Columbus Personal Injury Lawyer

The moments after an accident are undoubtedly overwhelming. But what happens once you’ve sought medical treatment and have finally arrived home? Unfortunately, for many, that’s not where the matter ends. If you’ve been in an accident because of someone else’s actions and are now dealing with the lasting ramifications, a Columbus personal injury lawyer can help you recover the compensation you need to get your life back in order.

When negligence contributes to someone else’s suffering, filing a personal injury claim is a way to seek a monetary award for damages and hold the at-fault party responsible for their actions. Depending on the claim, filing can be complex. That’s why it’s best to work with a law firm. Thomas Law Offices is prepared to evaluate your situation, discuss your options, and move forward with your claim. Let’s take a look at some of the most common personal injury cases we see in Columbus, Ohio.

Personal Injury Cases in Columbus

Personal injury law allows accident victims to file a claim in civil court to seek compensation in the event their accident resulted from someone else’s negligent actions. Ohio follows a modified comparative negligence rule. This means that in order to receive compensation for an accident, you have to be less than 50 percent at fault. If you bear some of the legal blame, your compensation will be reduced by that percentage.

Clients come to us with a variety of personal injury claims. Some of the most common revolve around car accidents, truck accidents, nursing home abuse, and medical malpractice. If your case falls under a different area of litigation, we are still prepared to help you through the legal process and ensure justice is served.

Car Accidents

Car accidents happen for a number of reasons. When negligence is involved, however, it’s likely the cause is related to driver error. When a driver is distracted, fatigued, or simply reckless, they’re putting the lives of others at risk.

In 2019, according to the Ohio State Highway Patrol, there were 379 traffic fatalities. Based on the breakdown, Franklin County, where Columbus resides, saw the highest number of fatalities related to car crashes. Perry County came in second.

If you’ve been involved in a collision with another vehicle, you may be suffering from injuries like broken bones, whiplash, head trauma, internal injuries, and more. Depending on the severity and your projected recovery time, you may need to take a significant amount of time off work. If that’s the case, you’ll benefit from working with an attorney—as they’ll be able to help you reclaim those lost wages.

Truck Accidents

Tractor-trailers are found on all road types, delivering all different goods and services. While many truckers are responsible and capable drivers, this isn’t always the case. Victims can file a claim when a truck driver’s negligence contributed to their accident.

When a tractor-trailer collides with a smaller passenger vehicle, the consequences can be catastrophic or even fatal. The force at which those accidents happen, especially when traveling at high speeds, can result in traumatic brain injuries, spinal cord damage, and instantaneous death.

For those who do survive truck accidents, there’s a possibility of dealing with a lifelong injury. If you’ve been catastrophically injured, a lawyer can help you file a claim to ensure your medical expenses are covered and you have the money you need to cover your future cost of care.

Nursing Home Abuse

Nursing home residents are among the most vulnerable population to instances of abuse and neglect. Negligent facilities and their staff members may physically, emotionally, sexually, or financially abuse residents. Instances of abuse are often attributed to poor management, understaffing, improper hiring, and inadequate training.

Unfortunately, there is a history of nursing home abuse in and around Columbus. For example, two nursing home resident care assistants were indicted on patient abuse charges after they sprayed a 94-year-old woman in the face with hairspray at a Canal Winchester facility in June 2018. The incident was discovered when the employees posted a video of the attack on social media.

If you believe your loved one is being mistreated, abused, or neglected in their facility, it’s important to remove them from the situation as quickly as possible. Inform the facility of the alleged abuse and get in touch with a Columbus attorney. We can investigate the situation and ensure your loved one receives the compensation they need to recover as fully as possible.

Medical Malpractice

Medical malpractice happens when a hospital, medical facility, doctor, nurse, or other medical professional breaches the standard of care and injures a patient. The standard of care refers to the actions a typical medical professional would take in any given situation to provide a patient with the best possible care.

Medical malpractice can happen in the operating room, while prescribing or administering medication, during an evaluation, or upon discharge. Common injuries include preventable medication reactions, surgical injuries, and exacerbated conditions due to misdiagnosis.

Working with a Columbus medical malpractice lawyer is crucial if you believe physician negligence contributed to your injuries and losses. Med mal claims are among the most complex personal injury cases, which is why you’ll want the support of an experienced lawyer to ensure you receive a successful outcome.

Personal Injury and Negligence

The legal concept of negligence implies a person or entity failed to act properly in a given situation. For example, drivers are supposed to follow the rules of the road and avoid any reckless behavior while behind the wheel. Doctors are supposed to abide by the medical standard of care when treating a patient. When someone fails to abide by their legal obligation to not bring harm to someone, a civil claim can be filed.

