Personal Injury Attorney Dunwoody, GA

Dunwoody, GA Premises Liability and Negligent Security

When there is a lack of adequate security in a facility, that kind of negligence is considered to be premises liability. The owner of a property has an obligation to make sure that their facility is free of dangers, has adequate and the right kind of security. They way a property owner would be considered negligent is if they knew or should have reasonably known that there were things about their property that could have led to assault, theft, mugging, or other similar kinds of incidents but they did not do anything to help these things. The things they should have done include:

• Making sure there was a trained security guard was on the premises
• Having proper alarms and security systems installed
• Making sure the parking lots are adequately lit
• Fencing in the property
• Having locks installed on gates
• Keeping the number of keys for the property limited to trusted employees
• Keeping the money in registers at a lower amount

It is expected that the property owner be aware of the area’s history and crime rates so that they can be well informed about what to expect and what needs to be done to ensure that people are safe on their property. If there are violent crimes including rape, robbery, assault, or battery on a property that you do not own may mean you are eligible to bring a case against that property owner for negligent security. Your case will be eligible for compensation if the property owner had done nothing to prevent this incident from happening to you.

Things You Need to Prove to Have a Case

Some places that may be liable for your violent incident that lead to injury include malls, gas stations, stores, or any other public property. You should know what you need in order to be able to bring a successful claim against the liable party. Also, that liable party may not be the person who harmed you, but the owner of the property that the incident happened on. That is partially because it is easier to file a negligent security claim and you are more likely to get the better result. However, it should be noted that you can bring the claim against both the attacker and the property owner but in order to have a premises liability or negligent security claim, you need to be able to prove four things:

1. That the defendant was in ownership or leased the property at the time of the incident.
2. That the defendant did not do their job to prevent the criminal activity that harmed you.
3. That the defendant’s lack of proper case lead to you getting injured.
4. That you indeed did suffer damages from the incident.

Frequently Asked Negligent Security Questions

Who is the Right Attorney?

One type of case we are seeing more often is what is known as a negligent security case. Negligent security cases arise when a person in injured on the location of a business because the business did not provide adequate security to keep them safe. For example, if a business knows that they are having a problem with crime in their parking lot, they are not allowed to just ignore it and leave their customers to their own devices. The business is required to take reasonable measures to ensure the safety of their customers.

If a business fails to do that or doesn’t do it adequately, and someone is injured, that person may have a negligent security claim against the business. These cases are extremely difficult to work up and require a lot of specialized knowledge. It’s very important to make sure that if you believe you have a personal injury claim arising out of negligent security, that you hire an attorney that has experience handling these cases and successfully resolving them. At the Gunnels Injury Law , we have spent a lot of time working on negligent security cases and know how to work them through to successful conclusions.

Another thing that’s very important for you in hiring a Personal injury attorney in Dunwoody, GA for any type of personal injury case, including negligent security cases, is to make sure that you have an attorney that knows how the insurance system works. I spent much of my early career representing insurance companies. I realized that I was on the wrong side of these cases, and I would much rather be helping people who have been injured. I can now take the knowledge that I have working for insurance companies and put it to use for my clients because I know how to get the insurance company’s attention and I know how their systems work.

Finally, it’s important in any type of personal injury case, including negligent security cases, to make sure you have an attorney who can take a case to trial. Most cases settle before trial. However, there are times when insurance companies will simply not issue a fair offer and a trial becomes necessary. Unfortunately, there are many attorneys who will not try cases, and insurance companies know this. Those attorneys are never going to get the best possible offers or resolution for their clients because the insurance companies are not afraid of those attorneys taking them to trial.

At the Gunnels Injury Law , we pride ourselves on our trial skills and are frequently in court trying cases. We know how to present a case to a jury, and we know how to maximize results by doing so.

What Mistakes Can I Avoid?

When we are approached by potential clients who have a negligent security case, we often find that they have harmed their case without even knowing it. One thing that we see is that clients fail to report whatever has occurred to the proper authorities. It’s essential to call the police and have an accident or incident report prepared and to make sure that the police are investigating whatever crime has been committed. That helps us document the claim going forward, and also allows us to have a lot of assistance in investigating the claim, which can be beneficial to you and the claim once it goes to litigation.

Another thing we see clients fail to do is report the crimes that have occurred on the premises to the property owner. Whether this property is an apartment complex, a hotel, a restaurant, or a shopping center, it’s important to make sure that the crime that occurred is reported to the property owner so that it becomes documented in their internal files. Also, we see clients harm their cases by failing to immediately seek medical attention. It’s essential to immediately seek medical care if you have injuries. Often, what appears to be a minor injury can turn into a major injury, and we want to make sure those injuries are documented as close in time to the negligent security event as possible.

Finally, we see people fail to hire the right attorney. If you hire an attorney who doesn’t know how to handle a negligent security matter and doesn’t know how to preserve the appropriate evidence, your case can disappear before you know it.

How Much is My Case Worth?

The first step in determining case value is to determine the extent of the injuries that the person has received. If a person has received an injury that’s going to fully heal, that case doesn’t have nearly the value of a claim in which someone is not going to heal. A person has to go through their treatment and know if they are going to recover, and if they’re not going to recover, to what extent they’re going to have a disability, before you can begin to even look at what the value of their claim is. Once you have that information, we look toward what Dunwoody law allows a person who’s been injured by the negligence of another to recover. Basically, we have two categories of damages we’re looking at. The first one is called special damages. Those are easy to calculate, as they include the cost of medical expenses and lost wages.

The harder part is the evaluation of what is called non-economic damages. Those are things such as pain and suffering and the loss of enjoyment of your life. These typically have an extraordinary amount of value. Those are things that have to be determined before you can really get into what the value of your claim is.

Another thing to look at is the duty and reasonable action that a property owner has to make sure their patrons are safe. Proving that is not always easy. It’s not easy to prove what someone knew in the past and, in a lot of instances, if you don’t jump on the case right away and have someone that knows what they’re doing, once the business learns that they have a potential lawsuit coming towards them, a lot of evidence has the tendency to mysteriously disappear. From the outset of one of these cases, if you think you have a claim, immediately consult an attorney and get the attorney involved to make sure things are done to preserve all the evidence that’s going to be needed.

Do I Need to Have Had a Lot of Medical Bills?

When we get calls about what we call negligent security claims, one of the first things we look into is the significance of the damage of the individual that’s been harmed. While it’s not always essential that the medical expenses need to be high, it is important that there is significant damage. There are cases where someone might have been shot in a robbery on a business premises, and by the time the EMS arrived, that person is already deceased. There aren’t going to be a lot of expenses in that case, but it could be a valuable claim. There are other instances where someone may have literally millions of dollars in medical expenses, but we can’t tie it back to the facility, so that case is not going to have much value.

The best thing to do is look at the injuries first, and then evaluate how those injuries occurred to begin to arrive at whether there’s a claim. There could be completely inadequate security in the face of a known danger, but no real harm associated with it, and you’re not going to have a very good negligent security case. You could be robbed at gunpoint in the parking lot of a high-crime area that’s a supermarket, but receive no physical injuries, and you don’t really have much of case. You need to look at something where there are very significant injuries – someone has been shot or permanently disabled.

