Atlanta Personal Injury Lawyer

Personal Injury Attorney in Atlanta, GA

If you have suffered an injury because of another party’s malpractice, negligence, or malice, you may be entitled to seek financial compensation from them in the form of a personal injury lawsuit. Our firm will represent you through insurance negotiations or a full court case – whatever it takes to get you the money you rightfully deserve after your injuries.

Take a look below at a brief overview of personal injury law in Atlanta, GA, and contact us immediately to schedule an initial consultation. During your consultation, we will discuss the details of your injuries, the accident that caused them, and the various courses of action we would suggest for you as our client.

What Is Personal Injury?

Personal injury is a legal term for any damage that occurs to a person, as opposed to property. There is a wide variety of situations that could lead to a personal injury lawsuit, provided that the circumstances meet three initial requirements:

• There was an accident caused by negligence, malpractice, or malice
• There were injuries caused by the accident
• The injuries caused economic damages

If your injuries meet these three initial points, you may be legally entitled to pursue damages for your injuries, any time missed from work, as well as the psychological and emotional impact that your injuries have had on you.

Steps to Take Immediately After a Personal Injury Accident

After an injury, your immediate actions are critical to both your health and the strength of your legal claim. Here are the most important steps to take:

• Seek Medical Attention: Even if your injuries seem minor, symptoms can worsen over time.
• Document the Scene: Take photos of injuries, property damage, and the accident location.
• Collect Witness Information: Get names, phone numbers, and statements if possible.
• Avoid Admitting Fault: Be careful with your words, especially when speaking to insurers.
• Contact a Personal Injury Attorney: Hiring an Atlanta personal injury lawyer early on ensures your rights are protected from the start.

A personal injury lawyer can guide you on how to preserve evidence and help you avoid mistakes that could hurt your claim.

Do You Need a Personal Injury Lawyer?

Handling a personal injury claim on your own can be overwhelming, especially when dealing with insurance companies eager to minimize payouts. A skilled personal injury lawyer not only collects critical evidence like accident reports and medical records but also ensures that you receive a fair settlement. If negotiations break down, your attorney can take the case to court to ensure your rights are protected. Without professional legal support, you risk undervaluing your claim or missing important deadlines, which can severely impact the compensation you receive.

Here's how an experienced Atlanta accident lawyer helps:

• Levels the playing field: Insurance companies have large legal teams trained to minimize payouts. An injury attorney ensures you’re not taken advantage of.
• Knows the true value of your claim: An injury lawyer in Atlanta understands how to calculate full damages, including long-term impacts on your health and career.
• Handles communication: Your lawyer will manage all conversations with insurance adjusters, employers, and the opposing party so you can focus on recovery.
• Reduces stress: When you hire a legal professional, you’re freed from the constant back and forth of handling your claim. Your time and energy go back where they belong, toward healing.

Common Causes of Personal Injuries

There are many ways that a personal injury can be caused, but below are some of the more common cases that come through the Atlanta court system:

• Wrongful Death Accidents
• Auto Accidents
• Motorcycle Accidents
• Truck Accidents
• Pedestrian Accidents
• Slip And Fall Accidents
• Workers’ Compensation Injuries
• Dog Bites

Even if you do not see something that resembles your own injuries, you might be dealing with a situation that still falls under one of our areas of expertise. Explore more about how we can assist you.

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Common Injuries in Atlanta Personal Injury Cases

Personal injury claims can involve a wide range of injuries, some of which may not be immediately visible after an accident. Common types of injuries we see in Atlanta personal injury cases include:

• Traumatic Brain Injuries (TBIs): These can result from falls, car accidents, or being struck by objects. TBIs can range from mild concussions to permanent cognitive impairments.
• Spinal Cord Injuries: Damage to the spinal cord can lead to partial or full paralysis and often requires long-term rehabilitation and care.
• Broken Bones: Fractures are common in auto accidents and falls. Some breaks require surgery, implants, or extended physical therapy.
• Soft Tissue Injuries: These include muscle strains, sprains, and ligament damage, which can cause long-lasting pain and mobility issues.
• Burns: Whether from car fires, defective products, or chemical exposure, burn injuries are often severe and emotionally traumatic.
• Lacerations and Scarring: Deep cuts and wounds can lead to permanent disfigurement and require multiple reconstructive surgeries.
• Internal Injuries: Damage to organs, internal bleeding, or ruptured blood vessels can be life-threatening if not treated immediately.
• Emotional and Psychological Trauma: Anxiety, PTSD, and depression often accompany physical injuries, especially after violent or traumatic accidents.

Understanding the full scope of your injuries is critical when calculating your claim. Our Atlanta injury lawyers ensure that no injury is overlooked or undervalued.

