Accident Injury Cases

We’ll Protect Your Right to Restitution After an Accident

After a person has been injured in an accident, their primary concern is to get well. Unfortunately, they also need to be concerned about financial matters. This includes:

medical bills and the cost of recovery from serious injury
lost wages while hospitalized, recuperating or disabled
paying for repairs or to replace a car, motorcycle or other property damaged in the accident
You also need compensation for your personal suffering.

If you’ve been injured in an accident that was not your fault, you have resources and legal options for obtaining compensation from those who are liable for your injuries. Stern Law can help you understand the legal rights that protect innocent accident victims like you and help you seek compensation.

Stern Law, PLLC can help you fight back and make insurance companies pay what you are owed after an accident. Our attorneys are steadfast advocates for the injured. Contact us today to for a free discussion of a course of action in your accident case. Stern Law will speak for you.

Personal Injury Claims After Accidents

After an accident has left a person seriously injured, the injured must file a personal injury claim (a lawsuit) if they are to be fully compensated for their losses. In cases where someone else is at fault, the claim seeks compensation from the person or entity at fault, which, in actuality, is paid through insurance coverage in almost all cases.

What all personal injury accidents have in common is that one person or entity (the “defendant”) is accused of behaving in a reckless or careless manner (or with negligence) and, by doing so, having caused another person (the “plaintiff”) to suffer an injury. Further, the plaintiff’s injury is compensable, which means it can be made better by the defendant paying the plaintiff money.

A personal injury lawsuit, or wrongful death lawsuit after a fatal accident, is allowed by law and a proper means for a plaintiff to seek compensation for injuries.

Stern Law can assist you with a personal injury or wrongful death claim after an accident. The kinds of accidents we typically pursue include:

Car accidents: In most two-vehicle car accidents, or collisions, one of the drivers is at fault. It is common after a wreck to find that it was caused by some type of careless and reckless behavior, such as texting while driving or some other distracted driving, impaired (drunk or drugged) driving, drowsy driving, or aggressive driving (particularly including speeding). In some cases, equipment failures, like faulty brakes tires or airbags, cause a crash, and a manufacturer should be held accountable. When careless or reckless behavior has caused a car crash, the innocent victims deserve full compensation for their losses.
Truck accidents: Commercial truck accidents often cause catastrophic injuries because of the size and weight of the truck. Truck accidents can be complicated by such factors as the nature of the trucking company that put the truck and truck driver on the road, cargo that may have played a role in an accident, potential failure of various systems on the truck and their role in the accident, and federal and state regulation of trucker and trucking company actions on our roads. Truck accidents require quick action to secure evidence, and experience with truck accidents and the trucking industry to understand how to investigate and prove a claim.
Pedestrian accidents: Someone who is standing, walking or jogging alongside or across a road is unprotected from serious injury should they be hit by a car, truck or motorcycle. Pedestrian accidents are typically caused by the same driver negligence that causes other car accidents. However, pedestrians are also responsible for following rules of the road, and it is sometimes easy for insurers or defendants’ attorneys to try to shift blame for an accident to the injured pedestrian. An experienced personal injury attorney can stop that miscarriage of justice from happening.
Bicycle accidents: When a bicycle collides with or is struck by a vehicle, the bicyclist can easily sustain serious or even life-threatening injuries. Yet, bicyclists have the same right to be on the roads as motorists. More and more, municipalities are designating bicycle lanes and bike routes. An experienced personal injury attorney can investigate your bicycle accident to determine who is at fault, and pursue compensation if a careless or reckless motorist should be held liable. Compensation sought in a bicycle accident claim would include money to repair or replace what may be an expensive bicycle.
Aviation accidents: Injures aboard airplanes are not always due to airplane crashes. Many airline passengers suffer serious injuries in such accidents as luggage falling onto their heads, falls caused by unannounced turbulence, food poisoning, being struck by a drink cart, being assaulted by an unruly passenger, and more. Injured airline passengers deserve full compensation for injuries suffered in accidents that airline employees should have averted.
Train accidents: A variety of train or “rail” accidents can cause serious injury and are typically caused by negligence on the part of the railroad or transit company, or its employees. When people hear of derailments or train collisions, they think of large-scale catastrophic injuries and conductor or operator negligence. But individual train passengers can be seriously injured in falls when trains lurch (start or stop abruptly), and in other falls on trains, station stairways, platforms, etc. Regardless of whether a railroad employee, policy or faulty equipment is responsible for a train accident, injured passengers deserve to be compensated for accidents that are not their own fault.
Premises liability accidents (property dangers): Property owners have a duty to ensure the safety of their buildings and grounds for people who might visit them. This applies to homeowners as well as commercial property owners. When such accidents as balcony or railing collapses, stairway failures, or swimming pool and trampoline accidents occur, an investigation may show that an “accident” was really the result of lax maintenance or negligent supervision. In such cases, the accident victim can obtain compensation through the property owner’s insurance.