We are currently working through a case where a gentleman was shot through the hip and his hip was destroyed and isn’t able to be repaired. That’s the type of injury you’re looking for in a negligent security case. If someone has a gunshot wound that heals, even though there potentially could be negligent security implications, that doesn’t make up a very good negligent security case. What we want to be on the lookout for is cases where someone has been harmed in an area where there was known to be some danger, and the facility owner didn’t do much to try to remedy it, and the person that was harmed has some type of significantly life-altering injury.

Should I Give a Recorded Statement?

If somebody is the victim of a crime that could lead to a negligent security claim, the insurance carrier for the property owner will often ask the injured party to provide a recorded statement. We are often asked if this is a good idea, and the answer is always no. Don’t ever give such a statement. While you think you may be doing your case a service, you are actually harming it. While you are not familiar with this process and don’t know what to expect, the insurance company will use a trained claims examiner who will ask questions in a manner that may get you to misrepresent what truly occurred. This could harm your case as it goes forward. Don’t ever give an insurance company a recorded statement if you don’t have an Dunwoody personal injury lawyer present. There is nothing to be gained by doing this, and you have no obligation to provide such a statement.

How Long Will This Case Take?

When we have people come in to see us over potential negligent security claims, one of the first things they want to know is how long they can expect their case to last. Generally, negligent security cases last a long time. It is very rare for a negligent security case to resolve prior to filing a lawsuit, and that is because these cases are very fact-intensive and rely heavily upon expert witnesses. They also usually involve very significant injuries, so those cases on their own tend to drag out a lot longer. Under Georgia law, the injured party has two years from the date of the incident to file a personal injury lawsuit.

Once the lawsuit is filed, we have to go through the discovery process of learning and gathering evidence that helps us support our case. Negligent security cases are highly reliant upon those types of evidence to show that there was knowledge of pre-existing issues on the premises, and that the premises owner didn’t do enough to protect their patrons. From the time of filing, it’s not uncommon for these cases to take somewhere between three to five years before we can resolve them, often with a trial.

Contact Our Dunwoody, GA Office Today

The right lawyer will be able to guide you through your negligence security case. Our Dunwoody negligent security lawyer has handled many cases like yours and knows the proper steps to ensuring that you have the strongest case possible. We are here to help you succeed, even if it means taking your case all the way to trial if need be. Please call our office today to set up your free initial consultation.

Nursing Home Abuse Attorney Dunwoody, GA

Putting a loved one into a nursing home is a tough decision to make with your family. Sometimes it is the best choice for everyone involved, but there are still a lot of negative emotions involved with this. If it is discovered that your loved one has experienced abuse of any kind while in the nursing home, you may feel betrayed and angry. We trust these facilities to take our family and when they breach their duty to care for them or act in a malicious way, we have a sense of anger and want these negligent parties to face punishment. What our Dunwoody nursing home abuse attorney can do is fight for just and full compensation. You deserve to see this case be as successful as possible.

Signs and Symptoms of Nursing Home Abuse

If you suspect nursing home abuse, there are several things you need to look out for that would signal that your loved one is being neglected or abused. As soon as you have identified these, it is important that you document it and talk to an attorney right away.

You should be on the lookout for bad personal hygiene. There are many patients who require assistance with washing themselves and caring for their personal hygiene including dental care, clipping their nails, and changing their clothes. If they are negligent in helping your loved one with this, you will begin to notice a difference in their hygiene. Bad breath, untrimmed nails, knotted hair, and dirty clothes would be a good indication that this is happening to your loved one.

Another common sign of negligence is the unsanitary living conditions. This includes the safety and cleanliness of the facility. There should be a level of sanitation kept up in spec with federal law. If you notice your loved one does not have sufficiently clean linens, bathroom area, and kitchen facility, they could be getting sick from this and you should collect this evidence.

Lack of proper nutrition is a terrible form of abuse. This can be caused by an understaffed facility or no attention to specific nutritional needs. Malnutrition and dehydration are symptoms of a lack of proper nutrition. You may notice that your loved one is losing weight or looks ill. Dehydration can cause a myriad of health issues as well.

If your loved one is being neglected, you may notice that their mobility has seriously declined. Typically, your loved one should be given a chance to exercise to their ability frequently so that they keep their strength up. If your loved one cannot move as well or has bedsores, that’s a good indication that they have been neglected.

Some patients who are not getting the attention that they need will attempt to get up and do things for themselves even if they cannot manage it on their own. In those cases, they could hurt themselves. If they are not getting the help they need and hurt themselves, you would have a case for negligence.

How Nursing Home Compensation Works

The goal of a nursing home abuse case to get you the compensation you deserve for the damages and injuries your loved one has sustained. Your Dunwoody nursing home abuse attorney is here to help you accomplish this goal. There are a few things that you would be pursuing compensation for. If a facility is responsible for your loved one’s injuries and emotional damages, you would be eligible for compensation that would account for the following:

• Physical therapy needed to rehab from the injuries
• Medical bills from treating the injuries
• Pain and suffering
• Change in living arrangements/nursing homes
• Punitive damages to punish in cases of malicious intent to harm

It is not uncommon for the liable party to try to offer you a quick settlement offer to try to get the nursing home abuse case resolved right away.  We highly suggest that you do not accept this offer because, more often than not, the first offer is always much lower than what you truly deserve. It is important to contact an attorney before you talk to the insurance company because you want to fully protect your rights to compensation and they will be able to do that for you through case review and utilizing the evidence to strengthen your case.

Frequently Asked Nursing Home Abuse Questions

How Do I Pick the Right Attorney?

One of the most emotionally significant types of cases that we encounter on a regular basis are nursing home negligence cases. These are cases that arise when a person who is in the care of nursing home workers has been injured because the worker was negligent or careless. In looking for an attorney to handle this type of case, it’s extremely important to have someone who knows how these cases work and has experience handling them. These are not easy cases to work up, and they’re heavily reliant on expert testimony to get a successful result. At Gunnels Injury Law , we have handled these cases on many occasions, and we know how to get the best possible results for our clients.

Another thing that you need to make sure is that you have an attorney who has knowledge of how the insurance system works. Before beginning to represent victims in these types of cases, I represented insurance companies and defended the people that caused the harm. I have since realized that I was on the wrong side and my skills were put to better use in helping people that need to receive compensation for what they have had to endure. Now I can put that knowledge and experience to use for my clients to help them achieve the best possible resolutions for their own cases.

Finally, as in any type of personal injury case, you must find an attorney who has demonstrated he or she will go to trial when called upon. There are many attorneys who will not go to trial and do not try cases, and insurance companies know this. Those attorneys never get the best possible offers on their cases because insurance companies know they will simply take the last offer.

At Gunnels Injury Law , we pride ourselves on taking cases to trial and letting juries determine the appropriate value of an injury. This is often the only way to get proper compensation for our clients. We are never going to be known as a law firm who will not try cases, and you can count on us to take cases all the way through trial when it is necessary.

What Mistakes Should I Avoid Making?