Seeking Compensation For Personal Injuries

The first thing to realize when you are dealing with an insurance company is that you should NEVER take their initial offer for a settlement. This settlement offer does not represent the true extent of your injuries, and is only meant to protect the insurance company’s finances, and avoid any future litigation against their client.

When you are working with our team of personal injury lawyers in Atlanta, you can be confident from the moment negotiations start that we are fighting to win the amount that you rightfully owe. We will handle all negotiations with the insurance company’s legal team, and move to a trial if we are unable to reach a reasonable out-of-court settlement agreement on your behalf.

Personal Injury Case Timeline

While every case is different, most personal injury claims in Atlanta generally follow these phases:

• Hiring an Attorney: Meet with an Atlanta personal injury attorney for a free consultation.
• Evidence Collection: Gather medical records, accident reports, witness statements, and photos.
• Filing a Demand: Your lawyer submits a demand for compensation to the insurance company.
• Negotiations: Both sides work to reach a fair settlement; this phase can take weeks or months.
• Filing a Lawsuit (if necessary): If a settlement cannot be reached, your attorney files a lawsuit.
• Discovery and Trial Preparation: Both parties exchange evidence and prepare for court if needed.

Throughout this process, your Atlanta personal injury lawyer will keep you updated and fight for maximum compensation.

Different Types of Damages You Can Recover in a Personal Injury Case

If you’ve been injured in Atlanta due to another party’s negligence or reckless behavior, you may be entitled to several types of damages. These are generally categorized into three key areas:

• Economic Damages: These cover tangible financial losses such as medical bills, rehabilitation expenses, lost wages, and property damage. They aim to restore the out-of-pocket costs you’ve incurred due to the accident.
• Non-Economic Damages: These compensate for intangible losses like pain and suffering, emotional distress, mental anguish, and loss of enjoyment of life. Non-economic damages recognize the personal and emotional toll an injury can have beyond financial hardships.
• Punitive Damages: In cases where the responsible party’s conduct goes beyond simple negligence, such as drunk driving or intentional harm, Georgia law allows for punitive damages. These damages are not meant to compensate the victim directly, but to punish the wrongdoer and deter similar future behavior.

An experienced Atlanta personal injury attorney can evaluate your case and determine all potential avenues of compensation. By thoroughly calculating both your current and future damages, your lawyer will work to ensure you recover the full amount you deserve under Georgia law.

Personal Injury Settlement or Lawsuit Amounts

There is a wide range of factors that go into determining the amount we will seek in a settlement or lawsuit, depending on many different variables of the accident. However, below are some basic things that we will consider while formulating a fair dollar amount to pursue from the responsible party:

• Medical Bills
• Recovery Expenses
• Lost Wages
• Short-Term and Long-Term Disability
• Pain and Suffering
• Loss of Enjoyment

Personal injury awards are usually divided into two separate designations – economic and non-economic damages. Economic damages address repayment for issues of real dollar amounts, like medical bills or lost wages from time missed at work. However, the courts understand that there is a lot more than the invoices that show the whole picture of an injury. This is why victims are able to seek compensation for non-economic factors as well, like their pain and suffering, or being unable to pursue the hobbies and activities they could before the accident.

Georgia's Fault-Based System for Personal Injury Cases

1. Georgia’s At-Fault System Explained

In Georgia, the at-fault party in an accident is responsible for covering the costs of injuries and damages. This means the person who caused the accident must pay for expenses such as medical bills, lost wages, and property damage.

2. Proving Negligence

To seek compensation, the injured party must prove that the other party acted negligently. Negligence could include actions like violating traffic laws or failing to maintain a safe environment.

3. Gathering Evidence

Proving negligence typically requires gathering strong evidence, which can include:

1. Eyewitness testimony
2. Police reports
3. Accident scene photos
4. Expert analysis

4. Minimum Liability Insurance Requirements

Georgia law requires all drivers to carry a minimum amount of liability insurance. This insurance is intended to cover damages they might cause in an accident, including injuries and property damage.

5. Dealing with Uninsured or Underinsured Drivers

If the at-fault driver is uninsured or doesn’t have enough insurance to cover your damages, you may still be able to seek compensation through your own uninsured/underinsured motorist coverage.

6. Bridging the Financial Gap

Uninsured/underinsured motorist coverage helps bridge the financial gap when the at-fault driver lacks sufficient insurance. It’s a key resource to avoid facing unexpected financial strain.

7. Navigating the Claims Process

Navigating the complexities of insurance claims can be challenging. An experienced personal injury attorney from Seay/Felton can help you through the process, ensuring you understand your options and maximizing your compensation.

What Happens If You’re Partially At Fault?