Stern Law attorneys pursue personal injury claims for clients injured in accidents like those above. Our successful legal work is built upon thorough investigations of accidents and full accounting of clients’ losses. Attorney Ken Stern is a caring and compassionate legal advocate who has worked to help families in times of loss and heartbreak. Stern Law cannot undo injuries, but we do help accident victim obtain the compensation required to put their lives back together.

Get Your Life Back After Injury in an Accident

The law is on your side if you have been unjustly injured in an accident. Personal injury law provides for compensation to you if you have been hurt in a car or truck accident, been hit by a car, been injured by dangerous conditions at someone else’s property, and in other personal injury accidents.

Through a personal injury claim, you can seek compensation (or “damages”) for financial losses, including:

Medical expenses
Lost wages and income
Personal property damage

Additional expenses, such as for personal assistance, transportation or car rental, travel to medical appointments, etc.

In the case of a death in an accident, a wrongful death claim could also seek compensation for funeral and burial expenses. Immediate family members might also seek economic damages for loss of support, services, and lost prospect of inheritance. These are sometimes known as “pecuniary losses.”

Damages for economic losses are to be paid on a one-for-one basis, resulting in complete recovery of costs associated with your accident. To ensure you do not suffer economic loss from an accident, you need to develop a full accounting of all bills, receipts and other documentation of the actual costs you incurred due to your injuries.

In cases of permanent disability, this financial accounting must look to the future as well. A life care plan for a disabled individual will calculate future costs for medication and additional medical treatment years ahead, maintenance and replacement for assistive devices like wheelchairs, and more. Future income losses, such as would have been realized due to anticipated raises, promotions, bonuses, stock options, etc., can also be calculated as part of the demand for damages in some cases.

Accident victims can also seek additional compensation for noneconomic losses, which may include:

Pain and suffering
Disfigurement
Emotional distress

Loss of enjoyment of life
Loss of consortium (loss of intimacy or sexual companionship with a spouse or partner)

The compensation available to accident victims as noneconomic damages varies state to state. Some states describe specific disfiguring injuries and the damages that may be paid for them. Some states also stipulate that noneconomic damages will be paid as a multiple of economic damages, such as three times the total amount awarded for medical bills, lost income, property damage, etc. Other states cap the total amount an accident victim can obtain in a single claim.

Regardless, proving that noneconomic damages should be awarded to an accident victim requires persuading a jury.

Finally, damages may be awarded in some cases if the person or entity responsible for the accident acted with recklessness or gross negligence. These are known as “punitive damages,” and are awarded in part to punish the defendant for egregious conduct and to serve as a message to the defendant and others. Punitive damages, a kind of noneconomic damages, also depend on how a jury sees the case.

In theory, an accident victim could file a claim that stipulates all damages they are due and the insurance company or companies for the liable parties would write a check. But, in fact, insurance companies work hard to avoid payouts that exceed the much lower payments they already have in mind for certain accidents and injuries.

However, personal injury attorneys, like ours at Stern Law, PLLC, understand how insurance policies, insurance law and insurance companies work. Our objective at Stern Law is to make sure you obtain the compensation you deserve and need after an accident.

Contact Stern Law After an Accident

If you have been unjustly harmed in an accident caused by someone else’s negligence, contact Stern Law. We will speak for you.

Our ultimate goal for individuals and families hurt in accidents is to ensure they receive compensation they are due to aid in their recovery and putting their lives back together. Stern Law works with a national network of litigation attorneys to pursue personal injury lawsuits for our clients. Personal injury claims are often complex and difficult cases, but they can be won, and Stern Law does win.

Contact Stern Law for legal representation that is tailored to your needs. We will listen to you, investigate your case, and advise you of the legal options available to you. When we pursue accident cases, we do so aggressively. We represent clients. We don’t simply handle cases.