When we have clients seek our help with potential nursing home negligence cases, they often find that they’ve harmed their case without even knowing it. One thing that we see potential clients do is not report the negligent conduct to the nursing home itself. Nursing homes generally have an oversight staff and risk managers whose job it is to make sure that things are done properly. If you don’t report these things to the nursing home staff, then they never get documented, and when we seek to bring a claim about them later on, it looks like you were simply raising them well after the fact. Reporting and pursuing these types of matters is something that often will curb this careless behavior, and by your actions, you may help people down the line not have to deal with the same problems as your loved one.

Additionally, we see people harm their cases when they delay too long and don’t hire the right attorney. If you hire an attorney who doesn’t know how to handle a nursing home negligence case, you run the risk of evidence being lost and your claim not being preserved in a manner that allows it to be presented later. Make sure you hire the right attorney to handle your case.

How Much Will My Case Be Worth?

When we’re called upon to evaluate a nursing home negligence case, one of the first things our client wants to know is the value of the claim. There’s no way to determine this right at the beginning. In order to get to that point, you need to have information about the extent of the injury and the negligence that caused it. If this is an injury the person can fully recover from, it’s going to have a much less valuable resolution to it than a case where the person is permanently injured as a result of the negligent treatment. Additionally, if the negligence was egregious, the value of the case becomes higher as well.

We have to look through all of those things in order to evaluate the value of your case. Once you have discovered all the facts and information, you’re in a better position to start applying what can be recovered in that situation. We look at two different categories of damages.

The first one is special damages, which generally refers to medical expenses and lost wages. These are often easy to determine. The aspect that’s much harder to determine is called non-economic damages. These are things like pain and suffering and the loss of enjoyment of their life. If your loved one has a very limited amount of life left, those claims may be seen as having more value because the time is so short, so that’s a thing that has to be taken into consideration.

While nursing homes generally have plenty of liability insurance to cover their claims, proving liability in those cases is often very difficult to do. In a nursing home case, you’re not going to have the nursing home admitting that they did something wrong. They’re going to have lawyers that are fighting to defend them. They’re going to have experts that they’ve paid to come in and say that they’ve done nothing wrong. The level of persuasiveness of that defense and how a jury might perceive it has a lot to do with what the case is worth as well.

As you can see, there are a lot of factors that go into determining this case value. My advice is that you immediately consult a lawyer who can start making sure your case is preserved in the best possible manner, so it can be presented and get you the most effective outcome.

Do I Need to Have a Minimum Amount of Medical Bills?

When we evaluate nursing home negligence cases, one of the things we have to look at is the amount of damage that’s been caused, and a lot of that comes from medical expenses. Nursing home negligence cases are extremely expensive to bring forward. They involve a lot of time, depositions, and expert testimony. These are cases that can take a long time. You don’t want to pursue one of these cases when your recovery is not going to exceed what the value of the case is. In looking at a nursing home case, what you want to look at is how significant the injuries are, specifically if there are permanent injuries or if someone passed away as a result.

Should I Give a Recorded Statement?

When someone has a potential nursing home negligence case, they are asked by the nursing home’s insurance provider to provide a statement of what they believed happened. We are often asked if you should comply, and the answer is always no. While you may think you’re doing a helpful thing for your claim, what you are actually doing is harmful. Insurance companies use trained claims examiners to ask questions in a way that will garner misleading answers and be detrimental to your claim going forward. Don’t ever give such a statement, especially without your attorney present.

How Long Do These Cases Take?

When clients come to see us over claims that involve nursing home negligence, we are often asked how long they should expect these cases to take. The answer is that nursing home cases usually take quite a while to resolve. Oftentimes, nursing home cases, because of their nature, are not usually the types of cases that can be resolved prior to filing a lawsuit. These types of cases involve a lot of discovery of information and gathering of evidence to support the claim, and usually involve numerous expert witnesses.

Under Georgia law, a statute of limitations for a personal injury case, such as a nursing home negligence case, is two years from the date of the incident. Once the lawsuit is filed, that process can take quite a while to work through. In general, it’s probably good to expect that those cases may last three to five years from the time of filing the lawsuit before you’re able to get a resolution. While we can often get very good results, they often don’t come quick.

Contact Our Office Today for a Free Consultation

If you believe your loved one has been abused or neglected, please call our experienced Dunwoody nursing home abuse attorney to get a free consultation. We will help you collect evidence, protect that evidence from going misplaced, and fight the liable party’s insurance company to get you the compensation for the damaged and injuries sustained by your loved one in this negligent facility.

Pedestrian Accident Attorney Dunwoody, GA

Walking is a great way to get around. It costs nothing, its good exercise, and it is good for the environment. Unfortunately, there are always ways things can go wrong. If you have found your way to this page, it is probably because you have been seriously hurt in a pedestrian accident. These accidents, as you probably already know, have the potential to be extremely disastrous. You have no protection from the impact of the vehicle that hit you and you have no protection from the impact of you hitting the earth after getting hit by the vehicle. Because of this, your injuries are probably catastrophic. After you have read about your case, please call our Dunwoody pedestrian accident lawyer today to set up your free initial consultation.

Most Common Types of Pedestrian Accident Injuries

As mentioned, the nature of these accidents has the potential to be highly catastrophic. It is very common to see injuries that are permanent in nature which is unfortunate. The most common types of pedestrian accident injuries include:

• broken bones and fractured bones
• muscle, tendon, and/or nerve damage
• concussion or contusion
• spinal cord injury
• internal organ damage
• paralysis
• head, neck, or back injury
• scarring and disfigurement
• cuts and lacerations

It is very important that you get your injuries tended to as soon as possible. Your medical records serve as a key piece of evidence and we want you to get the treatment you need so that you can start feeling better and also that we have information about the extent of your injuries. You may be tempted with the idea of trying to see if the pain goes away with some time, but that is not a wise thing to do. Your injuries can be an emergency and waiting can make it so much worse. You also risk having the insurance company look at your medical records as evidence in their favor if you did not seek medical attention right away. They could decide that you do not need compensation because you either lied about how you were injured or how severe your injuries are.

Pedestrian Accident Statute of Limitations in Dunwoody, GA

To ensure that your case is on the right track to getting your case done in a timely manner, you need to be aware of Dunwoody’s statute of limitations. This is the amount of time given to bring your case or to settle it in civil court. You are permitted two years from the date of your pedestrian accident, but no more than that or your will be barred from receiving compensation. The best thing to do is to hire an attorney right away so that you are giving them the most possible time to build you a strong and successful case. You do not want to delay seeking a competent lawyer to take over your case.

Biggest Pedestrian Accident Case Mistake to Avoid

Very shortly after your accident, you will most likely be receiving a call from the liable party’s insurance company. They will very politely ask you for a recorded statement, assuring you that it will help resolve your case in a timely manner. If you want your case to be successful, this recorded statement is something you should avoid at all costs. The insurance company trains their adjusters to ask questions that force you to answer in a way that would hurt your case and favor them. They are only really concerned with their bottom line. They don’t want to lose money on your case, so if they can somehow get you to say something wrong that implicates you, they can reduce the amount of compensation that they owe you or even throw out your case altogether. Dunwoody follows the rules of modified comparative negligence so if they can get you to be deemed 50 percent or more at fault for the accident, then they will not owe you compensation. If you are deemed less than 50 percent at fault, your award will be reduced by the amount of fault you are pinned with. The best thing to do is let your attorney take over all communication with the insurance company so that your right to full compensation is protected.

