Personal Injury Attorney in Dothan

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    Our Experienced Dothan Personal Injury Lawyers Can Help You

    Thousands of honest, hard-working Americans are seriously injured every year. Many of these injuries are completely preventable, occurring only because someone else was careless or negligent in some way.

    Whether it happens on the job, while driving, or on someone else’s property, the fact is innocent ordinary citizens are often pitted against large insurance companies and multinational corporations that will fight to shift the blame and minimize their payout.

    Client consulting lawyer over personal injury case.When this happens, you need aggressive and skilled legal representation. You simply cannot afford to take chances with your future by depending on insurance companies and large corporations to look out for your interests. Contact our experienced Dothan personal injury attorneys today.

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    What You Have to Prove in an Injury Claim

    In Alabama, the law requires you to prove the following things to receive compensation for your injuries.

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    The Defendant Owed You a Duty

    This complex legal theory requires you to prove that the defendant owed you some sort of duty. In other words, what was the defendant required to do or not do? If the defendant is a trucking company, then you must prove that they owed other drivers a duty to operate the truck safely on the roadway. If the defendant is a doctor, you must prove that the doctor had a specific medical standard to live up to. For each kind of negligent conduct, there is a corresponding duty that must be upheld.

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    The Defendant Breached Its Duty to You

    Next, you have to prove that the defendant specifically violated its duty in some way. So, in a car accident, evidence of a person running a red light may be helpful to prove that the driver breached his or her duty. In a slip and fall accident, you may show that the property owner breached its duty by failing to warn you of the dangerous condition that caused you to fall.

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    The Breach Caused Your Injuries

    Of course, it’s not enough to just prove that the other party did something wrong. You also have to prove that the error (breach) directly caused your injury. A drunk driver is clearly in violation of his duty to other drivers on the road, but if no one gets hurt, there’s still no legal right to recover compensation. Therefore, you must show that your specific injuries were caused by the negligent person’s conduct.

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    You Must Prove Your Damages

    Finally, if you can show that the defendant owed you a duty, violated that duty, and directly caused you an injury, your final step is proving how much that injury cost you. Damages can include things like lost income, medical bills, and pain and suffering, just to mention a few.

    Have a Question About Your Case? Call Us Today:

    Common Types of Personal Injury Cases We Handle

    As an experienced personal injury attorney in Dothan, our office handles a wide range of personal injury cases. These include:

    Do I Need a Lawyer for an Injury Claim?

    Yes. Only an personal injury attorney will look out for your best interests – not the insurance companies, not the police, not the courts, not anyone else.

    The Alabama law is complex and ever-changing on almost a daily basis. With every change in state or federal law and every new case decision, there is a chance that a development could affect your case. For this reason it is extremely important to work with a personal injury attorney who stays up-to-date on the latest changes in your state’s injury laws.

    What is a personal injury lawyer? In general, it is a lawyer who focuses on helping injured people pursue compensation from those responsible for hurting them.

    In Dothan, Gartlan Injury Law has the experience and resources necessary to tackle challenging cases involving serious injuries.  Here are some of the things our firm can bring to the table to help you recover compensation after a serious injury:

    • Thorough investigation from a team of lawyers inside their office.Thorough Investigate of the Facts. You can rest assured that the insurance company and their large corporate clients will dig deep to look for any excuse not to compensate you for your injuries or pay as little as possible. You need a team of hard-working, independent, and sharp investigators to research your case to determine who was really at fault and who should be held responsible. At Gartlan Injury Law, we will swiftly begin investigating the facts to look for any potential source of financial recovery. We will also look for any evidence that could support your claim.
    • Shrewd Negotiations. When you and your family are recovering from a terrible injury, the last thing you want to do is deal with insurance adjusters, investigators, and medical collections. In the weeks and months following a devastating accident, your family will likely begin receiving collection notices, letters from health insurance companies asserting liens, and you may even be contacted by Medicare, Medicaid, and other government entities, all of whom want a cut of your potential recovery. Let our team negotiate on your behalf. We can communicate with lien holders, medical collections companies, and the parties responsible for your injuries. Our goal is to apply maximum pressure and leverage in order to resolve your injury claim as swiftly as possible, while obtaining fair and just compensation.
    • Skilled Trial Team. At Gartlan Injury Law, we do not force our clients to settle for lowball offers. If your case needs to go to trial, you can count on our experience in the courtroom. We will fight for the compensation you deserve. While there’s no guarantee when you take a case to trial, your best chance of success is having a dedicated legal team on your side.

