Hazleton Personal Injury Lawyer
Especially if a health insurance company or other organization paid the victim’s medical bills, many personal injury victims are reluctant to “blame” a person for an “accident” and file legal actions.
Civil cases don’t “blame” anyone for anything. Instead, these cases force tortfeasors (negligent actors) to accept the consequences of their actions. If the tortfeasor, or the tortfeasor’s insurance company, is immediately willing to do the right thing, there’s no need to file a legal action. Unfortunately, most people don’t do the right thing without some prodding.
Furthermore, the incidents described below may be non-malicious, but they are not “accidents.” People accidentally leave the lights on. They don’t accidentally drive drunk and cause crashes. For this reason, many media organizations, including the New York Times, no longer use the A-word in most situations.
If negligence, or a lack of care, caused injury, a Hazleton personal injury lawyer from The Needles Law Firm can obtain substantial compensation in court. Quite frankly, victims need this money to put their lives back together and move on. We firmly believe that this money should never come from a victim’s own pocket. That’s why we fight so hard for our clients and usually obtain results that exceed their expectations.
Kinds of Personal Injuries
A serious personal injury could happen to any person at any time. Some of the cases we handle most frequently include:
- Car Wrecks: During pandemic lockdowns, many people developed some bad driving habits, such as speeding and driving drunk. The lockdowns are over, but these bad habits persist. As a result, the fatal accident rate hit a fourteen-year high in 2022. Physical injuries are only part of the problem. Emotional injuries, such as Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, are also very common in car crash cases.
- Truck Wrecks: Pretty much every consumer good in every store, from large SUVs to small packs of chewing gum, spent some time on a large truck. These truckers are under more pressure than ever to deliver cargo as quickly as possible. As a result, many drivers push the envelope. They speed and drive while fatigued. A fully-loaded large truck weighs over 80,000 pounds. So, the force in these wrecks is often unimaginable.
- Motorcycle Wrecks: As gas prices rise, more people ride motorcycles, mopeds, e-scooters, and other such vehicles. The fatality rate for these riders is about thirty times higher than the fatality rate for four-wheel vehicle occupants. Many motorcycle wrecks involve turning drivers who never see the victim.
Other similar injury cases include pedestrian and bicycle injuries. Our Hazleton personal injury lawyers also handle premises liability cases, such as falls, negligent security injuries, and dog bites.
Negligence Basics
As mentioned, negligence is basically a lack of care. Most drivers and property owners have a duty of reasonable care. They must avoid crashes and make their property safe. Other elements of an ordinary negligence case include breach of duty, or a failure to live up to the standard of care, causation, and damages.
In some cases, the time-saving negligence per se shortcut is available. Tortfeasors who violate safety laws and cause injuries could be liable for damages as a matter of law.
These damages usually include compensation for economic losses, such as medical bills, and noneconomic losses, such as pain and suffering. Additional punitive damages are available as well, in some extreme cases.
Reach Out to a Dedicated Luzerne County Personal Injury Lawyer
Injury victims are entitled to substantial compensation. For a free consultation with an experienced personal injury attorney in Hazleton, contact The Needle Law Firm. We do not charge upfront legal fees in these matters.