Proving negligence isn’t always simple, and it’s a multi-step process. Your personal injury attorney will guide you through that process to ensure you understand your rights and options every step of the way. To start, you need to establish duty. This is the legal duty the negligent party should have paid you. The second element, the breach, shows how they failed to abide by the duty.

Once your lawyer has established you were owed a level of care or diligence that wasn’t provided, it’s time to prove causation, i.e. the actions that caused your harm. This is typically related to the type of claim you’re filing, like car accident, truck accident, etc.

Finally, it’s time to establish damages. The compensation you’re eligible for will be based on the injury you incurred and their wide-sweeping effects. While your lawyer can give you an idea of what potential compensation could look like based on similar cases in the past, there’s no way to know for sure what the value of your case is until it settles or goes to trial for a verdict.

Other Bases for Personal Injury Cases

While negligence is the primary cause for most civil cases, it is not the only related concept. Two additional bases for claims include:

• Strict Liability. This growing area of tort law attempts to hold designers and manufacturers strictly liable for injuries from defective products. Instead of needing to establish negligence on the part of the manufacturer, the victim needs to show that the product was designed or manufactured in a way that made it unreasonably dangerous.
• Intentional Wrongs. While rare, intentional wrongs can be the basis of a personal injury claim. If, for example, store security wrongly detains you for shoplifting, you could pursue a case for false imprisonment. Depending on the situation, both a criminal and civil case could arise. A tort case in a civil liability proceeding is brought by an individual or entity and remains totally separate from any criminal charges filed by the government.

If you’ve been injured, it’s important to get in touch with an experienced attorney as soon as possible. You may be aware of your rights and not know how to go about seeking recovery. Thomas Law Offices has years of experience helping injury victims, and we’re prepared to take your case on next. All you need to do is set up a free case evaluation with our firm.

Columbus: Ohio’s Capital

According to the Ohio Historical Society, Columbus was founded in 1821 and named for explorer Christopher Columbus. Today, as the state’s capital and the most populous city in the Midwest after Chicago, Columbus is home to nearly 900,000 people.

Columbus is filled with destinations, events, and entertainment for residents and visitors alike. Families can visit the world-class Columbus Zoo and Aquarium, Franklin Park Conservatory and Botanical Gardens, or Columbus Museum of Art.

For those who are interested in sports, professional and collegiate games and matches happen all year long. If you’re looking to explore the city, you can make your way through the different neighborhoods, which include Downtown/Franklinton, Short North, German Village/Brewery District, Arena District, Campus/Clintonville, Easter, and Near East Side.

While Columbus is a fascinating and diverse city, it’s not immune to accidents. Just like anywhere else, car accidents, truck accidents, and other situations warranting personal injury claims happen. If you’ve been in an accident in Columbus and want to recover damages, a Thomas Law Offices attorney can help. Less than a two-hour driver outside of Columbus, Thomas Law Offices is located in Cincinnati.

Seek Compensation With an Injury Claim

An accident, regardless of the type, can affect the victim in more ways than one. Often times, the person is not only left to deal with physical injuries, but they also have to cope with emotional trauma and figure out how to handle financial losses. Fortunately, filing a personal injury claim can help recover any sustained damages.

Most personal injury damages are classified as compensatory. This means that they are intended to compensate the injured party for what was lost as a result of the preventable accident or injury. Essentially, compensatory damages exist to make the victim whole again from a monetary standpoint. Determining the value of any given claim, however, can be a challenge. That’s why it’s important to have strong legal representation with extensive knowledge of valuing claims.

Compensatory damages may be economic or noneconomic. Economic damages, which include losses like medical treatment, lost wages, and property loss, are generally easier to calculate because they are based on real monetary figures. Noneconomic damages, however, like pain and suffering, are more challenging to calculate because they’re based on subjective losses.

To determine what you’re owed, our personal injury attorney will look at your medical treatments, lost wages, miscellaneous accident-related expenses, and what you’ve suffered and how your daily life has changed.

Contact Thomas Law Offices

We understand how quickly an accident can completely upend your life. When someone else’s negligence results in physical injuries, emotional trauma, and financial struggles, you may not know where to turn. Fortunately, a Columbus personal injury lawyer can evaluate your situation and determine if there are grounds to file a claim against the allegedly at-fault party.

Depending on the area of litigation under which your claim falls, you could be looking at months or even years of legal matters. That may seem overwhelming initially, but we’ll do everything we can to make the personal injury claims process as easy as possible for you.

While the majority of claims are settled through negotiations, there is a chance a settlement won’t happen. If that’s the case, we won’t hesitate to take your case to trial to ensure you receive the compensation you need through an official verdict.

To learn more about your legal rights and options after a personal injury or to find out more about how we serve injury victims in Columbus, contact us today.