Frequently Asked Pedestrian Accident Questions

How Do I Find the Right Attorney?

Some of the worst injury cases that we see involve cars hitting pedestrians. When hiring a personal injury attorney for these cases, you will want to look for experience. Because you’re dealing with a pedestrian rather than a car-on-car collision, there are different rules and different laws that apply. The statutes that protect pedestrians, specifically in walkways and on sidewalks, are very favorable, but if you don’t know where to look and how to apply those laws and statutes, they don’t really serve you any value. At Gunnels Injury Law , we have handled many car-on-pedestrian cases where we’ve been able to get successful resolutions for our clients because we knew how to work up those cases through our years of experience.

Another thing to keep in mind when you are hiring an attorney is to see if they have any experience in representing insurance companies on the other side. I spent many years of my career working for insurance companies and defending these types of cases, so I know what the insurance companies are thinking, how they make their decisions, and what drives them. Now I represent individuals who are trying to receive fair compensation in these types of claims, and I’m able to put that knowledge to use in bringing your claim against an insurance company and knowing how to get the best possible resolution for you.

Another thing that you always want to keep in mind is that it’s crucial to have an attorney that is willing to go to trial and put a case to a jury. Cases are often settled in various ways before trial, but sometimes an insurance company is just not going to make a fair offer and your only option is to take the case to trial to get fair compensation. We spend a lot of our time in court rooms and we know what motivates juries to provide the best compensation to our clients. You don’t ever want to end up with an attorney that is afraid to go to trial or an attorney that insurance companies know is going to take the top offer that they extend, even if it’s not a reasonable one. We take cases to trial and insurance companies know that we are not just going to take whatever offer they give.

Get Our Printable Pedestrian Accident Guide

What Mistakes Should I Avoid Making?

On many occasions, we see people who have been injured in pedestrian accidents already having done damage to their claims before they even get started. It’s essential to take some steps to make sure your claims are preserved. First, we often see people who fail to report their incidents. It’s very important to have a police report made to document what occurred, when it occurred, where it occurred and who was involved. We will later need that information when we’re trying to locate witnesses and when we are trying to locate the at-fault driver who caused the incident. All this information is preserved on the police report, but if you don’t have that done, you open yourself up to having a defendant driver who claims this never occurred. Don’t give that opportunity to the defense.

Next, we often see people who wait way too long to go seek medical treatment. As soon as you begin feeling pain and discomfort, go seek medical attention. If your pain doesn’t start until the next day, go to the ER and get checked out. Oftentimes what starts as minor pain will increase to major pain over the coming days, and it’s important to have that documented as soon as possible to correlate it back to the incident. If you wait multiple weeks to go seek treatment, insurance companies will try to imply that if you had really been hurt, you would’ve gone and got medical treatment a lot sooner. Don’t give them that argument.

Another thing we see people often do is fail to follow through on the treatment that they’re prescribed by their doctors. Once the doctors tell you what you need to do, always abide by it. Don’t let gaps occur in your treatment or have time pass where you’re not getting any treatment at all. It’s important to make sure there are no gaps because, again, insurance companies will use that to try to diminish the value of your claim.

Finally, always make sure you immediately find a personal injury attorney who can help document your claim and preserve all evidence. It is essential to find an attorney who’s experienced in handling these types of claims and knows what to do. If you hire the wrong attorney, evidence will be lost and your claim will fall apart. Make sure you hire an experienced attorney who can walk you through this process.

How Much is Your Case Worth?

When we have clients come into our office who have been injured in a pedestrian accident, one of the first things they want to know is the value of their case. Determining the amount of compensation is a very tricky process. There are a lot of factors that go into it, and one of those factors is how you’re going to recover from your injury. There’s no way to know the value of your claim at the outset because, at that point, you don’t know what your recovery is going to be. If you recover fully from an injury, your case is worth less than if you suffer permanent damage. It’s not until you’ve either gotten all the way better or improved as much as you’re going to improve before you can really start to determine what the value of your injuries may be.

Under Georgia law, there are various things that you’re entitled to recover if you’ve been injured by someone else’s negligence. The first category of those damages is called special damages, which includes things like your medical expenses and lost wages. It’s pretty easy to determine what those are. The harder category to assign is what’s called non-economic damages. These are things like the pain and suffering that you endure, along with your disruption of life. In looking at those things, there’s a lot of variability in how they can be seen.

Another major factor for how much your case may be worth is the amount of liability insurance that the at-fault driver carries. Under Georgia law, a driver is only required to carry $25,000 worth of at-fault insurance at minimum. If you have a couple hundred thousand dollars in medical expenses and the at-fault driver only has $25,000 in coverage, chances are — unless you have purchased uninsured motorist coverage through your own policy — that $25,000 is going to be all you can get.

The best thing that you can do is as soon as you’re injured, consult an attorney and have an attorney that can walk you through the process and make sure that you’re doing all the right things so that your case can be put in the best position possible to try to maximize your recovery.

Do I Need to Have a Minimum Amount of Medical Bills?

When we have clients come in with a potential pedestrian accident case, one of the things they often ask is if there’s a minimum amount of medical expenses they need to have incurred in order to pursue a claim going forward. The answer is, in most situations, no. The more appropriate evaluation is the significance of their injuries. You can’t always just go by the amount of medical expenses because there are some injuries that are very severe but involve very low medical expenses, such as a large cut or road rash. Those types of things may involve cleanup or stitching, but are going to leave you with a permanent scar. Permanent scarring is an injury that usually brings very good compensation with it.

On the other hand, if the pedestrian is partially at-fault for the accident, it may not matter how expensive their medical bills are. The claim may not be valuable because of liability issues. The best thing to do, especially in a pedestrian case, is to contact a personal injury attorney immediately, and make sure that you know what’s going on. Let the attorney evaluate your case and help you decide if it’s viable or not.

How Long Will This Case Take?

When a client comes to us with a pedestrian accident claim, one of the first things they often want to know is how long it’s going to take to resolve this case. The timeline is dependent on the facts of the case and the amount of insurance coverage available. Pedestrian cases are usually some of the easiest to resolve without having to file a lawsuit.

When a case has significant injuries and the liability of the at-fault driver is clear, those are often cases that can be resolved in a quicker fashion. It often will depend on the amount of medical expenses involved and the amount of automobile insurance the at-fault driver has. Sometimes injuries may be very significant and there may be a lot of insurance coverage, and those are cases that have to be worked for a much longer amount of time, such as if an individual is hit by a commercial truck. There may be a lot more fighting over what the value of compensation should be. In those cases, if we can’t work them out before filing a lawsuit, we have to put that into litigation.

Personal injury cases have a two-year statute of limitations, which means that to pursue one of those claims in litigation, you must file the lawsuit within two years of the date of the injury. We try to get as much of the medical treatment done as possible prior to filing the lawsuit because if something’s overlooked or doesn’t arise until later, you don’t get to go back and ask for more money if you’ve already resolved your case. We want to make sure that all past, present, and future expenses are included.

If we have to put one of these cases into suit, it’s going to take longer to work through gathering the evidence that is necessary and potentially presenting the case to a jury. A pretty fair estimate of how long it might take after you file a lawsuit would be somewhere between one and two years.

