Sometimes, things happen that we can’t control; sometimes, this leads us to pain and injury. Not everyone can recover from these events, but when they happen in Bluffdale, Utah, Valley Law Accident and Injury Lawyers stands ready to help.
Risk is always a part of daily life; we simply try to minimize risk to ourselves, but the odds of accident and injury are never zero. When circumstances outside your control lead you to harm, the odds of recovery are, conversely, never assured.
This uncertainty is made all the worse by the unpredictable nature of accidents. From the setting and factors that contribute to them to the outcomes they mean for victims, there are essentially unlimited and unforeseeable ways accidents can go.
The injuries people sustain are just as varied as well. It’s entirely possible to escape a massive, multi-vehicle highway accident with just a scratch and yet end up with a lifelong disability as the result of a simple slip-and-fall in a restaurant bathroom.
In the aftermath of any tragedy that causes injury to you, turn to Valley Law Accident and Injury Lawyers. Our experienced attorneys can help you find a path to recovery and compensation with a no-cost, no-obligation case review.
Call us today at (801) 810-9999, or contact us online to get started.
Why You Need a Bluffdale Personal Injury Attorney
Personal injury lawyers are professionals who represent their clients in personal injury claims, settlements, and court cases. They have two main goals in mind when they do so: first, to increase the odds of their client getting compensation, and second, to maximize the value of said compensation the client can acquire.
Strictly speaking, there is nothing in Utah law that prevents you from filing an insurance claim, fighting for a settlement, or taking matters to court on your own. However, depending on your case, a good personal injury attorney may give you several advantages.
Understanding Legal Complexities
The legal system is extremely complex. The amount of legislation in each state varies, and there is such a vast amount that no single lawyer can possibly keep track of it all.
The trouble this poses is that while everyone has to follow the law – and, of course, benefit from any rights it affords – nobody goes about their day-to-day thinking about it. Rarely does anyone get in an accident knowing the legal duties and rights surrounding it.
Personal injury attorneys, however, specialize in exactly the legislation around accidents and injuries. They acquire this knowledge across a minimum of 3 years of law school and an additional three years or more to specialize in a practice.
This makes them qualified guides within the legal system where anyone else may find themselves lost or confused.
Securing and Maximizing Your Claim
Working with a personal injury lawyer greatly impacts the odds a claimant can secure some form of compensation from an insurance company or at-fault party. Surveys suggest that 9 out of 10 Claimants who work with attorneys get a payout compared to half of claimants who work on their own.
The same survey also suggests that claimants working with personal injury attorneys tend to secure much higher payouts, up to three or four times higher, even after deducting mean contingency fees attorneys charge.
Because of this, claimants often find more value in hiring a lawyer the more damages they accrue from their injuries, loss of property, and more. It isn’t uncommon to see expert lawyers settle a claim for six or even seven-figure sums.
Personalized Representation
Going through day-to-day is hard enough for the healthiest and strongest of us, with how hectic modern life is. This difficulty is multiplied when you have to deal with injuries and the process of recovering from them.
Between doctors’ appointments, therapy, missed work, and more, accident victims can easily run out of time to handle their responsibilities. This doesn’t even include having to squeeze in time for negotiations or meetings with insurers and at-fault parties.
Having a personal injury attorney in your corner means working with a professional who can optimize the process to fit your schedule. If necessary, they can take the weight off of your shoulders entirely by attending negotiations and meeting on your behalf while you are indisposed.
This saves you time and resources and gives you peace of mind you otherwise wouldn’t have if you opted to work on your claim alone.
Cases Our Orem Personal Injury Lawyers Handle
Valley Law’s team of personal injury attorneys are experienced in a range of practice areas, ensuring that we can assist our clients regardless of the circumstances that resulted in their injuries.
What Damages Can I File a Personal Injury Claim For?
The amount you are eligible to claim in a personal injury case depends on the scope of your damages. That said, personal injury cases typically seek to compensate the plaintiff for physical, emotional, and financial losses you sustained, so you can expect your lawyer to account for these when filing your claim.
Economic Damages
These are objective, tangible expenses that cover the financial impact an injury has on a victim. Economic damages include medical expenses, lost wages, costs of ongoing therapy and follow-up treatment, and miscellaneous costs incurred throughout the recovery period.
- Medical expenses: These damages make up the bulk of most personal injury claims and, in turn, are mostly made up of hospitalization costs and/or doctors’ fees, easily reaching into the tens of thousands of dollars (an ambulance ride to the emergency room can cost upwards of $1,300). Diagnostic tests, including MRIs, X-rays, and biopsies, also fall under this category.
- Lost wages: These are the compensation for any income you lost on account of your injury. Lost wages usually include any income for missed work (supported by pay stubs, tax forms, and other verifiable documents), loss of future earnings (for example, if a business deal fell through because a meeting was canceled), and, on occasion, lost benefits (retirement contributions, company discounts, etc.).
