While the smart phone is an amazing device, it cannot be argued that it is a leading cause of accidents in Alaska and throughout the world. When such accidents occur as a result of someone’s distracted driving, Top Anchorage Law Firms are available to help you recover compensation for your injuries.
And these negligence claims are not limited to car accidents. What about the situation where you are walking down the street near a construction site and a worker is distracted by his phone, causing debris to fall onto someone below. If that person is injured, there is a viable claim, too.
So what is a “negligence” claim? In short, when a person fails to exercise the degree of care a reasonable person in that situation would use, they are acting negligently. Examples include distracted driving, as a reasonable person knows not to be on their phone while driving. Failing to shovel snow and ice from a walkway, failing to repair broken sidewalks, failing to stop at a stop sign or a red light—all of these are examples of negligence which, if causing injury—should lead to a monetary payout. In order to help work through the process and increase the likelihood of success in a lawsuit, it is recommended that you retain Top Anchorage Law Firms.
And how will these lawyers prosecute such a claim? First, they will gather as much evidence as possible, from discussing the facts with you, to performing an investigation, to obtaining police reports and photographs, and so on. Second, they will take these facts and draft a “Complaint,” which contains the allegations of what happened, is filed with the Court and then delivered (or “served”) to the defendants. The defendants are then required to respond to the Complaint by delivering an “Answer.” After this stage of the case is over, the parties enter into “discovery,” where information is exchanged by both parties through written documents and then, after, through depositions, where attorneys ask questions in front of a court reporter about what happened. Finally, there is the trial, where the cases are presented to a judge or jury and a decision is made about (i) whether anyone was negligent and (ii) how much monies the injuries were worth, if any.
The value of the injuries, known as “damages,” are calculated in two ways. First, there are “economic damages,” such as reimbursement for medical bills, lost wages, and other items easily calculated. Then there are “non-economic damages,” such as pain and suffering and loss of services and loss of consortium, which require attorneys from top law firms to carefully tell the story in a way that tugs at the heart strings of the decision maker, whether judge or jury.
No matter what, proving negligence and damages in a personal injury case is not easy, no matter how clear the negligence and how obvious the injuries. This is because there are many different rules and regulations that must be followed. For these reasons, it is imperative that you retain a quality law firm to make sure your claims are properly prosecuted.
