Gastonia Personal Injury Lawyer

Personal Injury Attorney in Gastonia, NC

There are few things worse than suffering a serious injury. If your injury was caused by another person’s negligence or active malice, you may be eligible to receive compensation in the form of economic damages. Your first step should be to contact a Gastonia personal injury lawyer to go over the basics of your case and decide whether you have a valid claim.

Trust Butler, Quinn & Hochman, PLLC

The team here at Butler, Quinn & Hochman, PLLC, has been in practice for years. In that time, we’ve become deeply familiar with personal injury laws. We know what it takes to prove fault, given North Carolina’s challenging pure contributory negligence rules, and how to maximize your compensation in the face of insurance companies that want to offer you as little as possible. Let us help you file your personal injury claim.

Why Hire a Personal Injury Lawyer?

In 2023, North Carolina had a personal injury rate of 74.6 incidents per 100,000 residents. Motor vehicle accidents account for 16.6 injuries per 100,000 residents, while falls account for 18.4. Employer-reported workplace injuries are also quite common in the Tarheel State, with a total incidence rate of 2.0 cases per 100 full-time equivalent workers in 2023.

Whether you were injured at work due to your employer’s outstanding negligence, during a car accident that was not your fault, or on someone else’s premises, you can hire a personal injury lawyer to help you file a claim and get the compensation you’re owed. Your lawyer can assist you with everything from keeping track of deadlines and filing paperwork to evaluating evidence and negotiating with insurance companies on your behalf.

Understanding Negligence Laws in North Carolina

In North Carolina, as elsewhere, most personal injury cases hinge on proving another person’s negligence. If you can show that the responsible party owed you a duty of care and failed to exercise a reasonable level of caution in the execution of that care, causing injury, you may be able to recover compensation.

North Carolina follows pure contributory negligence laws, meaning that you’re not allowed to seek compensation if you were found to be even 1% at fault for your injury. This makes it difficult to recover compensation in many personal injury cases and underlines the importance of hiring a skilled personal injury lawyer.

To prove another person was to blame for your accident, you’ll need to establish these elements of a negligence case:

1. Duty of care. The defendant had a duty to either act in a certain way or refrain from committing certain acts.
2. Breach of duty. The defendant did not uphold their duty of care.
3. Direct causation. The defendant’s breach of their duty of care directly caused you personal injury.
4. Actual damages. You suffered economic damages as a result of your injury. They can include lost wages, hospital bills, rehabilitation, or ongoing care.

North Carolina Car Accident Injuries

As with other forms of personal injury, North Carolina makes it relatively challenging to recover damages after even serious vehicle accidents. If you can prove that you were in no way at fault and hold the responsible party liable, you may be able to recover a number of damages, including:

• Medical expenses
• Lost wages
• Pain and suffering
• Emotional distress
• Disability
• Disfigurement

You can turn to your lawyer for help with determining the full extent of the economic and non-economic damages you’ve incurred. Economic damages are generally measured monetarily, whereas non-economic damages are more subjective and difficult to measure. Both can be compensated in a car accident claim.

North Carolina Premises Liability Laws

In premises liability cases, the duty of care owed to you by the property owner is usually to keep the property in a state of good repair and provide a warning if there are any dangers on the premises. Examples of premises liability cases include:

• Slip-and-fall accidents
• Dog bites
• Swimming pool injuries
• Injuries from escalators in stores
• Falling objects
• Toxic exposure
• Inadequate security leading to robbery or assault

Your ability to recover damages for your injury will depend on whether you can prove that you had permission to be on the property and whether the property owner could be deemed negligent.

Access to Property

There are four types of access to a property:

1. Invitees. Invitees are invited onto the property, as would be the case in a retail store.
2. Licensees. Licensees are present on the owner’s consent as guests or for their own purposes. An example would be a contractor working on a residential home.
3. Social guests. Social guests are welcome visitors to properties.
4. Trespassers. Trespassers enter without the right to do so.

If you’re trespassing at the time of your injury, the property owner may not owe you a duty of care, meaning you won’t be able to prove negligence and will not be allowed to recover damages.

Because North Carolina is a pure contributory negligence state, you also won’t be able to seek compensation if you can’t prove that you were in no way to blame for your accident. That’s why it’s so important to hire a Gastonia personal injury attorney to help you gather and evaluate evidence and put together a case that tells a coherent narrative of what happened. It’s often true that both parties are determined to be at fault in premises liability cases.

North Carolina Dog Bites and Attacks

The first step you’ll need to take if attacked by a dog, after seeking medical care, is to file a dog bite report with the Gastonia authorities. This report will lay the legal groundwork for a personal injury claim.

North Carolina is a strict-liability state, which means that, in almost all cases, dog owners are liable for injuries caused by their animals. There is no need to prove negligence. The dog owner’s insurance company should cover your medical expenses. However, things can get a little complicated due to North Carolina’s pure contributory negligence doctrine. You can be held partially liable, and thus unable to recover damages, if you were:

• Trespassing
• Tormenting or assaulting the dog
• Committing a crime

These factors make you partially responsible for the attack, in which case, you won’t be eligible to receive compensation.