Georgia follows a modified comparative negligence rule. That means you can still recover damages if you are less than 50% at fault, but your compensation will be reduced by your percentage of fault.

Example:

• If your damages total $100,000 and you're found to be 20% at fault, you can still receive $80,000.
• If you're 50% or more at fault, you cannot recover compensation.

This makes it crucial to have a personal injury attorney in Atlanta who can push back against unfair blame and ensure the facts are correctly presented.

Common Defense Strategies Insurance Companies Use

Insurance companies often try to reduce or deny claims using several common defense tactics:

• Blaming the Victim: Arguing that you were partially or wholly responsible for your injuries.
• Downplaying Injury Severity: Claiming your injuries are minor or unrelated to the accident.
• Disputing Medical Treatment: Suggesting your medical care was unnecessary or excessive.
• Delaying the Process: Dragging out negotiations to pressure you into accepting a lower settlement.
• Questioning Causation: Insisting that your injuries resulted from a pre-existing condition or an unrelated event.
• Requesting Recorded Statements: Asking for a recorded statement and using your words out of context to reduce or deny liability.
• Making Early Low Offers: Offering fast but low settlement amounts in hopes you’ll accept before understanding the full value of your claim.
• Overloading with Paperwork: Requiring unnecessary or excessive documentation to delay the process and pressure you into settling.

Insurance adjusters are trained to minimize payouts, and they often hope injury victims will be too overwhelmed to fight back. A skilled Atlanta personal injury lawyer knows how to counter these tactics by gathering strong evidence, working with medical experts, and aggressively advocating for your rights throughout the entire claims process.

Navigating Claims Involving Pre-Existing Conditions

One common tactic insurance adjusters use is blaming your injuries on a pre-existing condition. For example, if you had a prior back injury, they may argue your pain wasn’t caused by the accident. However, Georgia law allows compensation if an accident aggravates a pre-existing condition.

With the help of an experienced Atlanta injury lawyer, your case can include:

• Medical comparisons showing the difference in your condition before and after the accident.
• Expert testimony confirming the worsening of your injury.
• Clear documentation that ties the aggravation of your condition directly to the incident.

The Role of Evidence in Maximizing Compensation

In Georgia personal injury law, evidence makes or breaks your case. While medical records and accident reports are important, they only paint part of the picture.

An experienced personal injury lawyer in Atlanta builds your claim with:

• Photographic and video evidence from the scene
• Witness statements from those who saw the accident or aftermath
• Expert medical evaluations that project future care needs
• Accident reconstruction if needed to show fault
• Proof of lost wages and the long-term financial impact

Your lawyer’s ability to gather, organize, and present this evidence can significantly impact the outcome of your claim or lawsuit.

Statute of Limitations For Personal Injury Cases in Georgia

In Georgia, the law sets a strict deadline for filing personal injury lawsuits, known as the statute of limitations. According to Georgia Code section 9-3-33, you generally have two years from the date of the injury to file a claim. Missing this deadline could result in losing your right to pursue compensation. Special circumstances, such as filing claims against government entities, may have shorter deadlines—such as six months for a city or 12 months for a county claim. Due to the complexity of these time limits, it is essential to consult with a knowledgeable attorney as soon as possible to ensure your case is filed correctly and on time.

Pursuing Personal Injury Claims Involving Children

When a child is injured due to another party’s negligence, Georgia law provides for compensation similar to that awarded in adult cases. Since children cannot file lawsuits on their own, a parent or legal guardian must step in to seek damages on their behalf. Calculating damages in these cases can be intricate, involving not only medical costs but also future expenses related to long-term care or developmental impacts. Additionally, compensation may consider pain and suffering, emotional trauma, and the potential loss of future earning capacity. Working with an experienced personal injury attorney ensures that the child’s rights are fully protected and that all avenues for compensation are explored. Legal guidance is crucial for ensuring that the child receives the full compensation they deserve, especially given the complexities that are unique to cases involving minors.

When Legal Action is Necessary

While many personal injury cases are resolved through out-of-court settlements with the insurance company, there are instances where filing a lawsuit becomes necessary. This might happen if the responsible party lacks sufficient insurance coverage or if settlement negotiations fail. In such cases, proceeding with a lawsuit ensures that you have a fair chance to recover the full amount you deserve, even when insurers are unwilling to cooperate. Having a personal injury attorney by your side during this process helps to strengthen your claim and maximize your compensation.

Contact Us Today

When you are working with the team at Seay/Felton LLC Trial Lawyers, you can be confident that you have a team of professional personal injury lawyers acting on your behalf to recover the economic and non-economic damages that you are owed. While we are working on your case, you can focus on recovery and getting your life back to normal after this stressful time.