Rhode Island Personal Injury Attorney
If you’ve been injured in a car accident, slip and fall, or suffered a personal injury in some other accident because of the negligence of another party, Rhode Island personal injury law allows you to sue that negligent party and recover compensation for the harm done to you. However, the burden falls on you as the personal injury plaintiff to prove your case before you can recover. This means that you must be able to prove by a preponderance of the evidence that the other party breached a duty of care they owed to you which caused you to suffer a personal injury and related legal damages. The defendant, meanwhile, is represented by insurance company lawyers and claims adjusters who do nothing all day except fight claims like yours and try to pay out as little as possible. They’ll even try to avoid liability altogether if they can.
At Robert E. Craven & Associates, all we do is represent personal injury victims and try to get them the best result available after a car accident, slip and fall or other personal injury accident. With our lawyers on your side, you’ll be represented by a team of attorneys who are just as smart, experienced and resourceful as the insurance company lawyers trying to downplay or defeat your claim. We negotiate from a position of strength to achieve a top-dollar settlement, and our experienced trial lawyers are not afraid to go court when necessary to get the best result. If you or a loved one has suffered an injury, call the Rhode Island personal injury attorneys at Robert E. Craven & Associates for a free consultation.
What if I was partly to blame in the accident?
Perhaps you were driving above the legal speed limit when a distracted driver or drunk driver ran a red light and plowed into you in an intersection. Or perhaps you were looking at your phone while walking in a store and didn’t notice that puddle of liquid on the floor before you slipped and fell. A jury might decide that you were somewhat at fault and might have been able to avoid the accident or lessen your damages if not for your own negligence. Under Rhode Island comparative negligence law, any award of money damages you receive from the at-fault party will be reduced in proportion to your own negligence. It is important to understand that your own contributory negligence will not keep you from pursuing a claim against the other party, no matter how much of the fault is attributed to you.
Insurance companies will often try to blame the accident victim for at least some of the fault in an accident, and when cases go to trial, juries are often inclined to compromise by finding both parties at fault. Part of our job as personal injury attorneys is to make sure you are not forced to shoulder any part of the blame for the accident that does not appropriately belong to you. We go to work right away building a solid case that proves the other party’s negligence, and we’ll work just as hard protecting your interests so you can recover as much compensation as rightfully belongs to you.
What can I recover for after a car accident or other personal injury?
The legal term for financial recovery in a personal injury case is money damages. There are many different types of damages which may be available in a personal injury case. Some of these include:
- Hospital and doctor bills and other medical expenses
- Lost wages for the time you missed from work due to your injury
- Compensation for a disability that keeps you from working or earning your same level of pay
- Pain and suffering
- Emotional/mental distress
- Punitive damages for reckless conduct of the defendant beyond basic negligence
- Funeral expenses and other damages in the case of a wrongful death
Why do I need an attorney just to settle a claim with the insurance company?
You may think that if your case is not going to court, you don’t need a lawyer, but actually having a lawyer negotiate a settlement is very important. In fact, in the vast majority of cases handled by a lawyer, the case is settled out of court and the parties never go to trial anyway. The difference is that when insurance companies negotiate with persons who are not represented by an attorney, the insurers always offer far less than an experienced personal injury would be able to obtain. Insurance company lawyers and claims adjusters know personal injury cases inside and out because they deal with them every day, and they take advantage of the fact that they know more than you to manipulate you into taking less than your claim is worth. When you have a personal injury attorney working for you, your attorney also knows your case inside and out and knows what your claim is worth. Your attorney will prove these facts to the insurance company to achieve a fair settlement. In the rare event that your case does go to trial, you’ll need a knowledgeable and experienced lawyer representing you who is ready to take the case to a jury and obtain a verdict in your favor.
Our Rhode Island Personal Injury Attorneys are Here to Help You
If you’ve been injured in a car accident, slip and fall or dog bite, or if you’ve lost a loved one due to the negligence of another, call Robert E. Craven & Associates for a no-cost, confidential consultation with a team of dedicated and compassionate Rhode Island personal injury attorneys.