Please Call Our Dunwoody Pedestrian Accident Lawyer Today

If you have been seriously injured in a pedestrian accident, please know that we will do everything in our power to protect your right to full and fair compensation. Our Personal injury attorney in Dunwoody, GA is here to help you through the entire process. We will take over the legal side of your case so that you can focus on your health and trying to get back to full health. Your case is a priority and we want to make sure that you are taken good care of. We will be your champion.

Slip and Fall Attorney Dunwoody, GA

When you slip or trip and fall, sometimes you can get lucky and walk away without a scratch, but if you have made your way to this page, odds are that wasn’t the case for you. If you have been seriously injured after a slip and fall, you may be entitled to compensation from the liable party’s insurance company. Our Personal injury attorney in Dunwoody, GA is here to help guide you through your pursuit of compensation. After you read a little bit about your slip and fall claim, please do not hesitate to give our office a call. We offer free initial consultations to our clients and make sure that every case receives the personal attention it deserves.

Most Common Types of Slip and Fall Injuries

Slip and falls may be regarded as a non-serious accident, but that is a misconception. Slip and falls have the potential to cause life-long injuries and even fatalities in some cases. Depending on where you fell, what you fell in, and how hard you hit the ground, you could be feeling the pain of your injuries for a very long time. The most common types of slip and fall injuries include:

• Broken and fractured bones
• Cuts and lacerations
• Concussions or contusions
• Head, neck, or back injury
• Spinal cord injury
• Dislocations

The most important thing to do after you have been seriously injured in a slip and fall accident is to seek medical attention right away. It is imperative that you do not wait to see a doctor. You have options; you can go to your primary doctor, an urgent care facility, or the emergency room if need be. If you wait to seek medical attention, then you run the risk of two negative consequences. First, you run the risk of worsening the pain you are in. There is a chance you will have adrenaline running through your body that will moderately mask the pain. You should not assume that you will not have any pain after this wears off. It is better to be sure than to be further injured by avoiding treatment. The second negative consequence has to do with the insurance company. If they see that you did not seek medical attention right away, then they will try to use that against you by saying either your injuries occurred after your slip and fall or that you are lying about your injuries. This will be an excuse they use to reduce or eliminate your compensation.

Dunwoody, GA Slip and Fall Statute of Limitations

In order to have a chance at compensation, you will have to either bring your claim or settle it in civil court within two years of the accident occurring. This time limit is known as the statute of limitations. Georgia law permits victims of personal injury cases two years to bring or settle their cases. While two years may seem like a long time, it is not all that long in terms of a lawsuit. Try as we might to speed things along, lawsuits sometimes are drawn out. If you wait to hire an attorney, it puts them on an even tighter schedule to build a strong case for you and deal with the liable party’s insurance. If you wait past the two years, or even right up to the days before the deadline, you will not be able to bring a claim. These lawsuits take time and once you miss the deadline, there is nothing we can do to help you. We strongly suggest you call an attorney right away so that they have the most possible time to build you a successful case.

Frequently Asked Slip and Fall Questions

How Do I Find the Right Attorney?

We frequently get calls from potential clients wanting to know how to pick the best attorney for a slip and fall case. At Gunnels Injury Law , we handle a large volume of these types of claims. Most of them happen on premises that are owned or run by businesses such as grocery stores or department stores. In picking an attorney to handle these types of claims, you need to make sure that you have an attorney who has a lot of experience with these types of matters. A lot of people don’t realize that you are not entitled to compensation just because you injure yourself on a premises owned by a business. In order for a business to be responsible for compensating you for injuries, we have to prove that they have done something wrong, or maintained their premises in a manner that is not safe to you, or that they have knowledge of a danger on their premises that they haven’t warned you of.

Most of the evidence to prove these types of things comes about by an attorney who knows what to look for and the right questions to ask. If you are utilizing an attorney who doesn’t have extensive experience handling these types of claims, they are going to have a hard time finding the information you need to prove these cases.

Another thing to make sure that you have is someone who knows what motivates insurance companies to resolve these types of cases. I spent many years of my career defending slip and fall cases for businesses and insurance companies. I know what information to look for and I know how to use it. Make sure that you have someone who knows how the other side works. It’s important to know that your attorney is able to take those bits of information that they’ve learned and put them to the best use.

Another thing to keep in mind is you want an attorney who will take a case all the way to trial when necessary. Many lawsuits settle, but you want to make sure that you have an attorney that is willing to take a case all the way through trial when an insurance company is not being fair and reasonable in what they are offering. At Gunnels Injury Law , we spend a significant amount of our time in court. Insurance companies know that we are not going to take an unreasonable offer just to settle the case quicker.

We are going to make sure that we do everything possible to receive the best possible compensation for our client even if that means taking the case all the way to trial.

What Mistakes Should I Avoid?

There are a number of mistakes we commonly see people make that can harm their slip and fall case. It’s important to make sure these things don’t happen. One of the primary things that we see that can harm a slip and fall case is the client failing to make a report of what occurred at the facility, whether that be a grocery store, restaurant, or department store where they have fallen and suffered an injury. Don’t leave the premises without telling an employee and allowing a report to be made.

The next thing we see is people failing to get immediate medical treatment. When you don’t get immediate medical treatment, it makes it much harder to connect your injuries to the accident. If you’re having pain, even if it’s minor, go to an emergency room and get medical treatment. It’s important to get treated because what may start as minor pain will often become significant pain over the coming days. You want to make sure that you have that pain documented from the beginning.

Another mistake that we see people make is not following their doctors’ orders. When a doctor prescribes you treatment, it’s very important to follow through and do what your doctor says. Insurance companies will latch on to gaps in treatment to claim that if you were as injured as you say you are, you would have been going to every treatment session that you had available to you. Don’t give them that opportunity. Make sure you get to every treatment session that you’re supposed to be going to.

Finally, it is crucial to hire an experienced slip and fall attorney immediately after your incident. We need to preserve evidence that allows us to prove your claim going forward, which is why you mustn’t delay. We only have a limited amount of time to procure video of the fall, which is often crucial to our cases. Make sure that we are contacted right away so we can investigate and make sure that all the evidence that we need is preserved.

Also, don’t hire the wrong attorney. If you hire an attorney who doesn’t know the proper steps because he or she does not handle slip and fall cases, all the evidence may be lost, along with your ability to recover compensation. Make sure to hire someone who is experienced in handling these claims.

How Much is My Case Worth?

One of the first things our slip and fall clients want to know is the value of their claim. That’s not something that can be answered immediately. In fact, I tell clients all the time that if they go see an attorney right after their incident who tells them what their claim is worth, you need to go find another attorney because that attorney is not being truthful with you. The value of your claim will depend on a number of factors, such as the severity of your injury, the length of recovery, whether the injury is permanent, lost wages, the amount of disruption your life suffers, and the amount of your medical expenses. You have to look at all the various factors in there to determine what type of impact this injury will have on your life.

One of the good things about slip and fall cases is they generally occur on a premises of a store or business that will usually have plenty of liability coverage. Generally, you don’t have the same situations you may have in a car wreck where there’s not enough insurance to compensate you for your injuries. However, getting compensation on a slip and fall case is much harder than a car wreck case because there’s often a lot more defenses to liability.

