Connecticut Personal Injury Lawyer
Being injured in an accident—no matter how serious—can be a costly and stressful event. Who covers your costs and expenses for medical care? Can you get reimbursed for missing work? Who is going to pay the additional costs to help you take care of your kids? How can you afford a rental car? And how can you get these insurance companies to move more quickly in taking care of your property damage and medical care? Not to mention the emotional pain and suffering the underlying event or accident has caused you and your immediate family members. How can you be certain the Connecticut personal injury lawyer you are hiring knows what they are doing and will get the best possible results? These are all valid and critical questions, which must be considered when you are hiring a Connecticut civil claims lawyer.
The Greenwich and Stamford personal injury lawyers and attorneys at Mark Sherman Law will competently and compassionately guide you through this process. We offer a unique combination of diligence, sensitivity and advocacy with the ultimate goal of getting you the most amount of money for your injuries in the shortest amount of time. Obviously, some cases take a lot longer to resolve than others, especially when serious and long-term injuries are involved. However, we work with experienced and responsive doctors, therapists, psychiatrists and other medical professionals who are familiar and comfortable with courtroom and lawyer tactics and strategies. So, if you are looking for a personal injury attorney and lawyer in Stamford, New Canaan, Darien, Greenwich, Wilton, or Norwalk, contact a personal injury lawyer today for a consultation.
When To Contact an Attorney Following an Injury
Perhaps the most common question we get from our personal injury clients is when they should hire a law firm to begin assisting them with their case. The answer is as soon as possible. As we discuss below, evidence helpful to your case can disappear quickly so it’s critical that you hire a Connecticut personal injury lawyer who can investigate the accident scene, collect evidence, and make motions to the court to preserve electronic surveillance video footage. In some of our cases, we have dispatched accident reconstruction engineer experts to accident scenes to take photographs, videos and measurements, sometimes on the very same day of the accident. All of this data has proven to be extremely helpful months or years later at depositions and eventually at trial.
Additionally, it can be very helpful to strategize with your Stamford personal injury attorneys at the beginning of your case on the issue of getting the right medical team involved in your case. Proving damages is just as important as proving fault and liability so getting our clients in front of skilled medical providers is a priority for the Mark Sherman Law personal injury lawyers. Our lawyers work hand in hand with local doctors, nurses, therapists, and counselors to craft an appropriate treatment plan for you. We appreciate that not every medical professional may be able to hold their own against an aggressive opposing attorney, so we are very selective in who we choose to work with, and which medical professionals can advocate for you most effectively in the courtroom. These personnel and health care decisions should be made early on in your case to give your damages claims the most continuity and credibility. Therefore, it is a good idea to hire a top Greenwich or Stamford personal injury lawyer early on so you can work with them in selecting the best team for your case.
The Two Components of a Connecticut Personal Injury Case
In any Connecticut personal injury case, there are two elements your lawyer must prove in order to recover money damages: (1) Liability / Fault, and (2) Damages.
The first element involves a careful investigation by your Connecticut personal injury lawyers to determine if you were injured as a result of someone else’s fault—whether it was an intentional act, or an accidental (or “negligent”) act. Obviously intentional acts that cause injuries (i.e. a bar fight, murder, or sex assault) are more egregious, more offensive, and more likely to inflame juries and result in large monetary awards. Mistaken or negligent acts occur more frequently (i.e. car accidents, slip-and-falls, etc.), but in some circumstances, can cause very serious injuries even if they were not intended. The fault and liability portion of a case is an important one and needs to be handled with care and closely examined by your top Stamford and Greenwich personal injury lawyers. Without fault or liability, you have no case. So make sure your Stamford personal injury lawyer examines the police accident reports, investigates the accident or crime scenes, and hires a private investigator when necessary to make sure no stone in left unturned in investigating fault and liability in your personal injury case.
Just as important as determining Fault and Liability is preparing a comprehensive Damages package for your Stamford personal injury case. In many personal injury cases, there is often an insurance policy which is covering the injuries. As a result, insurance company lawyers are hired to work with your lawyers to reach an agreement as to the amount of money and damages you will accept in exchange for you withdrawing your case and releasing your claims against the insured. To affect this compromise, your Greenwich and Stamford personal injury lawyer attorney will prepare a damages analysis that will hopefully maximize your recovery. It will include medical records and reports, expert medical opinions, charts, expense reports, and a forecast for future expenses, damages and medical care. The package may also include information related to emotional and psychological pain and suffering caused by the accident or event, which will hopefully result in an even higher recovery. Whether your accident or injury has caused short-term or long-term / permanent injuries, the damages component of your case is probably the most important. So be sure you are well-positioned to work with an experienced Connecticut personal injury attorney who can assemble the strongest damages package for your case. As we’ve seen with our personal injury victims, every dollar counts, and with all of the medical expenses, inconveniences and anxieties that most accidents cause, the Connecticut personal injury lawyers believe you are entitled to a damages award that fairly reflects all of these factors.
