Curious about the most common causes of personal injury?

Negligence.

Drive while texting, leave the paint cans on the floor at Home Depot — careless behavior is the number one reason why people file a personal injury claim. The stats don’t lie.

Each year almost 400,000 people pursue compensation for the injuries they suffered because somebody wasn’t being careful.

Understanding negligence and the most common causes of personal injury could help you protect yourself and your family.

Here’s what you should know…

• There’s negligence.
• The most common causes of personal injury.
• How compensation works.
• What to do if you’ve been injured.

Let’s go.

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Negligence is the leading cause of personal injury (statistics);

What Is Considered Negligence?

Negligence is a legal term that sounds way more complicated than it actually is.

Negligence occurs when someone fails to exercise a level of care that a reasonable person would have used in the same situation. They have to actually cause injury with that failure. If both of those things happen, they’re responsible for what they’ve done.

Essentially, these four things have to happen for negligence to occur:

• Someone had a duty of care.
• That person breached that duty.
• Due to the breach, you were injured.
• The injury led to damages.

The reason you should work with an experienced NYC personal injury lawyer after suffering a personal injury is because they know how to prove each one of those points. There are tons of rules within each of those bullets, too. With a skilled lawyer who knows what they’re doing in your corner, you give yourself the best possible chance of winning your case.

The 5 Most Common Causes of Personal Injury

Alright, now it’s time to dive into the most common causes of personal injury.

These types of claims are everywhere and have been for decades. When you’ve been hurt, chances are it’ll fall into one of these categories.

Car Accidents

Motor vehicle accidents are number one on our list because they’re number one periods.

There are over 6,500 injuries every day due to car accidents. That’s just injuries. Not accidents.

We see car accidents involve negligence all the time. Driving while distracted, speeding, drunk driving, running red lights, failure to yield… Those are negligent behaviors. When someone causes an accident with negligent behavior, they’re on the hook for damages.

Distracted driving causes thousands of accidents each year. Over 324,000 in fact. Every single one of those accidents could have been prevented by the driver not being careless.

When another driver causes an accident, you can file a claim against their insurance company for compensation.

Slips And Falls

Slip and fall accidents are grossly underrated…

…but boy do they cause injuries!

Property owners are legally responsible for keeping their properties safe. If they don’t (wet floors, torn carpeting, broken stairs, uneven walkways) that’s negligence.

Slip and fall accidents can happen almost anywhere — grocery stores, restaurants, hotels, apartments, retail stores, construction sites. Any place you set foot on property that isn’t yours.

Injuries from falls are no joke either. Break hips, head injuries, spine injuries… they can have a devastating impact on your life.

Medical Malpractice

Ah, the medical malpractice common cause of personal injury.

We have to include it because it’s one of the most common out there. But damn if we don’t hate seeing/hearing about these.

Your doctor and their staff take care of you when you’re vulnerable. They should feel an immense amount of responsibility to do right by you. Unfortunately, they don’t always.

Medical malpractice occurs when a medical professional breaches their duty of care to their patients and causes harm with that breach.

Examples include:

• Misdiagnosis or delayed diagnosis
• Surgical error
• Medication error
• Birth injury
• Anesthesia error

Wrongful misdiagnosis is the most common type of medical malpractice claim. They make up about 32% of cases.

Malpractice claims are difficult to win.

Think about it… how do you prove that your doctor did something wrong when you’re no medical expert yourself? That’s why you hire a lawyer. Because proving negligence is what they do every day.

Workplace Accidents

Did you think workplaces were safe havens from negligence?

Think again.

Workplace accidents fall into negligence every day. From faulty machinery, failure to provide safety training, missing railings, dangerous chemicals, to other unsafe working conditions.

If you’re hurt at work you’ll likely file a workers’ comp claim. However, if there’s a 3rd party responsible for your injury (contractors, suppliers, machine manufacturers) then you can file a personal injury claim against them as well.

Typically these cases settle for much more than workers comp alone.

Dog Bites

Dog bites are the most common personal injury that we handle here at RMLaw.

Here’s why…

Let’s say you’re walking down the street minding your business and some man’s dog jumps out at you and bites you. You’d be within your rights to file a personal injury claim against that dog owner. He was negligent in controlling his pet.

Pet owners are responsible for their pets behavior. They know how aggressive their dog is. If they don’t, they should!

Dog bites can cause serious injuries. Infection, trauma, surgery… they can really mess up your life.

How Injury Compensation Works

You were injured through someone else’s negligence. Now you’re wondering how much money you can get for your injuries.

The truth is…

There are three main types of damages (money) that you can be awarded during a personal injury claim.

1. Economic damages.
2. Non-economic damages.
3. Punitive damages.

And they compensate you for different things.

For the most part, we recommend settling personal injury cases. Going to trial is brutal and you’re taking your chances with a judge and jury. Most personal injury settlements range from $24,000 to $75,000 but they can reach well into the millions if they go that far.

Here’s a fun stat…

Personal injury cases that used a lawyer got paid 3.5x more than those that didn’t. Insurance companies love to lowball people that don’t have legal representation.

Last Steps To Take If You’ve Been Injured

If you’ve been injured as a result of someone else’s negligent behavior then your next steps are crucial.

Here’s what you should do.

• Seek medical attention (even if you feel okay).
• Document everything you can (pictures, witnesses, medical reports, accident report, etc.)
• Don’t give a recorded statement to an insurance company.
• Don’t accept the first settlement offer.
• Hire a personal injury lawyer ASAP.

You don’t have forever to file a claim. Each state has something called a statute of limitations. If you miss it, you lose your right to sue forever.

Here’s to hoping you never have to file a personal injury claim.

If you do though, hopefully reading this article helps you out.

Conclusion

Negligence is why almost every person on this planet files a personal injury claim.

Whether you got hurt by another driver not paying attention, a property owner slipping on the ice and falling on you, or your doctor providing you with the wrong medication… we’ve seen it all. Someone wasn’t being careful and now you’re injured.

The most common causes of personal injury are:

• Car accidents.
• Slips and falls.
• Medical malpractice.
• Workplace accidents.
• Dog bites.
• Product liability.

Like we mentioned above, don’t try to take on insurance companies by yourself. They have teams of attorneys that look for every opportunity to pay you as little as possible. You deserve someone in your corner fighting just as hard for you.