    Compensation Available in an Injury Case

    Each personal injury case is unique. Many factors will go into determining the precise value of a case. However, in many cases, these are among the types of compensation that victims can seek:

    • Medical Expenses. This is considered an economic damage, because there is clear evidence to prove the total value of the medical expenses you incurred as a result of the injury you endured.
    • Lost Income. The wages you lost as a result of being injured are also recoverable in Alabama. These too are considered an economic loss.
    • Pain and Suffering. This type of compensation is not as easy to calculate, because it is a non-economic loss. It requires testimony and evidence to prove the type of injury and how it affected your life.
    • Loss of Enjoyment of Life. Like pain and suffering, you can seek compensation for changes in your life that create difficulties. For instance, the loss of a limb can alter the way you get dressed, the vacations you take, and even the type of hobbies you can enjoy.
    • Future Damages. It’s not just the past medical bills and lost income, but you may be prohibited from working in certain jobs, and you may need additional medical care in the future. If so, these can have a huge impact on your future life. You have a right to seek compensation for these as well, provided you can substantiate the claim.
    • Wrongful Death. If you lose a close relative, you may be able to claim additional compensation for things like funeral bills, burial expenses, and final medical bills associated with the death. Further, you can seek compensation for a loss of financial and emotional support.

    How Much Does It Cost to Hire an Accident Law Firm?

    Unlike most other types of lawyers, personal injury or medical malpractice lawyers generally do not charge by the hour. Given the fact that people suffering from severe injuries are often financially in a tough spot, requiring a retainer or charging by the hour could make legal services effectively inaccessible to most injury victims.

    For this reason, a bodily injury lawyer from Gartlan Injury Law will never charge an upfront retainer or hourly fee. Instead, we work on a completely “contingent” basis. This means our fee is contingent upon our success in your case. If we don’t recover compensation for you, you pay us nothing for our services.

    What About Consultation Fees?  Gartlan Injury Law will not charge you for a case consultation. All initial case evaluations, whether by phone or in person, are entirely free of charge. We want to get to know you and your situation without you having to rush or worry about being “on the clock.” We can’t accept every case, but if we do, we will aggressively fight for compensation in your case. And you won’t pay a thing unless we succeed. You’ll never pay us anything out of pocket, either.

    Why Is a Contingent Fee Better? In addition to helping injured people get representation, the contingent fee means that the attorney and the client have the same goal. Their interests are entirely aligned. The higher the compensation you receive, the more the lawyer gets paid. If you recover nothing, you don’t owe the lawyer any attorney’s fee. For this reason, you can rest assured that your attorney has every interest in making sure you get the best compensation possible in your case.

    Get Help from a Personal Injury Lawyer Today

    Throughout the Dothan area, if you’ve been hurt by someone else’s careless or negligent conduct, you deserve to have an attorney who will listen to you and help you make sense of your injuries. Don’t assume that the other side will look out for you. In fact, you should carefully follow these steps after an injury:

    • Get Medical Treatment Fast. Do not delay getting medical care. The sooner you are treated for your injuries, the sooner you can get better. It’s important to get a thorough medical exam soon after the crash, even if you don’t initially feel hurt. Some serious injuries don’t show symptoms for hours, days or even weeks.
    • Do Not Speak to Insurance Representatives. Although in some cases you will have to speak to an insurance representative eventually, in the days after a crash, you do not need to talk to adjusters and investigators, all of whom have just one goal – making sure you don’t get paid. Instead, hire a lawyer and let him or her do the talking for you.
    • Do Not Sign Anything. No matter what they tell you the form or paperwork does, you need to have a lawyer review it. Sadly, many people have made the mistake of signing away their rights or giving up their legal options by settling a case without knowing it. Likewise, you could inadvertently give an insurance company leverage by giving early access to your medical records.
    • Call a Car Accident Attorney. Do not delay. Alabama has strict rules in place to limit how long you can wait to file suit against the responsible parties. If you delay calling a lawyer, you could forever lose your rights. Call or visit Gartlan Injury Law today to schedule a free initial case consultation and get started on your road to recovery.
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