What are the elements of a personal injury claim? To some, this is too simple a question, but others would really like to know!

Injury and Damages.

First, a person must suffer an injury.  While a hangnail may qualify as an injury, it should go without saying that those damages would be very small, and likely not worth pursuing.  However, someone may suffer serious injury and incur a high amount of medical bills.  They may accumulate bills for hospital visits, x-rays, medications, and follow up doctors visits.  In addition, they may suffer pain for several months.  It would be very unfair for an injured person to suffer pain and bear the cost of medical treatment when someone else was at fault and caused their injuries.

Negligence. 

This brings me to the next point. In order hold someone else responsible for your damages, they need to be negligent and at fault for causing your injuries.  Some examples of negligence may include: someone driving carelessly and following too closely, someone texting and driving, or someone trying to beat a red light.  If the person causes a car crash in those instances of negligence, they may be considered negligent and responsible for the damages they cause.  In these types of situations, the negligent drivers would be at fault for their negligence, and they would be responsible for paying for the damages caused by their negligence (usually through their car insurance).

A Source of Recovery.

The last thing that is necessary for a viable personal injury claim is a source of recovery to pay for the damages caused by the negligent person.  So who pays for the damages?  If a person is uninsured, they may be personally on the hook for the damages they caused to someone else.  However, in Washington state, state law requires that drivers carry a minimum of $25,000 in car insurance.  Due to that, most of the time, drivers carry auto insurance which will cover the damages caused to others.  If there is no insurance, the alternative is suing a person for their personal assets.  It is very difficult to collect against an uninsured person, unless they have significant assets.  In the terrible situation where a negligent driver causes you damages, the ideal situation would be that they have sufficient insurance to cover your damages. That is not always the case, and it is important to make sure that you, yourself, have a safeguard against that by carrying uninsured and under insured motorist insurance coverage, just in case. (Recommendations for insurance coverage will the subject of a later blog post).

If you have any questions about this blog post, or have any questions about car accidents, insurance coverage, or lawsuits, please feel free to take advantage of our free consults.  You can reach us by phone at (509) 380-9999, or you can send us a message through Facebook, or our contact form on this website, or email at: info@morfinlawfirm.com.