Augusta Personal Injury Lawyer

Augusta Personal Injury Attorney

A personal injury occurs when the negligence of another party leads to a person suffering injuries. These injuries can be physical and/or psychological, and they normally carry financial costs. According to the law, those costs are the responsibility of whatever party caused the injury.

However, getting proper compensation, whether from that party directly or their insurance provider, can often be challenging. Augusta personal injury lawyers are prepared to help victims in these situations.

At Merritt & Merritt Law Firm, our experienced team is prepared to help personal injury victims seek the restitution that they need. Whether through negotiating a fair settlement or taking the claim to court if an agreement can’t be found, we do what we can to ensure that our clients get the justice that they deserve.

Types of Augusta Personal Injury Claims

A personal injury claim can take many different forms, but they are generally appropriate when someone has suffered injuries due to another party, whether through a mistake or even intent. The process allows these victims the opportunity to hold the other party liable for their injuries and seek compensation for what they’ve suffered.

Some of the more common forms of personal injury claims include:

• Car Accidents: When a car accident occurs, it’s often the fault of one of the drivers, and their insurance will be responsible for paying the claim. However, there are some circumstances where no one directly involved in the collision is liable, such as when an accident occurs due to poor maintenance of the roads by the local government. Contact our skilled Augusta car accident lawyer today.
• Truck Accidents: Trucks are involved in commercial activity, and their operations are often complex, with involvement from several different parties. Any of these parties could potentially be liable, so it’s important that a thorough investigation be conducted to discover who is at fault. Seek help from our Augusta truck accident lawyer.
• Motorcycle Accidents: Motorcycle accidents can result in serious injuries and significant costs. From the standpoint of seeking restitution, these accidents function similarly to car accidents.
• Pedestrian Accidents: Most pedestrian accidents are serious situations and result from many of the same kinds of issues that can lead to car accidents.
• Ride Share Accidents: Ride sharing is growing in popularity, but these situations can also lead to accidents. The driver may bear some responsibility in these situations, but their employer could also be to blame.
• Premises Liability Accidents: It’s the responsibility of property owners, managers, and others involved with a property to provide a reasonably safe situation for lawful visitors to their property. Issues with slip and falls, trip and falls, and negligent security are forms of premises liability issues.
• Wrongful Death Claims: Unfortunately, there are some accidents that lead to a person’s death, which may mean that the surviving family is entitled to file a wrongful death claim in place of the personal injury claim that the deceased might have filed had they survived.

Proving Fault in a Personal Injury Claim in Augusta, GA

The key to being able to collect compensation in a personal injury claim is showing that the defendant is liable for what occurred and your injuries in Augusta, GA. Your lawyer needs to use the evidence that they’ve gathered in an investigation to prove the three elements of negligence:

Duty of Care

In the circumstance where your injury occurred, it will need to be shown that the defendant had a duty of care. What this means is that the defendant had a responsibility to consider the impact of their actions on others. They had a duty to take reasonable precautions to prevent others from being put in any extra risk of harm or injury.

What this duty entails is highly specific to the situation of your injury. For example, in a car accident, a driver has a responsibility to operate their vehicle with appropriate caution and follow the rules of the road.

Breach of Duty

When someone fails to live up to their duty of care or fails to take appropriate precautions, this is considered a breach of duty. Proving a breach requires showing what actions the defendant took as well as being able to demonstrate why those actions should be considered a breach.

In some situations, this could require calling an expert witness, usually a peer of the defendant, to explain why the defendant failed to meet their duty of care.

Cause of Injury

The breach then must be shown to be the direct cause of the injuries that the plaintiff suffered. Because so many personal injuries are the result of an accident, proving this connection could mean first demonstrating how the breach led to the accident and how the accident led to the injuries.

For an Immediate Consultation call us at 706-955-1559

What Augusta Personal Injury Lawyers Do

When you hire an Augusta personal injury lawyer, it’s our responsibility to represent you and advocate for you. This could mean representing you in a negotiation process with whoever caused the injuries or their insurance company. Having a lawyer representing your interests can often lead to a more serious negotiation effort by the other party, as the threat of going to court is made more tangible.