- Miscellaneous costs: These are any additional expenses you may accrue directly or indirectly because of your injuries. For instance, if you are bound to a wheelchair for several months, you may need to have lifts or climbers installed to help you move around your own home. Alternatively, you may need to hire additional help in the household to take care of you or of other people who were dependent on you prior to your injury. Miscellaneous costs cover these expenses up to a reasonable amount.
Noneconomic Damages
These damages are the opposite of economic damages in that they are less tangible and often more subjective than economic damages. Noneconomic damages look to compensate injury victims for suffering and loss under the presumption that they would not have had to go through it if the injury had not occurred.
- Pain and suffering: This is the discomfort and pain a person experiences as a result of the injury and/or its treatment. This usually refers to physical suffering but can also be an umbrella term that includes emotional distress and mental anguish, depending on the case.
- When emotional distress, as well as when specific physical damage such as scarring or disfigurement, do not fall under this category, they are often filed as separate noneconomic damages.
- Loss of consortium: This is awarded to the direct family — most of the time the spouse — of the victim for any impact the injury has on intimacy, companionship, and support in the relationship. Contrary to what some believe, loss of consortium doesn’t have to be permanent; it can cover prolonged periods of time when the victim is unable to fulfill their role in the relationship.
- Loss of enjoyment or quality of life: Some injuries may prevent a person from engaging in activities they normally do. These activities may be as physically demanding as contact sports or as emotionally fulfilling as simply walking a pet or hanging out with the family. Loss of enjoyment or quality of life aims to translate the emotional toll of these damages into quantifiable compensation.
Because non-economic damages are much more difficult to quantify than other damages, the specific types and amounts that can be claimed are often contextual according to each case. There may be more types applicable to a given situation, or there may be less.
The best way to determine what applies to your claim is to discuss the details of your case with a personal injury lawyer.
Punitive Damages
Whereas economic damages are intended to return a person to a financial point they held prior to an injury, and non-economic damages are intended to compensate a person for grievances they have, punitive damages are meant to dissuade people from committing the same acts that led to a victim’s injury.
On the one hand, they directly – as the name implies – punish the liable party. On the other, they hold the liable party as an example of what happens when someone causes harm to another person.
Keep in mind that not every case awards a plaintiff with punitive damages. Utah law requires that in order to be awarded punitive damages, compensatory and/or general damages must first also be awarded.
Furthermore, there has to be sufficient evidence of “willful and malicious or intentionally fraudulent conduct, or conduct that manifests a knowing and reckless indifference toward, and a disregard of, the rights of others.” If these conditions are not met, then punitive damages do not apply (with some exceptions).
What this means is that if an accident is caused by a mistake or lapse of judgment, the odds are the case won’t involve any punitive damages against the defendant.
An example of this would be if floor staff at a restaurant, during a hectic lunch service, forgot to put up a wet floor sign, resulting in a slip-and-fall. The staff may be liable, but as this occurred during a busy service hour, the accident was unlikely to have involved malicious intent, and as such, cannot award punitive damages to the plaintiff.
On the other hand, if the staff can be proven to have intentionally avoided placing a wet floor sign in order to spite a rowdy customer, then there is a strong possibility of awarding punitive damages.
Also, plaintiffs are only entitled to 100% of the first $50,000 in punitive damages. Amounts exceeding this bar are evenly split between the plaintiff and the state.
So, if a plaintiff is awarded $60,000 in punitive damages, they are entitled to the first $50,000 and half of the remaining $10,000, for a total of $55,000. The state takes the remaining $5,000 as a form of financial incentive to pursue bad actors.
Choose a Bluffdale Personal Injury Law Firm That Can Maximize Your Claim! Choose Valley Law!
Valley Law Accident and Injury Lawyers is a premier Utah law firm and a two-time Gold Winner of the Top Law Firm title by Salt City Best. At Valley Law, we lead the effort to protect people who have been hurt.
From car accident cases to medical malpractice to workers’ compensation, we offer our services to the city of Bluffdale to hurt those wronged by the negligence of others, giving injury victims a fighting chance at getting their lives back. We have successfully recovered millions of dollars in damages, and we look forward to turning our sights on your case and doing the same for you.
Under the leadership of managing attorney Brigham Richards, we at Valley Law follow a principle of responsibility to our clients. Every client must be treated as the most important, and our lawyers will see to it that you are properly represented and aptly compensated for your troubles.
We fight beside you all the way, and if needed, we fight in your stead when you feel you can’t.
At Valley Law, we work on a contingency basis, which means that we do not charge you a cent unless we first win your case. This means zero risk for our clients and aligns our interests so that you know that we will pursue the damages you are owed to the best that we can.
Contact our professional team of personal injury attorneys at Valley Law Accident and Injury Lawyers at (801) 810-9999 for a free consultation. We will discuss the details of your case and plan the best strategy to get you what you need.
