to choose how to pursue it most effectively. Your lawyer will recommend strategy and tactics in your case. Regardless of which compensation means you seek, you will still be dealing with the insurance company, which has to defend its policyholder in court.

Many people think a personal injury case automatically means a climactic trial before a jury, but trials are rare. You can expect a lot of negotiating and dealings with the insurance company. You may even expect your case to move toward a potential trial. However, most cases will settle before they reach a trial.

How Much Your Metairie Personal Injury Case May Recover

Our clients usually focus on the financial compensation they will receive in a personal injury case. When you have suffered an injury and need the money, it is natural to wonder how much your case is worth. The answer always depends on your situation and how much damage you have suffered.

The legal concept is that the responsible party must make you whole by compensating you for your injuries. They cannot undo their negligence or turn the clock back to before you suffered an injury. Instead, your legal relief comes in the form of monetary compensation for your damages.

Your personal injury damages break into:

  • Economic damages represent the money that came out of your pocket or money that should have come into your pocket but did not.
  • Non-economic damages represent compensation for the difficulties and discomfort you had to endure due to your physical injuries.

Economic damages will include:

  • The cost of medical care and any other life care that you may need
  • Damage to your property
  • Lost income for money that you should have earned from work

Economic damages should be objective because you can quantify what your expenses and costs are, but the insurance company always tries to find a way to muddy the waters.

Non-economic damages are more subjective. They measure how you have suffered personally since your accident. They are supposed to be dependent on your own experience. Still, the insurance company tries to ignore your suffering in favor of “objective formulas,” which always means they do better.

Here is what you might include in non-economic damages:

Non-economic damages may be a large part of your personal injury settlement, but you will need to fight for everything that you get.

Filing a Wrongful Death Claim When Your Loved One Died

Louisiana law allows the family to file a wrongful death lawsuit if their loved one died from their personal injury.

The following people may file a wrongful death lawsuit in Metairie:

  • The surviving spouse and children (or either of them may)
  • The surviving parents (if the deceased was not married or had no children)
  • The surviving siblings (if there is no spouse, children, or parents)
  • The surviving grandparents (if nobody is surviving in the above categories)

The family may seek damages in a wrongful death lawsuit that includes:

  • The income that the deceased person should have earned throughout their career had they lived
  • Compensation for the loss of guidance, love, and support from the dead person and the personal relationship
  • Payment for the grief and emotional distress that the family suffers when they tragically lose a loved one
  • The loss of consortium from the physical connection that a spouse had with the deceased person

You May Need to Fight the Insurance Company to Get What You Deserve

​Metairie Personal Injury Lawyer

The insurance company will do everything possible to cut what they owe you. They use many tactics to take advantage of personal injury victims and their families. They do not care about your welfare. Instead, they focus on their profits and underpay your claim as one step toward their goal.

When you have suffered a personal injury, you need a fighter. The insurance company will push around if you let them.

You can push back by hiring Stewart J. Guss Personal Injury Attorneys. We have a track record of taking the fight to the insurance companies and standing up for our clients. Every lawyer tells you that they will fight for you - our successful track record proves it.

We will not hesitate to try your case in court if that is what is necessary to get you full and fair financial compensation for your losses. The prospect of litigation is often enough to get the insurance company to fall in line. At the same time, we know when to settle a case for fair compensation. The bottom line is that we have a track record of delivering results for clients who trust us.

Consult with Our Metairie Personal Injury Lawyer Today

Stewart J. Guss Personal Injury Attorneys are tough and unyielding when you need us to stand up for you while taking a practical approach to your personal injury case. Everything we do maximizes your compensation and make your life easier during a difficult time.

The legal team of Stewart J. Guss, Injury Accident Lawyers, is nationally recognized for protecting the rights of injured victims for more than 20 years. If an accident in Metairie injured you, call our office right now for a free consultation! Because we take all of our personal injury cases on a contingency fee basis, you will not owe us a dime unless we win your case. We are available 24 hours a day, seven days a week, so call us today at 800-898-4877 or contact us now by clicking here. You owe us nothing unless you win your case.