If you’ve suffered an injury in a slip and fall, it’s very important to get to a Personal injury attorney in Dunwoody, GA immediately who will make sure everything is done right. There are a lot of things that need to be done, such as gathering video evidence and making sure evidence doesn’t disappear.

Do I Need to Give a Recorded Statement?

We are often asked by people whether they should give a recorded statement to an insurance company after they have been injured in a slip and fall accident. The answer to this question is no. While you should speak with the manager on duty to make an incident report immediately after your fall, don’t ever speak to the insurance company on your own without an attorney.

While you may think you are helping your claim, what you are doing is the exact opposite. Insurance companies use trained claims examiners to ask questions in a way that will lead to misleading answers and make it much more difficult for you to prove your claim going forward. There’s nothing to be gained from this process. You have no obligation to give such a statement. If you are not represented by an attorney and asked to give one of these statements, don’t do so.

How Long Will This Case Take?

People who have slip and fall cases often want to know how long it will take to resolve their claim. The answer to that question is we never know. They can vary greatly depending on the severity of the injuries and how strong the evidence is. Slip and fall cases are very evidence-intensive because you have to prove the liability of the premises owner where the slip and fall occurred. That often involves receiving video evidence that the store may have, internal reports, questioning workers that were there, and trying to figure out if these types of injuries had happened previously. In a slip and fall, it’s very rare for the case to resolve prior to filing a lawsuit. With car wreck cases, you’re often able to resolve them quickly because the liability of the at-fault driver is clear. That’s usually not the case in a premises liability claim.

Do I Need to Have Minimum Medical Bills?

When we have clients come in who have been injured in slip and fall, one of the first things they want to know is if they need to have a minimum amount of medical expenses incurred in order to justify a personal injury case. While there are some cases that have very significant injuries and minor medical expenses, those are the exception and not the rule. When looking at a slip and fall claim, you need to have an injury that’s pretty substantial to warrant pursuing one of those cases.

The reason for that is because these types of cases are so fact and expert-intensive. They’re expensive to work up. No one wants to spend their time going through a case where the value of the injury is $15,000, but you have to spend $20,000 on the case to make that recovery. In order to pursue one of these cases, you generally need to have a situation where someone has a significant injury such as a broken bone, or an injury requiring surgery, in order to justify the claim. If you have been injured in a slip and fall, it’s a good idea to immediately contact a personal injury lawyer who can help you evaluate your case and make sure you understand what’s necessary to pursue it.

Contact Our Office Today for a Free Consultation

When hiring a Personal injury attorney in Dunwoody, GA to represent you, you want to make sure that they have experience successfully dealing with slip and fall cases. You are allowed to turn down a lawyer if they do not fit your needs and you have the right to seek out a different lawyer. The right lawyer will be someone you trust, have a good rapport with, and who has a good track record with slip and fall cases in Dunwoody, GA. Who you choose for a lawyer is very important and will affect the amount of compensation that you get from the liable party’s insurance company.

If you would like to be represented by a competent, dedicated, and caring Dunwoody slip and fall lawyer, then please call our office today to set up a free initial consultation. We will go over the details of your case, let you know your legal options, then go to work for you. We will conduct interviews with your witnesses to make sure we have their testimony, we will protect your evidence and make sure it does not get misplaced by the liable party’s insurance company, and we will fight to get you the best possible result.

Truck Accident Attorney Dunwoody, GA

Driving on the road with a truck can be very frightening when they are doing something they’re not supposed to be doing. These vehicles are massive and an accident with one of them can be catastrophic. If you have made your way to this page, it is probably because you have been seriously hurt in a truck accident. We want to express how very sorry we are. Our Dunwoody truck accident lawyer is here to help you get through this difficult time. We will do everything in our power to go after the liable party’s insurance company and get you the result you need. Your compensation will cover your lost wages, medical bills, and pain and suffering. After you read up about your case, please do not hesitate to give us a call to set up a free initial consultation with our lawyer.

Georgia Truck Accident Statute of Limitations

To have a successful case, you need to bring your claim or settle it in civil court within the given amount of time. In Dunwoody, GA, your given amount of time (or statute of limitations) is two years from the date of the truck accident. That means you are given a deadline in which to either bring your claim or have it settled. If you wait past the two year deadline, you lose your right to compensation. We suggest hiring an attorney as soon as possible so that they have as much time as possible to build you a strong case.

How Dunwoody, GA Truck Accident Compensation Works

Georgia is a modified comparative negligence state which means that you can collect compensation even if you are partially at fault for the accident. You will however have a reduced award. If you have been deemed 10% at fault for the accident, then your compensation award will be reduced by 10% which is something we try to keep from happening to you. If you are mostly at fault, then you will be barred from receiving compensation. Our Personal injury attorney in Dunwoody, GA will do everything they can to get you the fullest and fairest amount of compensation.

First Step of a Successful Truck Accident Case

The most important step you can take after your truck accident is getting the medical attention you need. Odds are your injuries are severe due to the nature of this accident. If an ambulance shows up, it is most likely the best idea to get on it. Your health is the most important thing in this scenario and you need to get your injuries tended to right away. If you wait to see a medical professional, you run the risk of worsening your condition. You also risk having the insurance company use this against you. Your medical records serve as evidence in the case and they will look at it as such. If you have a gap in treatment, they are going to say that they won’t give you compensation because your injuries couldn’t have been bad enough to need immediate medical treatment or that you lied about how you got the injuries. The best option is to get to an emergency room, urgent care center, or primary doctor as soon as you are able to.

Avoid Talking to the Liable Party’s Insurance Company

The insurance company that represents the liable party will be reaching out to you shortly after your truck accident, possibly while you are still recovering from your injuries in the hospital. They know that you might be of impaired mind, perhaps on pain medication that keeps you from having sharp reasoning. They call under the impression that your cooperation will help resolve the case quickly. While that may be true, it does not mean that you will necessarily be getting the result you need. You have no legal obligation to talk to them and we encourage you not to. You do not need to and it most likely will not help you. They ask you for a recorded statement so that they can catch you saying something wrong. When they do that, they get to reduce the compensation they owe you or throw out your case entirely.

Frequently Asked Truck Accident Questions

How Do I Pick the Right Attorney?

A really difficult time in a person’s life can be when they have been injured as the result of a motor vehicle collision that is caused by a commercial truck. There are some very specific things you need to look for in hiring a personal injury attorney if you have been injured in one of these accidents. The first thing is experience. Working up a commercial truck case is not the same as working up a car wreck case. There are many different things that go into consideration because of the way the laws are structured in regard to commercial truck drivers. Commercial truck drivers are professional drivers, so there are a lot more stringent regulations that go into operating those vehicles. There is a lot of federal regulation that you have to work through in order to be able to properly handle a commercial truck case. We have experience in handling these types of wrecks and working through all of the relevant information in order to properly work up a commercial truck wreck case.

Another thing to keep in mind is that you want a law firm that has been able to deliver results in these types of cases. It’s important to know that the law firms or attorneys that you’re talking to know their way around these cases and aren’t going to be figuring it out as they go.

