Health Upp Every day someone in North Carolina is injured. A personal injury is any physical or mental injury to a person as a result of the harmful or negligent acts of another. sometimes by other people, sometimes by a company or organization, and sometimes by a government agency. Intentional actions cause injury, and failure to act can also cause injury.
Regardless of how you were injured or who injured you, North Carolina personal injury law is designed to guard you and hold the person at fault accountable for negligence, helping you recover your damages when you have been harmed as a result of intent or negligence.
What you should do if you are North Carolina Personal Injury
Negligence or carelessness by another party should not make you responsible for serious injuries. North Carolina personal injury settlements might be able provide funds to cover future hospital bills and medical bills for the unjustly injured. Settlements may also help to ease the financial burden associated with lost wages.
North Carolina law permits plaintiffs to claim both non-economic and economic compensatory damages. This economic damages are the objective loss of income. These include lost wages and hospital bills. Other losses, such as pain and suffering, are non-economic.
Sometimes, plaintiffs may be eligible for punitive damage. So this legal term is used to “punish the defendant” for his egregiously illegal acts and discourage him from doing similar ones in the future.
North Carolina Personal Injury Claims
As soon as you are injured, it is important to plan for your personal injuries case. These steps will help protect your rights after an injury.
- Do not confess guilt to anyone at the scene, including emergency medical responders or law enforcement officers.
- Notify all parties involved in the incident with their contact information. This includes witnesses and negligent parties.
- You should take as many photos as possible, from as many angles as possible. Take photos of your injuries, both close-ups and larger-scale shots showing the accident scene.
- You will need to contact your insurer after a car accident. You should be honest and truthful with all your questions. However, you should not share any opinions. Your insurance company will not be supportive.
- If you have questions, speak to an experienced attorney.
If you Were Partially Responsible for the Accident
Even if you are partially responsible for an accident, you may still be eligible to receive damages. When speaking with representatives of insurance companies or at the scene of an accident, you should not admit fault. Therefore it is not acceptable to admit fault. Sometimes, you might not be completely at fault. You might be partially at fault if you claim you were involved in an accident. The other side could use this information against your case to avoid paying damages.
North Carolina law is based solely on contributory negligence. The plaintiff cannot sue for damages if the jury finds him even 1% responsible for an accident.
Even if it is not clear whether you are at fault for an accident it is worth speaking to a North Carolina personal injury lawyer about how to file a personal injury lawsuit.
Additional FAQs
How can I tell if my injury is in civil or criminal court?
For financial damages, you can sue a civil defendant.
Sometimes, a personal injury can be caused by a criminal act. If the driver was driving recklessly or drunk, for example, a car accident could lead to criminal charges. Violent crimes can also cause personal injury.
As an individual, you cannot arrest or indict someone for committing a crime. So you can report a crime against you to your local police department if you suspect it has been committed. A defendant could be arrested by law enforcement and charged with a crime. A witness may be called in a criminal case. The penalty for being convicted is typically probation or jail time.
Is there a cap on the amount of damage (maximum recovery) that can be claimed in a North Carolina case?
Punitive damages in North Carolina cannot exceed $350,000 or $250,000 for compensatory damages.
This rule is not applicable to injuries resulting from car accidents where the driver is impaired. Drunk driving is prohibited.
Medical malpractice cases are exempt from this rule. The non-economic damages, such as pain and suffering, mental anguish, and the like, in a medical malpractice case are limited to $500,000, but there is no limit on punitive damages. The maximum amount of punitive damages is $500,000 but it is not limited to $500,000 in a medical malpractice claim.
Do I settle my claim outside of court? Or should I go to trial?
Many personal injury lawyers recommend that you settle outside of court. You should not resort to suing.
North Carolina Statute of Limitations for North Carolina Personal Injury
It is important that your personal injury lawsuit be filed within North Carolina’s statutes. This applies to injuries sustained within three years of the date you were first diagnosed or when you were initially injured.