Santa Rosa Personal Injury Lawyer
Almost all personal injury cases result from the negligence of another person. Take an automobile accident. In most cases, the other driver does something careless, such as texting and driving, and causes an accident due to their inattention. This sort of negligent behavior is the cause of the accident and the injuries that naturally flow from it. It’s important to know that personal injury involves more than just physical harm: emotional and mental injuries are always certain to happen from an accident. A personal injury plaintiff can experience just one of several types of personal injury, any of which may be grounds for a claim and compensation. Our Santa Rosa personal injury lawyer can get you compensation for your injuries.
Each Personal Injury Case is Different
There is a vast range of personal injury cases. Below are some of the cases that the Santa Rosa personal injury lawyer at the Law Office of Kasra Parsad represents for clients throughout the Bay Area and California:
Each of these accidents and the injuries that flow from them are different. The merit of each case is determined based on the incident Itself, the circumstances, and how well liability can be established. Our professional approach applies the law to your unique situation to get you the justice you deserve. If you are suffering any sort of injury after an accident, you should know your rights and how to efficiently pursue the compensation you deserve.
As soon as possible, you’ll want to contact our Santa Rosa personal injury attorney to assess your options.
How Do You Prove Negligence In a Personal Injury Case?
In personal injury law, negligence is a legal claim that alleges you were injured as a result of another person’s reckless or careless conduct. The injured party, the plaintiff, has the burden to show that the defendant failed to exercise reasonable care and the plaintiff suffered injuries as a result. A person acts negligently when they do something a reasonable person in the same situation would not do, or fails to do something a reasonable person in the same position would do. To prove negligence in a personal injury case, a plaintiff must show:
(1) Duty – The defendant owed the plaintiff a duty to exercise reasonable care to avoid subjecting them to harm.
(2) Breach of Duty – The defendant breached that duty.
(3) Causation – The defendant’s breach of that duty was the direct result of the accident that caused your injuries.
(4) Damages – You suffered damages as a result.
Duty
In California, all people have a duty to exercise due care to avoid harming others. This means a person must act like a reasonably prudent person. For example, in a car accident case, the driver of a motor vehicle has a duty to obey the traffic laws and drive reasonably to protect pedestrians, passengers, and other motorists on the roads. This standard differs depending on your case. In most cases, the existence of duty is established, but whether a duty was owed and what that duty exactly was differs from each case.
Breach
Breach of duty means that the defendant failed to comport with their legal duty. In car accident cases, for example, when a driver goes over the speed limit, runs a red light, or fails to yield at a pedestrian crosswalk, they are not exercising reasonable care to not subject others to avoidable risks of harm and injuries. As a result of failing to exercise reasonable care, the defendant has breached their legal duty of care.
Causation
Causation must be established after showing the defendant owed the plaintiff a duty and breached that duty. This means that the defendant’s breach of duty, and their failure to use reasonable care, was the direct cause of the plaintiff’s injuries. There must be a causal link between the defendant’s negligent behavior and the plaintiff’s injuries. Sometimes this can be straightforward, for example when a speeding driver crashes head-on into a pedestrian and the pedestrians injuries were a direct result of that crash.
Damages
The last element a plaintiff must prove is damages. This means that the plaintiff suffered some harm or injuries as a result of the defendant’s negligent conduct. It is not enough to show the defendant acted negligently – their negligent behavior must have actually caused the plaintiff’s injury or harm. Common damages in personal injury cases include past and future medical bills, physical harm, past and future lost wages, pain and suffering, and many other losses.
Helping You Along The Person Injury Process
Although each personal injury case is different, the process of each case usually follows the same procedure. The Santa Rosa personal injury lawyer at the Law Office of Kasra Parsad will help you guide your claim throughout the entire process.
Initial Consultation
If someone caused you harm, we want to help you to hold them liable. Come in for a complimentary consultation. We’re here to hear you out. We won’t waste your time and tell you what you want to hear, but what you need to hear.
