Lakeville, MN, Personal Injury Lawyer
Personal injury cases have the potential to be very difficult and potentially problematic for those that have to deal with them. It can be especially challenging if you do not have an attorney or if you are not sure how to proceed. With the help of a skilled Lakeville personal injury lawyer, you can be assured that you are taken care of. Personal injury cases require the expert hand of a lawyer that knows their stuff. With Lakeville attorneys of Tyroler Leonard, you can be certain that you are going to have a case that will make a difference in your life and get you on the road to recovery.
Different Types of Injuries We See
Personal injury lawyers in Lakeville, MN, file legal claims for a variety of injuries.
Several types of injuries fall under the definition of a “personal injury” claim. Personal injury is a practice area in which victims seek financial damages for the harm they’ve suffered because of someone else’s negligence or recklessness. Some of these accidents and injuries include:
- Car Accident, Truck Accident, or Motorcycle Accident
Car accidents, truck accidents, and other vehicle crashes are some of the most frequent personal injury claims we see. That’s because crash victims frequently suffer significant injuries. - Work Injury
Getting injured at work is another common type of personal injury claim. Whether falling from scaffolding, getting crushed by machinery, or suffering chemical burns, these on-the-job injuries can have devastating consequences. Some are handled through workers’ comp; others are appropriate for a personal injury claim. - Wrongful Death
A wrongful death claim is a type of personal injury in which the victim died due to someone else’s negligence. - Slip and Fall Injuries
Slip and fall injuries typically happen when a victim slips on a wet floor, uneven pavement, or cluttered aisle in a store, hotel, parking lot, amusement park, concert venue, or other public location. Falls often result in fractures, concussions, TBI, bleeding, and other injuries. - Product Liability
Defective products can result in burns, lacerations, choking, and other harm to consumers. Product manufacturers can be held legally liable for injuries due to defects in the products they make. - Brain Injuries
Traumatic brain injuries, severe concussions, and other types of head injuries can have severe, life-altering consequences. Injuries can include damage to brain cells, memory loss, cognitive impairment, loss of speech or hearing, reduced motor skills, and a wide variety of other damage. - Dog Bites
Injuries from dog attacks also fall under the personal injury umbrella. Dog owners who fail to properly train or supervise their dogs can be held liable when their canines attack a person, causing injuries or death.
Whether your injuries are moderate or life-threatening, they have clearly interrupted your daily living, caused unanticipated expenses and setbacks, impaired your ability to earn an income, and reduced your quality of life. The legal system has ways of compensating you for all that you have lost.
Choosing the Best Lakeville Personal Injury Attorney
Skill, experience, and a track record of success make all the difference.
Choosing the right lawyer is key when it comes to the overall process and to ensuring that you get the settlement that you need to succeed. The best lawyer is not only going to have the experience necessary and the right knowledge, they are going to be compassionate and supportive in your journey and with your personal injury lawsuit.
With the help of a great lawyer, you can rest and recover while they work to collect the evidence for your case and negotiate the best outcome.
Personal Injury FAQs
Personal injury attorneys in Lakeville, MN, answer frequent questions.
Clients often have similar questions about various aspects of a personal injury lawsuit. These questions can include queries about timing, definitions, dollar amounts, and costs. Following are some answers to frequently asked questions:
What does “personal injury” mean?
A personal injury claim is typically brought when a person suffers actual bodily or emotional harm caused by another party’s recklessness, negligence or malice. Bodily injury can be something like broken bones or something as severe as paralysis. To receive damages, a plaintiff must show that they suffered injury or disfigurement or incurred costs or financial setbacks as a result of the defendant’s actions.
What is the average personal injury settlement amount?
Because every case is different, there is no “average” settlement that an injury victim could receive. Each case is heavily fact dependent. Generally, the more severe the injury, the higher the payout. Also, if multiple people are injured, if someone dies, or if there’s evidence of gross negligence where punitive damages are awarded, the settlement, verdict, or award can be higher.
Will I have to testify in court?
Typically most personal injury cases are settled out of court, long before they wind up being argued in front of a judge and jury. Therefore, injury victims often do not have to take the stand and testify. However, you may want to be prepared to testify if necessary. As a client, you will have the choice of whether to accept a settlement or move on to litigation. Your Lakeville personal injury attorney will advise you about your options.
Who is the defendant in a personal injury lawsuit?
There can be one or several defendants in a personal injury lawsuit. For example, in a truck accident case, potential defendants could include the other driver, their insurance company, the trucking company, and even the truck manufacturer if there’s evidence of a manufacturing defect. In a product liability case, the product manufacturer and, in some cases, the distributor could be defendants. In a slip and fall accident, the property owner – whether it be a retailer, hotel, amusement park, or concert venue – is typically the defendant. Even though in most cases an insurance company is backing the defendant, in some cases you can sue an insurance company directly and they are the defendant.
How long does a personal injury lawsuit take?
Each case is different, depending on how many witnesses need to be interviewed, the amount of evidence to be examined, the complexity of the laws involved, who is at fault, and the willingness of the defendant to negotiate. Often, how long the case takes is a direct result of how long it takes the victim to heal. It is always a good idea to wait to resolve your case until after you know exactly what the injuries are and how long and hard the recovery is. Because of this, cases can take a few months to a few years to reach a settlement or jury award. Settlements often happen faster than trials, but settling can result in less money. Our Lakeville personal injury lawyer will advise you about the potential timeframe for your case.