It’s also our responsibility to represent you in litigation if that becomes the necessary route to pursuing the compensation that you deserve. As a result of a thorough investigation, we can be prepared to argue for the defendant’s fault and the compensation that you are owed.

Uncommon Damages in Personal Injury Cases

As you may already know, personal injury cases usually include damages like medical wages and pain and suffering. However, uncommon damages often go overlooked yet can significantly increase the value of a claim when properly documented. While these damages may not apply to each case, it is important that all possible avenues of recovery are pursued to get full legal compensation. Some of these damages include:

• Loss of enjoyment of life (hedonic damages). Compensates victims for the inability to pursue hobbies, travel, or family activities they loved before the injury, such as no longer being able to play golf with friends, garden with grandchildren, or attend concerts due to mobility limits or chronic pain.
• Loss of consortium. Addresses the impact on spousal relationships, covering diminished intimacy, companionship, or shared household responsibilities that strain marriages after an accident.
• Disfigurement or permanent scarring. Affects self-image and social interactions, warranting additional compensation beyond medical costs for psychological counseling or corrective procedures.
• Punitive damages. In rare cases, punish egregious negligence, like reckless driving or willful safety violations, to deter future conduct.
• Future earning capacity loss. This applies when victims lose the ability to work long-term and advance in their careers.

At the Merritt & Merritt Law Firm, our team of experienced attorneys interviews our clients and consults with board-certified experts to reflect the full impact that a personal injury has had. This helps ensure that our clients get the full and complete compensation that they deserve.

Negotiating Medical Liens

A medical lien is a legal claim made by a healthcare provider to a patient’s personal injury award. Essentially, they allow a patient to be treated for personal injuries that are not their fault without initial upfront costs. However, the healthcare provider will eventually get their payment from any settlement or award that the patient receives from the responsible party. So, on one hand, these liens are helpful so that patients can get immediate access to healthcare. On the other hand, these liens can be exorbitantly high and they ultimately reduce the award that the victim receives.

Negotiating the value of the lien before entering into a settlement is important to ensure that the victim receives the full compensation that they deserve. Negotiations can sometimes cut liens by 50% or more. Our Augusta personal injury lawyer team handles lien resolution with experience in provider policies and statutory requirements, ensuring victims receive the largest possible net recovery after medical debts are addressed fairly.

Evaluating Long-Term Quality of Life

Evaluating long-term quality of life in personal injury cases goes beyond immediate medical needs to capture how the injury permanently alters daily experiences, relationships, and personal fulfillment. Some of the ways long-term costs are calculated include:

• Assessments consider mobility restrictions that prevent walking pets or attending children’s events, chronic pain that disrupts sleep and mood, or cognitive changes that make reading or conversing difficult.
• Accountants and vocational experts calculate lost opportunities when injuries force career changes or early retirement.
• Psychologists and counselors document depression or anxiety from changed self-image.

Our Augusta personal injury lawyer team evaluates damages by looking at the full picture. This is because the legal compensation you receive needs to include both the immediate short-term costs and the long-term expenses that may be difficult to calculate.

We Help Those Injured by Someone Else Seek Restitution for What They’ve Suffered

Personal injury claims can be an important way for those who’ve been injured to seek compensation in Augusta, GA. The law provides protections that you can seek to have enforced, and even the threat of that enforcement can be enough to lead to more willing negotiations for a settlement outside of court.

However, to ensure that you are using every option to your advantage, it’s wise to work with an Augusta personal injury lawyer.

At Merritt & Merritt Law Firm, our experience, skill, and knowledge of the law and negotiations can be a significant advantage for our clients. We are prepared to represent our clients with the same dedication and passion that we have had since 1973.

We understand the nuances of personal injury law and how to make them work for our clients, whether through negotiations or taking a claim to court. If you’ve been injured and believe that you have a valid claim, contact our team today.

Augusta Personal Injury Resources

• Augusta Police Department
  400 Walton Way
  Augusta, GA 30901
  Phone: (706) 821-1000
• Augusta Health Department
  950 Laney Walker Blvd
  Augusta, GA 30901
  Phone: +1 706-721-5800