When someone else injures you through their own carelessness, it’s natural to wonder whether there’s any way to hold them accountable. Whether you were hurt in a vehicle collision, slip-and-fall accident, or workplace incident, you may have the right to pursue compensation and justice through a personal injury claim. This allows you to recover damages for medical expenses, lost income, and other losses resulting from the injury.
Unfortunately, powerful insurance companies often resist offering a fair settlement. That’s why it’s so critical to seek legal representation immediately following an injury. When you contact the team at Bayuk Pratt, a Georgia personal injury attorney will fight for your rights and interests.
Our team has more than 50 years of combined experience and has recovered over $300 million in compensation for our clients. But what gives Bayuk Pratt the advantage you need is our unparalleled insider knowledge of how to win injury claims. Our firm’s founders, Frank Bayuk and Bradley Pratt, served as senior partners for some of the world’s leading defense law firms. Because they know all the insurance defense tactics, they know how to beat them. This unique background equips our law firm to overcome challenges and secure maximum compensation for accident victims like you.
We’re prepared to help you stand up to insurers and demand full financial recovery. Contact our Georgia personal injury law firm today for a free initial case review to discuss how we can help you recover the compensation you deserve.
What Will a Georgia Personal Injury Lawyer Do for My Case?
After getting hurt in an accident, you may face an extensive recovery period. However, balancing your time between your medical treatment and pursuing personal injury claims can become challenging. Hiring a Georgia personal injury lawyer from Bayuk Pratt can help your recovery by freeing you to focus on healing while your lawyer handles the details of preparing and pursuing your legal claims.
Our firm will fight to secure the financial relief you need and deserve by:
- Investigating the accident to recover evidence to build your case, such as accident reports, accident scene photos and videos, surveillance footage, and eyewitness testimony
- Identifying liable parties and options for recovering compensation, such as insurance coverage
- Documenting your injuries and losses to determine how much compensation you deserve to recover
- Filing your insurance and legal claims and handling negotiations with insurance adjusters and defense attorneys
- Keeping you updated on the progress of your case and answering your questions to help you make informed decisions at every stage
- Aggressively pursuing maximum financial recovery through a settlement or, if necessary, by taking your case to trial to demand accountability from those at fault for your injuries
What Must Be Proven in a Personal Injury Claim?
In a personal injury claim, you must prove that another party caused your injuries. Most claims allege that a party caused an accident through their negligent behavior. Negligence occurs when a party fails in their responsibility to avoid causing harm to the injured person. A party can also cause an accident through reckless behavior, which involves knowingly disregarding a substantial risk that their behavior will severely injure others.
You may also have to prove that the accident directly caused the injuries for which you’re seeking compensation. You can present medical records and testimony from your treating providers or medical experts to link your injuries to the accident.
Finally, you must prove your financial and personal losses. You can use bills, invoices, receipts, and pay stubs to calculate your ongoing and future financial losses. Expert testimony and statements from yourself, family members, and friends can help establish the pain, suffering, and lost quality of life you’ve experienced due to your injuries or disabilities.
What Damages Could I Be Entitled to in a Personal Injury Case?
Following an accident, you may have a claim to recover compensation for any resulting financial and personal losses. Your personal injury compensation can provide you with money for your:
- Medical costs, including ongoing and anticipated future expenses
- Long-term or in-home care expenses
- Cost of home or vehicle modifications necessitated by your injury
- Lost income, including loss of future earning capacity
- Physical and emotional pain and suffering
- Loss of enjoyment or quality of life
- Property damage resulting from the accident
Can I Still Get Compensation If I Was Partly to Blame for My Injuries?
In Georgia, you may have the right to recover compensation for injuries you suffered in an accident, even if you share some blame for causing it. Georgia follows a modified comparative negligence rule in personal injury claims. Under this rule, an injured party may recover compensation in a personal injury claim if their share of fault for causing their injuries does not exceed the combined fault of all other responsible parties.
However, any responsibility you bear for your injuries may affect your financial recovery. Under the comparative negligence rule, a court may reduce your compensation in proportion to the percentage of responsibility you bear for the accident. For this reason, you need experienced legal representation to protect your rights and interests. At Bayuk Pratt, we will work to help maximize your financial recovery if the opposing party or insurance company claims that you bear some responsibility for the accident that injured you.
How Soon Should I Start a Personal Injury Claim?
Speak to a Bayuk Pratt attorney about your personal injury case as soon as possible after getting hurt in an accident caused by another party. The law imposes deadlines on filing personal injury claims, so you have limited time to pursue financial recovery.
Further, working with a personal injury attorney immediately following an accident may allow you to recover all available evidence before it’s lost or cleaned up and witnesses’ memories of the accident fade. Your attorney can also help you determine when to file your personal injury claims, including whether you can benefit from waiting until you fully recover from your injuries to initiate your claim.
How Long Do I Have in Georgia to File a Personal Injury Lawsuit?
Under Georgia’s statute of limitations, you usually have two years to file a personal injury lawsuit after being hurt in an accident due to someone else’s fault. Further, if you have a personal injury claim against the state government, the Georgia Tort Claims Act requires you to submit a written notice of your claim within 12 months of the accident date. If you file your personal injury claims after applicable deadlines expire, you may lose your right to seek financial compensation for your expenses or losses.
How Long Does a Typical Personal Injury Case Last?
Unfortunately, no one can predict how long your personal injury case may last. Some personal injury claims settle in a few months, while others take several years to reach trial. The timeline of your personal injury claim will depend on various factors, such as:
- The nature and severity of your injuries
- The duration of your medical recovery
- Whether your injuries result in permanent disabilities
- Whether you need to take time off work or become disabled from working
- The number of potentially liable parties in your case
- The number of other people injured in the same accident
- Whether you share any responsibility for causing the accident that injured you
- The complexity of the evidence or legal issues in your case
- The availability of insurance coverage
- How quickly the insurance company or opposing party investigates your claims
- Whether you need to file a lawsuit to pursue your claim in court
- The schedule imposed by the trial court presiding over your personal injury lawsuit
What Are Common Personal Injury Cases?
At Bayuk Pratt, a Georgia personal injury lawyer can help you pursue financial recovery for your injuries and losses arising from accidents such as:
What Types of Injuries Happen Due to Personal Injury Accidents?
An accident may inflict various forms of physical and emotional trauma on a person. Common examples of injuries that happen in accidents in Georgia include:
- Severe lacerations and abrasions
- Burns
- Broken bones
- Dislocated joints
- Ligament sprains and tears
- Muscle or tendon strains and tears
- Whiplash
- Nerve damage
- Spinal injuries, including herniated spinal discs, spinal cord injuries, and paralysis
- Internal organ injuries
- Facial injuries, including eye injuries
- Traumatic brain injuries
- Traumatic amputation or limb loss