PERSONAL INJURY
According to Louisiana Law, “Every act whatever of man that causes damage to another obliges him by whose fault it happened to repair it.”
That complicated wording amounts to the simple fact that if someone does something that harms you, or fails to do what they were required to do, you have a claim for damages.
Examples of such situations are nearly endless.
If my rotten tree falls and hits your house, I’ve harmed you. If I spray pesticides and your children suffer an allergic reaction, I’ve harmed your children.
Other examples include situations in which:
you trip and fall on a broken sidewalk;
you fall into a hidden hole;
you slip and fall on water leaking onto the floor;
a defective appliance starts a fire in your house;
rotten steps give way, causing you to fall;
a truck’s brakes fail due to improper maintenance;
your boat strikes unmarked submerged pilings; or
you’re struck by falling items from store shelves.
You’ll see lots of billboards and commercials advertising personal injury lawyers. But what you won’t easily find is an attorney with true dedication to his clients and their best interests.
And though a quick $300,000 settlement sounds great, it might not stretch to cover your medical bills, repair all the damages you suffered, or pay off any loans you took to live. And unless your attorney saw you as a person rather than a paycheck, elements of your case like workers’ compensation and the effect of any settlement on your Medicare or Medicaid eligibility may not have been considered.
A good attorney knows that workers’ compensation and personal injury claims are separate but related issues of your case. For example, perhaps you’re working in a plant on a turn-around project. A worker, employed by a different subcontractor, causes you injury through their negligence. Not only do you have a workers’ compensation claim against your employer, you also have a personal injury claim against the worker and his employer for that negligence.
In this case, workers’ compensation would be responsible for your medical treatment related to the accident, as well as weekly payments, for as long as you are unable to work.
A workers’ compensation claim can make it unnecessary to borrow money to live while your case is decided, but it’s a long, hard process that doesn’t offer much reward to your attorney.
A quick settlement may get money into your hands immediately, but it may not cover all of your expenses. In some cases, it can affect your eligibly for programs like Medicare and Medicaid.
If you’ve been injured, you need an attorney dedicated to you and your needs, not the bottom line.
You need an attorney like Michael L. Hebert.