Investigation
We’ll investigate your claim to see if we can establish liability. This is a crucial part of the personal injury process. If your injuries are obvious and liability is clear, this phase is usually short. But we may have to determine who caused your harm, interview witnesses, talk to medical professionals, and so on, which may prolong this stage. The investigation phase is crucial to winning your case. Cases can be lost due to inadequate investigations.
Demand Letter
Once we have investigated your claim and determined you have a valid personal injury claim, we then prepare a demand letter. Based on the evidence we have to support your claim, we prepare a demand package and send it to the responsible party or their insurance company. If liability is clear and the responsible party knows it, cases can settle at this point. After receiving our demand packet, we will engage in settlement negotiations with the other party if they don’t accept our demand.
Filing Complaint
Sometimes, the other party won’t abide by our demand packet. This is usually if liability is not clearly established or there is some dispute about the claim. In these situations, we have to file a complaint in court. While we would rather settle a claim out of court, we are ready to go to court and litigate on your behalf to get you the compensation you deserve.
Discovery
The discovery stage allows us to gather more facts to support our claim. There are several tools that we can use to discover the facts and truth to support our case. Interrogatories are written questions we will submit to the other party. We will request the other side to produce documents and evidence. We will request admissions from the other side to admit or deny facts. And our favorite, we will use depositions to put witnesses under oath to elicit the truth. This stage is invaluable because it allows us to obtain documents and testimony given under oath that would have otherwise been inaccessible.
Filing Motions/Attending Hearings
During the litigation process, we will file motions and defend against motions on your behalf. As your advocate, we will appear on your behalf in court at every hearing. Depending on the facts we obtained from discovery, we may be able to file a motion for summary judgment and avoid going to trial.
Trial
Throughout the personal injury process, we will be in contact with the other party in an attempt to make them settle. Although going to trial is our last resort, if we can’t settle with the other party, you can count on us at trial. In a personal injury trial, a jury will have to determine if the defendant caused your injuries through their negligent conduct, and, if so, how much to compensate you for your damages. The trial will start with opening statements from both parties. This is where we will tell your story. Witnesses will be brought in, placed under oath, and subject to cross-examination. We will introduce photographs, documents, and expert testimony to support our version of the facts. We will deliver our closing statement and then the jury will deliberate about whether the defendant is liable. Juries in California are made up of twelve (12) peers from your community. Our Santa Rosa personal injury attorney will persuade nine (9) jurors to side with you.
There are a few things to know about the personal injury process. Cases can settle at any point. Sometimes upon the demand letter, or sometimes on the eve of trial. Truthfully, some cases will never settle. Other factors that impact the process include the investigation into the claims or settlement proceedings. What is important is that we will never drag you into the personal injury process if we do not believe the other side is responsible and at fault. This is why our initial consultation will determine whether you should pursue a legal claim or not. If the party that caused you harm is responsible, then we will do everything in our power to help you get the compensation you deserve.
We Get You The Compensation You Deserve
Most personal injury cases will settle. But the Santa Rosa personal injury lawyers at the Law Office of Kasra Parsad will never recommend our client to accept a settlement offer unless it is fair and just. Full and fair competition is of utmost importance to us so our clients are made whole again from the wrongdoing of another. Our personal injury lawyers seek compensation for:
-
- Medical expenses: These costs include days spent at the hospital, surgery, prescription pills, transportation to the hospital, and doctor visits.
-
- Rehabilitation costs: Depending on the severity of the injury, many clients need physical therapy or other forms of rehabilitation in order to recover from their injuries.
-
- Future/Past medical expenses: Permanent, long-lasting injuries will continue to cost clients for many years to come. We seek compensation now to cover those costs.
-
- Lost income: The severity of an injury can prevent clients from returning to work. This ultimately results in clients losing income and other benefits, leaving them struggling to support their families. We will always seek compensation for those losses.
-
- Diminished earning capacity: Serious injuries can cause clients from entirely returning to their job. As a result, some clients will have to take lower-paying jobs. We seek compensation to make up for this loss in earning power.
-
- Pain and suffering: Injuries do more than cost you money. They bring emotional distress, pain, inconvenience, and other losses. Though difficult to quantify, we will obtain a compensation tailored to your individual circumstance.