What is “pain and suffering” and how do you measure it?
Pain and suffering can be difficult to value. A person injured through someone else’s negligence is entitled to recover for:
- Pain
- Disability
- Disfigurement
- Embarrassment
- Emotional distress.
What each of these is worth can be different based on the case. Some plaintiffs may have all of these and some may have only suffered one or two. We will work with doctors and in some cases mental health specialists to identify and treat pain and suffering issues. An attorney will ask a client to document activities they previously enjoyed that they can no longer participate in, and in some cases a plaintiff may want to keep a daily journal describing how they feel emotionally and what activities they can and cannot perform each day.
How much does it cost to hire a Lakeville personal injury lawyer?
The good news is that Tyroler Leonard Injury Law works on contingency, which means that we don’t get paid until you get paid. Our legal fees are paid as part of a settlement agreement or jury award. If for some reason your claim is not successful, then you owe us nothing.
Damages Injury Victims May Be Entitled To
There are so many different facets that go into creating a settlement and into determining what damages you are entitled to and what your overall settlement is going to look like. There are damages that can be related to money and to loss of money, as well as damages that are related to your own personal well-being.
- Cost of ongoing medical bills and rehabilitation costs
- Loss of wages from time off of work
- Loss of future wages because you cannot work
- Pain and suffering
- Emotional distress.
These are just a few of the possible damages that you may be entitled to if you are in an accident or if you are injured and do qualify for a personal injury case. There is something called punitive damages that can also be taken into account. These damages are those that the court can award to the person suing when there is proof that there was gross negligence and that the person that caused the accident was aware of their negligence. This could be that there was an unsafe working condition and your employer knew about it, but did nothing to change it or to right the issue.
These damages are generally designed to punish or deter the defendant and to make an example of them so that the same thing does not happen again in the future to someone else.
Statute of Limitations for Personal Injury Claims in Minnesota
Taking the time to learn about the statute of limitations can also help you to be certain that you are going to be able to file your lawsuit and get compensation. The statute of limitations in the state of Minnesota is six years. This means that if you are going to file a lawsuit, you have to do it within six years of the event. There are some instances in which this law may be different or that it may not be applicable:
- If the person that has been injured is under the age of 18, you still have 6 years or you have until the person turns 19 to file a claim.
- If the person that was injured is mentally insane or incompetent, you are not going to have to file until the person is no longer deemed disabled. If they have had their disability revoked or they have had their competence reinstated you have to file within one year of that date.
Minnesota Statutes section 541.05 sets out the law regarding time limits.
Minnesota Shared-Fault Rules
Lakeville personal injury claims follow a “modified comparative negligence” rule.
There are also cases in which you might hear about shared fault. This means that there is the potential that more than one person was responsible for what happened. In Minnesota, if you are more than 50% responsible, you are not going to be eligible to file for any sort of compensation. As long as you share 50% or less of the fault, you can file.
Depending on the amount of fault that you hold, the settlement will be adjusted by that percentage to reflect the fact that you do bear some of the fault.
If you have additional questions about the particular facts in your case and how fault might be determined, talk to a skilled and experienced Lakeville personal injury lawyer at Tyroler Leonard Injury Law.
How Do You Prove Negligence in a Personal Injury Lawsuit?
In a personal injury lawsuit, your attorney will need to prove that the other party acted negligently when they caused the accident in which you were injured. A defendant can be a person, a business, an insurance company, a government entity, or any combination of these.
To prove negligence, your attorney will have to prove 4 elements in your lawsuit. These include:
- Duty
The defendant owed the plaintiff a legal “duty of care” to ensure that an environment or location was safe. You went to the place or to the event or got on the highway with the expectation that you would be safe. - Breach
A plaintiff must show that the defendant breached this duty by doing, or failing to do, something that a reasonable person would have done in a similar situation. Something that they did or did not do led to your injury. - Causation
A plaintiff must show that the defendant’s actions, or inaction, caused the injuries. - Damages
This means that there’s a monetary way of compensating a plaintiff for their injuries and property damage.
Contact Our Lakeville Personal Injury Lawyers Today
If you or a loved one has been injured in an accident, you may be entitled to financial compensation. This is especially true if you were injured due to someone else’s recklessness or negligence. Our skilled and experienced Lakeville personal injury attorney at Tyroler Leonard Injury Law has helped countless clients get the justice they deserve. You don’t have to endure this alone. To find out more about how we can help, call us for a free initial consultation at 651-259-1113.
Attorney Rachel Sperling Leonard
A partner of Tyroler Leonard Injury Law, Ms. Sperling Leonard practices exclusively in personal injury and wrongful death claims. Specifically, she specializes in car accidents, motorcycle accidents, boating accidents, dog bites, dog attacks, slip and falls, trip and falls, sexual assaults/abuse and other assaults. Some representative cases of Ms. Sperling Leonard’s in the last few years include: a $1 million settlement for an individual injured in a car crash, a $750,000.00 for a man injured when he slipped and fell, a $455,000.00 settlement for an individual injured after falling, and multiple $250,000.00 settlements for individuals injured in motorcycle and auto accidents, among many others. She frequently turns insurance company denials into fair-value offers.
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