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Personal Injury Resources

Baton Rouge Personal Injury Lawyer

After getting injured in an accident, it’s important to find out who was at fault and if you have grounds to seek monetary compensation from them. Get the answers you need by working with a Baton Rouge personal injury lawyer.

Few things can change your life for the worse more thoroughly than a serious injury. The medical care that’s required could result in enormous bills at a time when your wounds prevent you from working and earning an income. Even worse, your future physical wellbeing could be permanently compromised by a permanent disability—which could inflict substantial emotional suffering.

None of these are things that anyone should have to experience, and when you weren’t at fault for causing the accident that injured you, it can add to the stress and sense of injustice. You do have options in this situation, however. A Baton Rouge personal injury lawyer from Spencer Calahan Injury Lawyers can help you seek financial compensation for what you’ve been through.

What Counts As a Personal Injury?

In the end, virtually any injury that requires medical care or inflicts some sort of loss or damage could qualify for a personal injury claim. There are some restrictions involving workplace accidents, but for the most part, as long as someone else was at fault, you can seek a financial settlement to cover your damages.

These are just a few of the accident types that a Baton Rouge personal injury lawyer from our firm will be able to help you with:

• Motor Vehicle Collisions– Easily the largest cause of personal injury claims, traffic accidents involving passenger cars , commercial trucks , and motorcycles often leave victims injured and deserving compensation from the party at fault for the crash.


• Construction Accidents – While these claims are sometimes limited to workers compensation, if your accident was caused by malice, egregious negligence, or a party other than your employer or a coworker, you can seek comprehensive compensation through a personal injury lawsuit.


• Premises Liability – From dog bites to slip-and-falls, when property owners fail to keep their grounds clear of hazards and visitors get hurt, they can be held accountable.


• Medical Malpractice– Whether it was a doctor, a pharmacist, or a hospital, if your healthcare provider betrayed your trust and caused you an injury or illness, you deserve compensation.


• Product Liability – Defective products occur when corporations value your health less than their profits. We can help you determine if the fault lies with the manufacturer, distributor, retailer, or even an advertiser.

Type of Injury and Its Effect on Compensation

Once the at-fault party has been identified by your Baton Rouge personal injury lawyer, the next step is to determine how much your claim is worth. This starts with considering the type of injury you sustained, as this will determine what medical treatments will be necessary and how your quality of life will be damaged. For example, a coma will result in substantially more significant damages than a bone fracture will.

Brain damage and spinal injuries are probably some of the most serious, as these wounds can be permanent, require intensive and ongoing medical care, and dramatically affect your lifestyle. Severe burn injuries aren’t far behind, as they can result in permanent disfigurement and might even reduce your mobility.

Even a broken bone can irrevocably change your quality of life. While most breaks and fractures will heal in time, truly bad breaks might require pins and screws, and crushed bones might never recover fully.

What Goes into a Fair Catastrophic Injury Settlement?

Your demand for compensation will need to factor in every financial expense and every negative quality-of-life impact incurred by your injuries. While the financial losses might seem obvious, a full settlement will also account for all of your future losses—not just your current ones.

Some expenses also aren’t as obvious as others. For example, many injury victims don’t realize that they can be compensated for the travel expenses necessitated by their medical care. Listed below are just a few of the potential items that might need to be included in your settlement:

• Current and future costs of medical care, treatments, and surgeries


• Lost wages, income, and earning potential


• Medication and mobility equipment


• Caretaker wages


• Emotional and physical therapy

The damage done to your lifestyle will also need to be included. While these losses are non-economic, your Baton Rouge personal injury lawyer will be able to help you arrive at a fair assessment of their value. These include pain and suffering, loss of consortium, emotional distress, and lost enjoyment of life.

Negotiating with Insurance Companies

While not always the case, your final payout will probably come from the at-fault party’s insurance company. Even when an insurer isn’t involved, an opposing attorney most likely will be. Either way, these professionals are not going to have your best interests in mind when making you a settlement offer.

In fact, it’s all but certain that they’ll try to resolve your injury claim as cheaply as possible. They might even try to get you to make a statement in the hopes that you’ll say something that will allow them to pin blame for the accident on you.

It’s important to be aware of this tactic, because the larger the percentage of fault they can put on you, the less they’ll have to pay you. This is why it’s best to let a Baton Rouge personal injury lawyer from our firm handle the negotiations on your behalf. Not only will we get you a larger settlement than their initial offer, we also promise that it will be larger even after our fee is deducted.

Baton Rouge Personal Injury FAQ

The aftermath of a catastrophic injury can be a confusing time, which is why we’ve provided answers here to a few of the questions we hear on a regular basis. If you would like more specific information as it pertains to your unique situation, please contact our office so that you can speak with a Baton Rouge personal injury lawyer.

Can I seek compensation on behalf of my injured child?

Yes, as long as you are the child’s legal guardian or have parental rights, you can file a personal injury claim on his or her behalf.

What are my options for compensation if my family member died in an accident?

If you are the deceased’s spouse or child, you can file a wrongful death claim seeking damages. If the deceased was unmarried and had no children, you might be able to file if you are a sibling. If there are no siblings, then you can file if you are a grandparent of the deceased.

How much time do I have to file a personal injury claim seeking financial compensation?

Louisiana provides a much shorter window of opportunity for seeking damages than most other states. You are allowed a liberative prescription of just one year. If you wait longer than that, your case will most likely be dismissed, making it essential to begin work on your case as soon as possible.

Contact a Baton Rouge Catastrophic Injury Lawyer

At Spencer Calahan Injury Lawyers , we take pride in getting the best result possible for our clients. We know personal injury law, and we won’t allow an insurance company or opposing attorney to take advantage of you.

To discuss your case in detail with an experienced Baton Rouge personal injury lawyer, give us a call at 225-387-2323 or reach us through our online contact form at the bottom of this page.