Another thing to make sure that you understand about these cases is you want an attorney who has experience taking commercial truck wreck cases to trial. Often, commercial truck wreck cases rely significantly more on expert witnesses than a general car wreck case. You need an attorney who has experience with those types of experts and with presenting these cases to a jury. You’re not looking for an attorney who will just work these cases up without the requisite experts and take an insurance company’s best offer, regardless of whether it’s a good resolution for you or not. You want to have an attorney that you know will take a case all the way to trial, if necessary. Sometimes you need a jury to force these insurance companies to give you a fair resolution to your injury claim.

What Mistakes Should I Avoid Making?

If you have been injured in a truck accident, you want to make sure you avoid these common mistakes that could ruin your case before it has even started. Commercial vehicle wrecks are much different than general auto wrecks and need to be handled differently.

We often see people who have harmed their case because they didn’t immediately seek medical attention after the incident. Often, we have people that wait multiple weeks before they actually go seek treatment. Once you have started that process of receiving medical treatment, make sure you follow through with it. We see people all the time who have harmed their case because they didn’t follow through with their treatment. Don’t miss treatment, because you will have insurance companies who latch onto those gaps in treatment and claim that you must not have been as injured as you say.

Finally, make sure that you immediately hire a lawyer who knows how to handle commercial vehicle wrecks so that they can get the process started. It is crucial in commercial vehicle wrecks to hire an attorney who knows how to handle these cases because evidence needs to be preserved immediately. If that evidence is not preserved, then your case is going to be infinitely harder to prove and document. Make sure that you hire an experienced attorney who handles these cases regularly.

How Much Is My Case Worth?

When clients come in to see us over a commercial truck wreck, one of the first things they want to know is the value of their case. That’s not something that can be determined until the full extent of your injuries is known, which requires you to complete your medical treatment and find out if you are able to make a full recovery. A case where you fully recover is not worth the same as a case where you’re not going to recover. Those are things that have to be looked at to determine the value of a case. When you’re talking about a commercial truck wreck, these are often cases that have substantial injuries.

Another thing that generally makes commercial truck cases more valuable than individual car wrecks is the way that Georgia law is applied to them, in that juries are typically more willing to pay more for personal injuries when it is a corporation on the defense side. They typically think that corporations have more money and, therefore, it won’t be as big of an impact to them as it would be to a sole individual. Those cases have more value to a jury, and they have more value when you’re talking settlement with insurance companies as well.

Another thing to keep in mind, in terms of personal injuries arising from commercial truck wrecks, is that, for the most part, the value of your injury is going to be capped at the amount of liability insurance that the defendant has. When you have a commercial vehicle that has caused the wreck, there’s generally going to be a lot more insurance involved. These are all types of things that can greatly affect the value of your case, as well as the extent of your injury.

Do I Need to Have a Minimum Amount of Medical Bills?

When we have clients come to see us about injuries they’ve sustained in accidents with commercial trucks, often they want to know how much value they need to have in medical expenses to warrant pursuing one of these claims. The answer to that goes back to what type of injuries there are. Sometimes you can have very significant injuries that have very minor medical expenses associated with them, and those are definitely worth pursuing. For example, if you have a significant scar as a result of the accident, those cases have significant value to them, even though they may not have a whole lot of medical expenses associated with them.

On the other hand, you may have a situation where you have $150 in expenses from a hospital visit, and the next day you’re fine. The value of the recovery for those cases is just not enough to warrant spending your time filing a lawsuit. You’ll spend a lot more money on one of those cases than you’ll receive in the end, and nobody’s looking to do that.

The best thing to do if you’ve been injured in a collision with a commercial vehicle is immediately contact a personal injury attorney. They can help you evaluate your claim and walk you through the process to make sure that you have everything aligned properly.

Do I Need to Give a Recorded Statement?

We’re often asked by people whether they should give a recorded statement when they’ve been involved in a wreck involving a commercial vehicle. The answer to this question is no. Don’t ever give a recorded statement to an insurance company, especially when you don’t have a lawyer present. While people may think they are helping their case by doing this, in fact, the exact opposite is true. Insurance companies utilize trained insurance adjusters and examiners who know how to ask questions in a way that will lead to vague answers that will hurt your claim later on. There’s no reason to give these statements. It’s not required, and there’s nothing positive that can be gained from it from the perspective of the injured party. If you’re ever asked to give one of these statements and you don’t have an attorney, make sure you don’t give that statement. Hire an attorney immediately.

How Long Do These Cases Take?

We are frequently asked in trucking cases how long it’s going to take to resolve the case. The answer to that question is it varies from case to case. In comparison to a general car wreck case, a commercial truck case will often take much more time to resolve than a car wreck case does. That’s because commercial truck cases are often a lot more evidence-intensive than a car wreck case. With a car wreck case, there is often clear liability. That’s not always the case in trucking accidents.

Additionally, because there are different regulations that apply to truck drivers and to truck owners, it’s important that you work through and you find out all the information about whether they complied with those obligations. For a trucking case, if there are very significant injuries, you can expect one of those cases to have to be put into litigation, which, from that point, would probably mean you can expect a couple of years before you get a result. Sometimes those cases will settle prior to having to go to trial, but a lot of times they have to go to trial because trucking cases often involve very significant injuries and the insurance companies don’t want to pay what those cases are worth.

Call Our Personal injury attorney in Dunwoody, GA Today

If you have been seriously injured in a truck accident, please do not hesitate to give our office a call to set up a free consultation. Your case is a priority to us and we will treat it as such. When you need a dedicated, supportive, and competent Personal injury attorney in Dunwoody, GA, we are here to help you. We will collect your evidence and protect it from going missing, we will talk to your witnesses to make sure we have the testimony we need, and we will go head to head with the insurance company to get you the best possible result; the result that you deserve to get.

Wrongful Death Attorney Dunwoody, GA

Losing a loved one for any reason is a terrible thing to go through. It can be particularly horrible if you have lost this loved one due to someone else’s carelessness or negligence. When a loved one is fatally injured in an accident that is caused by someone else’s mistakes, you may be able to bring a wrongful death suit against the liable party. We understand that, while this does not cure the pain of losing someone, it helps your family from coming financially ruined. After you learn about your wrongful death cause and how to make your case as successful as possible, please do not hesitate to call our Dunwoody wrongful death attorney to set up a free consultation. We will do everything that is necessary to get you the fullest and fairest amount of compensation for your family after this tragic event.

You Have Legal Rights When You Lose a Loved One

When you bring a lawsuit for wrongful death, you need to know that there are many different people or entities who could potentially be responsible for your loved one’s passing. It could be someone individually, a company, or an entity such as a government. If one or more of these people acted in a way that was either careless, negligent, or both, then they can and will be held responsible for the death of your loved one. Legally, there are only certain people who are permitted to bring this wrongful death claim and receive compensation. Typically speaking, it will either be the spouse, the minor child, or the parents of the deceased who are permitted to bring a claim. Rarely are there exceptions to this. The compensation for these claims involve all of the medical expenses that were billed for life-saving treatment, funeral and burial costs, any wages that your loved one would have reasonably made in their lifetime, and lastly you will receive compensation for the loss of companionship.