Workplace Injuries in North Carolina

Generally, you won’t be able to file a civil claim against your employer if you were injured at work. Instead, you’ll have to file a workers’ compensation claim. There are, however, a few exceptions. If your employer does not have workers’ compensation insurance, as is required by law, you may be able to file a civil claim against them. The same is true if your employer intentionally caused your injury or the accident occurred as a result of fraud.

Workers’ compensation claims work a little differently from other personal injury claims. You’ll only be able to recover compensation for medical care and up to two-thirds of your pre-injury wages.

The system for filing workers’ compensation claims is also different, requiring you to report the injury to your employer, then file a claim with the North Carolina Industrial Commission. A workers’ compensation lawyer can help you with this process, including any necessary appeals.

Catastrophic Injuries in North Carolina

Catastrophic injuries can occur due to car accidents, premises liability issues, or any number of other causes. Catastrophic injuries cause permanent disability or disfigurement. They can include:

• Amputation or limb loss
• Severe burns
• Extensive scarring
• Internal organ trauma
• Spinal cord injuries and paralysis
• Traumatic brain injuries

If you or a loved one has suffered a catastrophic injury due to another person’s actions or negligence, you can work with a personal injury lawyer to receive compensation for your pain and suffering.

Wrongful Death Claims in North Carolina

When someone dies because of another person’s negligence, it’s considered a wrongful death. There doesn’t have to be a crime committed for this to be the case. You can file a wrongful death claim if your close relative was killed and recover a variety of damages, including:

• Expenses for their medical care
• Compensation for their pain and suffering
• Reasonable funeral expenses
• Loss of income
• Loss of companionship

Nominal and punitive damages, if applicable

There are only certain people who can file wrongful death claims on behalf of their loved ones. These claims must be filed by the personal representative of the deceased’s estate. They can’t be filed directly by family members. Instead, the representative acts on behalf of the heirs. If there is no assigned representative, the state can appoint one.

Statutes of Limitations for Filing Personal Injury Claims

There is a strict statute of limitations for filing your personal injury claim. You will have three years from the date of the accident to file the claim, but don’t delay finding a lawyer. You will benefit from seeking legal counsel as soon as possible after the incident occurs, while the details are still clear in your mind and those of any witnesses, and evidence is still easy to obtain.

Common Types of Personal Injury

Personal injury law covers any kind of damage to a person’s body that occurs as a result of an accident caused by another person. You don’t have to suffer catastrophic injuries to be able to file a personal injury claim. Other, less serious, injuries that could give you grounds for filing a claim can include:

• Broken bones
• Concussions
• Sprains and strains
• Minor burns
• Whiplash
• Neck or back injuries
• Torn ligaments
• Psychological damage

The type and severity of injury you sustain will vary depending on its cause. Bicycle and pedestrian accident victims are more likely to sustain severe injuries than passengers in other cars, for example, but vehicular passengers are still entitled to file personal injury claims if they’ve suffered actual harm as a result of the accident.

FAQs

How Much Is Pain and Suffering Worth in North Carolina?

How much pain and suffering is worth in North Carolina varies on a case-by-case basis. Your settlement will depend on how severe your injuries were, your recovery time, and their overall impact on your life. Lawyers and insurance companies often use either the Multiplier Method or the Per Diem Method.

What Are the Odds of Winning a Personal Injury Case?

The odds of winning a personal injury case are good if you consider the fact that many cases settle outside of court instead of going to trial. If you’re only looking at cases that go to trial, the odds of winning go down substantially. North Carolina imposes strict pure contributory negligence rules that make it impossible to recover damages if you are determined to be even 1% at-fault for your injuries.

What Is the Hardest Injury to Prove?

The hardest injuries to prove are those that are invisible and do not show up on medical imaging. Psychological damage, chronic pain, and chronic fatigue syndrome are three of the most challenging injuries to prove because they all rely heavily on your reports regarding the severity of your symptoms. Having a skilled Gastonia personal injury lawyer on your side is vital if you need to prove these injuries.

What Is the Average Lawyer Fee for Personal Injury Claims?

There is no average lawyer fee for personal injury claims because every settlement is different. Most personal injury attorneys work on a contingency fee basis. What that means is that they will only get paid if you do, and the money will come out of your settlement. The percentage your lawyer takes could vary depending on their experience level and whether your case needs to be litigated.

Your Gastonia Personal Injury Lawyer

If you’ve been injured due to another person’s negligence, you may be eligible to receive compensation for any damages you’ve incurred with the assistance of a Gastonia personal injury lawyer. The team here at Butler, Quinn & Hochman, PLLC, is here to help. We can do everything from filing your personal injury claim for you to gathering evidence to support that claim and providing courtroom representation. Contact us to schedule an initial consultation.