What Kind of Cases Do Personal Injury Lawyers Handle?

Personal injury lawyers protect the rights, the health, and the economic well-being of individuals who have suffered injuries as a result of another party’s negligence. The cases they file– fall under the broader area of tort law, which defines the duties of care that individuals owe to each other in their regular day-to-day interactions.

For more than fifty years, the personal injury lawyers at Rutter Mills have represented Virginia residents in different types of negligence lawsuits. In all cases, our priority is to recover the largest available damages award. This will allow an injured person to get back to the position they were in before someone else’s negligence caused injuries and property losses.

What are Some Examples of Personal Injury Cases?

The most common personal injury cases include:

• motor vehicle accidents involving cars, trucks, motorcycles, watercraft, and other motorized machines that, when operated negligently, led to injuries
• slip and fall cases where a guest on another person’s property fell over a hazard that the property owner failed to fix
• medical malpractice and professional liability cases
• product liability matters, in which a dangerous consumer product that a company manufactures and sells causes injuries when used for its intended purpose
• workplace injuries where an employer fails to provide a safe working environment
• libel and slander injuries, where a person negligently publishes incorrect statements about somebody else, which results in loss of reputation and other harms.

How Does a Personal Injury Lawyer Prove that a Client Deserves to Recover Damages?

A personal injury attorney will need to show four elements to recover damages for his or her client:

1. The negligent party owed a duty recognized by applicable laws to the injured party (e.g., a driver must follow traffic laws and operate a car safely to avoid accidents).
2. The negligent party failed to comply with the duties that are imposed by general tort law ( e.g., a property owner knew about broken stairs at their premises but did nothing to fix them or to warn guests about them).
3. The negligent party’s failure was the direct and proximate cause of another person’s losses and injuries.
4. The injured party suffered tangible and measurable economic losses as a result of the accident (e.g., the injured party had to pay for medical services, lost wage payments due to an inability to work, incurred expenses for therapy, experienced pain that reduced the quality of their life, etc.).

Contact Us at Rutter Mills for a Free Consultation

Our Virginia personal injury lawyers represent clients in cases involving motor vehicle accidents, medical malpractice, and professional negligence by health care providers, as well as worker’s injuries, product liability, and dangerous or defective consumer items. We also represent clients in maritime and seafaring collisions. We serve clients in Norfolk, Virginia Beach, Portsmouth, Suffolk, and elsewhere in Virginia.

Please see our website or call our Norfolk offices directly to consult with a knowledgeable and experienced attorney about recovering the largest available damages award for your accident and negligence case.