It is quite difficult to figure out how much compensation should be given for a wrongful death claim because a lot of the damages are considered to be non-economic such as the loss of companionship and in some cases pain and suffering your loved one endured before passing. Many times, there has to be an expert come in to evaluate the case to determine the economic damages. It is a very mathematic process that involved calculating the approximate life expectancy for your loved one had they been unharmed by the accident, multiplied by how much they would have made at their profession in their lifetime to get a dollar amount which you will be compensated. Our Dunwoody wrongful death attorney will be here to guide you through this process as it is complex and should not be a burden on your shoulders in this time of intense grief.

Types of Dunwoody, GA Wrongful Death Cases

Wrongful death is defined by the fatal injury of a person in the event of negligence of another individual or entity. That may mean that someone has breached their duty to protect your loved one’s safety or it may mean that individual or entity did something wrong that directly contributed to the loss of your loved one. The most common types of wrongful death cases that we have seen include:

• Auto accidents (including car, trucks, buses, and motorcycles)
• Slip and falls
• Medical malpractice
• Nursing home abuse
• Bicycle accidents
• Pedestrian accidents
• Construction accidents
• Terrible dog attack
• Defective products
• Acts of violence
• Negligent security
• Premises liability

All of these kinds of claims would be a reason for you to reach out to a Dunwoody wrongful death attorney for help with your legal case. You will be bringing this case against the person who was responsible for the death of your loved one and you will either resolve this case through negotiations or you will have it settled in court with the help of your attorney.

Frequently Asked Wrongful Death Questions

How Do I Find the Right Lawyer?

One of the most difficult types of claims that we encounter are wrongful death cases. A wrongful death claim is one that arises when someone has lost their life due to the negligence or carelessness of another. It is exceedingly important to make sure that you find a personal injury attorney that is experienced in handling wrongful death cases. Wrongful death cases involve very specialized knowledge, and you need to make sure that you have someone that knows how to work them through to conclusion. At Gunnels Injury Law , we have handled many wrongful death cases successfully, and we know what to do in these cases to present them in the best possible light.

It’s also important for you to know that your attorney has knowledge about how the insurance industry works. These types of claims involve insurance money as compensation, and it’s important to know that your attorney can get you through that system as efficiently as possible. I spent many years of my career representing insurance companies and defendants in these wrongful death cases before I decided I was on the wrong side, and that I should be helping people that deserve compensation. I can take that experience that I learned in working for insurance companies and put it to use for my clients in helping them navigate the insurance process. I know what gets their attention, I know what works, and I can put that to work for you.

Finally, it’s important to know that you have an attorney that will take a case all the way through trial, if necessary. Insurance companies know that there are a lot of attorneys who will not take a case to trial. Those attorneys do not get the best offers and the best resolutions for their cases because the insurance companies don’t fear them. Insurance companies know that at Gunnels Injury Law we will take cases to trial, and that helps us get the best possible resolutions for our clients. We spend much of our time in the courtroom, and we know how to present a case to a jury effectively in order to get the best possible result.

What Mistakes Should I Avoid?

We often have people seek our help to pursue a wrongful death claim and, unknowingly, they’ve already harmed their case before it’s even gotten started. We want to make sure that you don’t fall into this trap and do the same. One thing that we frequently see that can be very detrimental to a wrongful death claim is having the client delay too long and not pursue the case quickly enough. When a wrongful death claim is involved, generally the person who would bring the claim is grieving. That person has lost a significant loved one, and that person is having a lot of other things to deal with and just doesn’t feel the mental energy is there to bring forward a wrongful death claim. They also may have concerns about going through the process because they know that nothing that can be done in the court system that will bring their loved one back.

It’s important to remember that there’s more to a wrongful death case than trying to seek compensation for what has been taken. There is a factor of accountability in making sure this doesn’t happen to other people. When people who have suffered the death of a loved one refuse to pursue these claims, then the responsible party doesn’t get held accountable. It’s up to us to make sure our community is as safe as possible, and when we have these instances we need to make sure that there are consequences to the people involved. If there are no consequences, then actions don’t change.

Another thing we see people frequently do is hire the wrong attorney or not hiring an attorney soon enough, and that will create a very big problem in their case because things are not being done right. It’s an important part of the case to preserve evidence and make sure things are being done in the right order. If you hire an attorney who’s not experienced handling this type of case, it’s your case that’s going to suffer. Immediately hire an experienced wrongful death attorney, an attorney who can take your case all the way through trial, if necessary. Don’t delay and don’t hire the wrong attorney, or you might see this case vanish.

Finally, we often have clients who are not willing to do what’s required to preserve or present their case in the most effective fashion. This is extremely important in wrongful death cases because the way you assign value in a death case is to be able to paint the picture of what the deceased person’s life was like and what they are missing out on in not being able to live out the rest of it. That can only be developed through people who knew the person, not just through the attorney. It’s important to make sure that you interact, to the extent your attorney needs, to be able to paint this picture.

How Much is My Case Worth?

When we have clients come in who have lost a family member and are thinking of pursuing a wrongful death claim, one of the things that they want to know is the value of their claim. Under Georgia Law, the family or estate of a person who was wrongfully deceased is entitled to what is called the full value of the life of that person. It really comes down to what a jury thinks the value of that life is, and cannot be determined early on.
You can’t determine those things until you’ve had an attorney build that case to try to show what the value of that life was. In a lot of ways, it is built on showing how much that person meant to other people in his or her life. That takes a lot of time and effort to work up, to be able to show that evidence to a jury. There’s really not a good way to calculate that, other than building it up and having an experienced attorney.

How Long Will This Case Take?

When we have clients come to see us about wrongful death claims, one of the first things they always ask is how long it will take to resolve their case. The answer to that is it greatly depends on the circumstances. When you have a wrongful death case and the liability of the at-fault party is clear, oftentimes those cases can be resolved relatively quickly. It’s dependent on the amount of insurance coverage that’s available.

For instance, if the at-fault party has $50,000 worth of coverage, the insurance company is not going to be able to give you that $50,000 quick enough. Those cases can resolve much more quickly. If you have a commercial truck that’s caused the death and has commercial insurance policy, generally worth millions of dollars, it’s very important to see those cases through as far as they can go, and those are the ones that the insurance companies will often fight about. It really comes back to the amount of insurance coverage available.

If the parties cannot agree and work out the claim, then a lawsuit has to be filed. Lawsuits for personal injuries in Dunwoody, GA have a two-year statute of limitations. They have to be filed within two years of the date of the incident. From the time that the lawsuit is filed, a pretty fair estimation of how long it would take would be somewhere around one to three years to get it resolved.

Contact Our Dunwoody Wrongful Death Attorney Today

Wrongful death cases have the potential to be completely intricate, it is very imperative to hire a capable attorney to help you. Our Dunwoody wrongful death attorney has handled many cases like yours and will be more than glad to take on yours. You deserve to have your case be a priority and we want to ensure that you are being taken care of. If you have lost a loved one in a tragic accident, please do not hesitate to reach out to our attorney to see how we can help you and your family recover the compensation that is right and fair. You should be allowed time to grieve without having to concern yourself with the events of a wrongful death case, so please allow us to use our time to help you succeed in this pursuit for compensation.