Car Accidents
Perhaps the most common Greenwich, New Canaan, or Stamford personal injury cases arise from car or automobile collisions. Usually these are honest accidents—however sometimes they are the result of misconduct by one or more drivers, including drunk drivers, speeding drivers, or drivers texting while driving. Whatever the reason, it is critical that you call 911 after a car accident so that police can conduct a proper and thorough investigation. It is also important to call your insurance carrier shortly after the accident so they can investigate as well and contact the insurance company of the driver to determine liability. And just as importantly, if you have suffered any kind of physical injury, you should get it checked out immediately by a doctor and you should call a top Stamford or Greenwich personal injury lawyer.
Slip-and-Fall Accidents
Other personal injury cases arise from slip-and-fall accidents on public and private premises. While sometimes accidents happen where no individual or business is at fault, there are times when landlords, businesses and homeowners have been advised of an unsafe situation but fail to fix it (such as a pothole in a sidewalk, ice patches on an entranceway, or a broken step in a stairway). When people or businesses do not repair an unsafe situation, and then you get injured, you may have a strong personal injury case to help you recover your damages. As with any personal injury claim, it is always a good idea to consult a top Greenwich, Norwalk or Stamford personal injury lawyer to tell you if you have a strong slip-and-fall case.
Dog Bite Cases
Dog bite cases are frequently litigated in Connecticut courts. What matters most in these cases is whether the owner of the dog has been put on notice of his or her dog’s tendency to bite people. If there have been problems in the past, then you may have a strong liability / fault case against the dog owner. And often a dog owner’s homeowner’s or umbrella insurance coverage will be triggered by your claim for damages, which always increases the likelihood of recovering money in a dog bite lawsuit. An experienced Stamford dog bite personal injury lawyer will investigate the dog’s discipline record with the appropriate municipality. For more information on Greenwich, Stamford, New Canaan, or Darien dog bite cases, call one of the Connecticut personal injury lawyers at Mark Sherman Law today.
Wrongful Death Cases
Some of the most tragic cases we see are wrongful death personal injury cases in Stamford, Greenwich, New Canaan, Darien, Norwalk and surrounding areas. In these cases, loved ones have lost family members in tragic circumstances, including car accidents, airplane and mass transit accidents and catastrophes, and violent crimes, (including murder, DWI deaths, and manslaughter). In all of these cases, families look to their personal injury lawyers to aggressively hold those responsible for the deaths of their loved ones. The goal of bringing these wrongful death lawsuits is to compensate the surviving family members who now have to live on without their spouse, mother, father, or sibling, and who will suffer emotionally, psychologically, or financially for the rest of their lives. Expert medical and psychiatric professionals are enlisted in these cases to work with your legal team. The stakes are incredibly high in wrongful death cases so it’s important you feel comfortable that your wrongful death personal injury lawyers are diligent and aggressive in litigating your case.
Medical Malpractice / Missed Diagnoses
Another area of personal injury law is medical malpractice. Doctors and specialists occasionally make mistakes—serious ones—that can cause long-term or permanent disability and damage to your body and quality of life. Medical malpractice or medical negligence can in some cases cause paralysis, brain damage, or, in certain circumstances, death. Sometimes doctors and specialists can miss or overlook cancer diagnoses, which if discovered earlier, could have led to the cure of the disease altogether. So if you have suffered injuries as a result of medical malpractice, a missed diagnosis or incorrect diagnosis, or any kind of medical negligence, contact a Mark Sherman Law personal injury attorney for a consultation.
Birth Injuries
One final category of personal injury cases that requires immediate and serious attention is birth injuries. Baby deliveries can happen quickly and if there are complications, doctors and surgeons must act quickly to ensure the safest delivery possible for both mother and baby. Sometimes mistakes can happen, and if they are serious, a baby can suffer an injury that can affect them for a lifetime. Whether the birth defect (such as Cerebral Palsy or Erb’s Palsy) was a result of medical negligence is a difficult question that requires the review and consideration of independent medical experts. So if you believe your baby has suffered an injury during the birthing or delivery process in Stamford, Greenwich, Norwalk, or Bridgeport, contact us today for a consultation.
Contact a Connecticut Personal Injury Lawyer Today
Whether you are the victim of medical malpractice, an intentional physical or sexual assault, a major or minor car or automobile accident, a dog bite, a slip-and-fall, or a catastrophic accident that results in death or disability, you should contact a Connecticut personal injury lawyer at Mark Sherman Law right away. Our 24-hour call center can connect you to one of our personal injury attorneys immediately. Our first-response legal team can assess the situation and work with you and your family to preserve as much evidence as possible, and connect you with the most appropriate medical and health care providers for your case. Our sole goal is results. And we want them as quickly as possible. So if you are looking for a personal injury lawyer attorney in Stamford, New Canaan, Darien, Fairfield, Greenwich, Norwalk, or Westport, give a Mark Sherman Law personal injury attorney a call today.