How Personal Injury Lawsuits Work in Alabama

A personal injury lawsuit in Alabama must go through several steps. Those steps often lead to a negotiated settlement for the injured plaintiff. However, they can also lead to a trial. It is essential to have an experienced personal injury lawyer at your side throughout the process.

When you work with Gartlan Injury Law, your lawyer will carefully review all details of your case. More importantly, your personal injury lawyer will take the time to explain the personal injury lawsuit process, help you to fully understand your legal rights and options, and answer your questions.

Contact us today to speak with an experienced personal injury attorney and learn how we can help you pursue full and fair compensation and better understand how personal injury cases work in Alabama. We can discuss the specific facts of your case in a free consultation.

What Is a Personal Injury Lawsuit?

If someone else’s carelessness or recklessness causes you to suffer injuries in an accident, you have the right to seek compensation from them for your losses. This money usually comes from the at-fault party’s insurance, such as auto liability insurance after a car accident or homeowners’ insurance after a slip and fall.

Most insurance companies are for-profit businesses. So, they do not always want to pay insurance claims. If an insurer denies your personal injury claim or insists on paying too little, you can demand just compensation through a personal injury lawsuit.

In a personal injury lawsuit, the injured party (plaintiff) asks the court to compel the at-fault party (defendant) to compensate them for their injuries, including medical expenses, lost wages, and pain and suffering. Because a defendant would turn to their insurer to pay a judgment, insurance companies defend the policyholders named in personal injury lawsuits.

A personal injury lawsuit should do the following:

• Explain the facts of the accident and the plaintiff’s injuries (including costs and losses)
• Present evidence of the defendant’s negligence or recklessness and how it caused the accident
• Demand the compensation (“damages”) required to make the plaintiff whole.

What Are the Different Steps in an Alabama Personal Injury Lawsuit?

To pursue a personal injury lawsuit for you, Gartlan Injury Law can take many steps, including the following:

• Investigate the accident — We can preserve, gather, and review evidence to determine who is responsible for your injuries and identify all insurance policies that apply to your accident.
• Calculate your losses — We can gather records and receipts to determine the full extent of your injuries and related costs and losses. Sometimes, we consult with knowledge professionals in areas such as life-care planning to help us calculate and explain the long-term impact of disabling injuries.
• File an insurance claim — Once we have determined legal responsibility for your injuries and the full extent of your losses, we can file an insurance claim on your behalf along with a “demand letter” outlining evidence of the policyholder’s liability and the damages you seek to recover.
• Negotiate a settlement — After the insurance company receives the demand letter, it will pay the claim, deny it, or make a counteroffer. The client always decides whether to accept a personal injury settlement offer. We will present you with all serious offers and offer our advice. Meanwhile, we will negotiate aggressively to seek compensation for you.
• File a personal injury lawsuit — In many cases, a settlement is reached soon after we send a demand letter. However, if initial negotiations fail, we can file a lawsuit. The lawsuit will have many stages. During “discovery,” when each side shares its evidence with the other side, the insurance company becomes serious about settlement negotiations.
• Take your case to trial — If we must take your personal injury lawsuit to trial, we will present a persuasive case backed by solid evidence and knowledgeable witnesses.

What Types of Evidence Will Help Prove the Other Party is Responsible for My Injuries?

Many types of evidence can help you pursue a personal injury claim. Typically, the investigation starts with official accident reports filed by police, other emergency responders, business managers, or property owners. Your attorney can also get your medical records to fully describe your injuries, medical treatment, recovery, and prognosis.

The following other evidence can help prove the other party is responsible for your injuries:

• Witness statements, providing an objective account of what occurred.
• Photographs of the accident scene and your injuries.
• Reports and testimony from accident reconstruction specialists and other professionals.
• “Black box” event data recorder downloads from cars and commercial trucks after accidents.
• Surveillance video footage may show the accident or parties before an accident.
• Cell phone data can show a defendant’s presence at an accident scene and possibly activities before an accident.
• Social media posts which may be incriminating.

Can My Damages Compensation Be Affected If I Was Partly Responsible for the Accident?

Alabama has one of the nation’s strictest rules about the role of “contributory negligence” in accident claims. Contributory negligence is negligent conduct on the part of the plaintiff that contributed to an accident and their injuries.

Alabama follows a pure contributory negligence doctrine. Under this law, a defendant who shares any fault for an accident cannot recover damages. However, contributory negligence cannot be raised if the injured party is younger than 14 years old or incompetent.

Alabama courts will also consider the following:

• Last clear chance doctrine, or evidence in a car accident that the defendant had the last opportunity to avoid the accident, such as by braking or turning to avoid a collision.
• Sudden emergency doctrine, or evidence that a reasonably prudent person, when faced with the same or a similar sudden emergency, would have acted just as the plaintiff did.

Contact an Alabama Personal Injury Lawyer

At Gartlan Injury Law, we are passionate about helping clients pursue the compensation they deserve after others’ negligence or recklessness has injured them. We put people first and have a record of proven results. We take pride in serving our clients with honest representation, aggressive negotiations and trial strategies, and proven results. Contact us today to learn more about how we can help in your personal injury lawsuit. Our initial consultations are always free.

Visit Our Alabama Personal Injury Law Offices