Statesboro, GA Personal Injury Lawyer

Being hurt in an accident can be an overwhelming experience, but you do not have to shoulder this burden alone. A lawyer can advise you of your rights and help you take legal action against those responsible for your injuries. If successful, you may receive fair compensation to cover your damages so you can get back to your normal life.

Starting a personal injury claim is not as easy as one might think. It requires a lot of information that might take months to gather. We need details about your injuries, how the defendant is responsible, and evidence to support your claims. If important information is missing, your case might be seriously hindered. Cases often take a while to complete, with some finishing in a few months and others dragging on for years. To prove the defendant is liable, we must show how their negligence caused the accident, which requires extensive evidence, preparation, and strategy.

Call our Savannah, GA personal injury lawyers with Rice, Murtha & Psoras at (470) 287-3070 to get a private review of your case to get started.

How to Begin a Personal Injury Case in Statesboro, GA

Meeting with a lawyer is the first step to beginning a personal injury case. People sometimes resist seeking legal help because they fear their legal fees will outweigh the possible benefits of a lawsuit. However, without an attorney, you stand very little chance of succeeding, and you might not get any compensation.

Your attorney can start by assessing your cause of action and the strength of your claim. Do you have a valid claim? Is there enough evidence to support your claim? If your claims are strong, you stand a better chance of success, and you might have greater leverage to work out a generous settlement. If your claims are less strong than you hoped, your attorney can help you explore other legal options or build a case with what you have.

When you are ready to begin, your lawyer should help you draft and file a formal legal complaint. The complaint must contain lengthy and specific details about your case. Our personal injury attorneys need to be able to clearly explain how you were injured and why we believe the defendant is responsible. We also need to fully assess your damages before we file the case. If damages are left out of the complaint, they may not be compensated.

Your attorney should also help you gather evidence. To begin a case, we need some evidence to support your complaint. We do not have to have all possible evidence or even enough evidence to meet the burden of proof, but we should have enough to show that your claims are valid and not baseless.

The complaint must be filed within 2 years of the accident, according to the statute of limitations under O.C.G.A. § 9-3-33. If the deadline passes, you might be unable to file anything and be barred from recovering any damages.

How Long Your Personal Injury Case in Statesboro, GA Might Take

The time it takes to complete a personal injury case can be hard to predict. Some cases take only a few months from start to finish. Others encounter complications and setbacks and might last for a year or more. Your attorney can give you a good idea of how long your case might last.

Factors that might slow things down include the complexity of the facts, the defendant’s willingness to cooperate, and the court’s schedule. A case with more complicated facts and evidence will likely take much longer because the attorneys must painstakingly go through all the details. For example, a multi-vehicle crash involving numerous injured drivers is typically more complicated than a simple accident with only two drivers. On top of that, if the defendant is unwilling to cooperate or meet you halfway on anything, even small details of the case, your case will likely take longer to finish. Even the court’s schedule, if it is very busy, might delay your case, especially if the parties need continuances to prepare effectively.

We should also think about factors that might help us speed things along. If you have especially strong evidence and victory in court is likely, your case might be completed faster. Defendants tend to be more willing to cooperate or offer generous settlements in the face of irrefutable evidence. Preparedness might also help us move things along. The more we can prepare, the less likely we are to be blindsided by setbacks. As such, speaking to an attorney as soon as possible is important. The sooner we start preparing, the better.

Proving Liability in a Statesboro, GA Personal Injury Case

To prove your claims and convince a jury or judge to hold the defendant liable, we must prove how the defendant was negligent. Negligence is not just mere carelessness. It is a legal concept in which a person who owes a legal duty of care violates that duty, thereby causing the victim’s injuries. The defendant’s negligent breach of their legal duty must be the direct and proximate cause of the plaintiff’s injuries.

Not only must we establish the defendant’s negligence, but we must prove negligence by a preponderance of the evidence. This is our burden of proof, and it requires that we show it is more likely than not that the defendant is liable for the accident and your damages. The burden of proof is difficult to satisfy, and we will need the strongest evidence we can find to succeed.

Claiming Damages in a Personal Injury Case in Statesboro, GA

Your damages in a personal injury case are unique to your situation and should be evaluated by an experienced attorney. Plaintiffs sometimes underestimate or overlook certain damages, and they lose valuable compensation. An attorney can help you make sure nothing is left out so your compensation is maximized.

Some examples of damages include medical bills from when you were treated for your injuries, property damage, and lost wages if you had to leave work because of your injuries. These damages, and others, often represent a significant amount of money the plaintiff lost because of the defendant’s behavior, and you deserve to get that money back.

We should also consider injuries that might not have taken a financial toll but instead took a mental or psychological toll. For example, the pain from your injuries and trauma from the accident might leave deep psychological scars that can affect a person for years or even forever. While there is no exact cost or price associated with such injuries, they still may warrant substantial compensation.

Get Help Today by Contacting Our Statesboro, GA Personal Injury Attorneys

Call our personal injury lawyers with Rice, Murtha & Psoras at (470) 287-3070 to get a private review of your case to get started.