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Personal Injury in Ohio
Lawyers.comsmWhen you have been injured by someone else's carelessness, it is important to take some initial steps toward making sure your injury claim can be settled fairly and as quickly as possible:
- Write down everything you can remember about how the injury occurred, including the names, addresses and phone numbers of potential witnesses, police officers, insurance company representatives (or company or workers' compensation representatives if it was a work injury)
- Talk to an Ohio personal injury lawyer before making any statements, written or verbal, to insurance company adjusters or representatives
- Let anyone you think may be responsible for the injury know right away that you are intending to file a claim against them
- Take steps to protect any evidence you may need to prove your injury, such as your totaled car, photographs of an accident or injury scene, clothing you were wearing, damaged personal belongings, and so forth
How Do I Figure Out Who Is At Fault?
In most cases, in order to collect on an injury claim in Ohio, you must prove the person who caused the injury was "negligent" - which is a failure to exercise ordinary care. In Ohio, you must prove:
- The existence of a duty owed to you by the person who caused your injury
- The other person failed to carry out the duty that they owed you
- You suffered damages
- The other person's failure caused you to have the injury
If you were careless, and your carelessness contributed to your injury, the amount you can recover will be reduced in proportion to your carelessness, under Ohio comparative negligence law. If you were more careless than the other person, you cannot recover any damages.
Ohio does not make one person responsible for another person's negligence, unless they are involved in a joint enterprise, such as a partnership or an employment relationship. If more than one person is negligent toward you, each person who has been found negligent is responsible for a proportional amount of the total damages.
If you have been injured using a consumer product, the manufacturer of the product may be responsible under a "products liability" legal theory, which is based on a statute. Under Ohio law, you would need to prove that:
- The product was defective because of an inadequate warning or because it was not the way that the manufacturer indicated it would be
- The defect caused your injury
- You suffered damages
- The manufacturer was responsible for some aspect of the creation of the product
Also, the supplier of the product could be liable under a "products liability" legal theory, which is based on the same statute. Under Ohio law, you would need to prove that:
- The supplier was negligent
- The negligence caused your injury
- The product was not the way that the supplier promised it would be
- You suffered damages
What Is My Claim Worth?
Under Ohio law, the person who injured you is responsible for:
- Past, current and future estimated medical expenses
- Time lost from work, including time spent going to medical appointments or therapy
- Any property that was damaged, such as your vehicle
- The cost of hiring someone to do household chores when you could not do them
- Any permanent disfigurement or disability
- Your emotional distress, including anxiety, depression, and any interference with your family relationships
- A change in your future earning ability due to the injury
- Any other costs that were a direct result of your injury
A lawyer will know what type of expert witness to hire to best prove your damages.
How Long Do I Have To File A Legal Claim?
In Ohio, you only have two years to file a lawsuit against the person who injured you. If your lawyer has not been able to come to an agreement with any involved insurance companies, you will definitely want to file a lawsuit before the two-year statute of limitations runs out. If your injury is somehow related to a contract, then you might have six years to file a lawsuit regarding the injury that you suffered.
Related Web Links:
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General Personal Injury for more help |
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