Sudden injuries can derail your life. They can be caused by a slip and fall in a grocery store parking lot, a car running a stop sign, or a semi-truck causing a pile-up accident on the highway. Someone made a mistake or failed to fix a safety hazard, and you were seriously injured as a result. How are you supposed to manage the costs of medical bills and property damage, especially when you can no longer go to work?
The answer? By seeking compensation through a personal injury claim. By filing a personal injury claim against the party responsible for your injuries, you can pursue financial compensation for your injury-related expenses and losses. An experienced Alabama personal injury lawyer can explain everything you need to know about what filing a personal injury claim in Alabama entails and what you can expect from the process.
What Is a Personal Injury Claim?
When a person harms another through negligence or wrongdoing, they can be financially liable for the victim’s injury. A personal injury claim gives the injury victim a way to hold the at-fault party responsible and recover their losses.
Definition of a Personal Injury Claim
A personal injury claim is effectively a demand for payment from one party to another. When you file a personal injury claim, you notify the at-fault party’s liability insurance company and ask it to pay for the cost of your injuries. Your claim notification includes details about the accident and your losses. Monetary awards from personal injury claims are called settlements and include compensation for losses like hospital bills, lost wages, and pain and suffering.
Many people use the terms “claim” and “lawsuit” interchangeably, but they are technically different. A claim is an informal demand for payment from an insurance company. A lawsuit, on the other hand, is a formal legal process meant to compel payment. If the insurance company refuses to offer a settlement for your claim, you can file a lawsuit in court to force them to pay.
What Qualifies as Personal Injury in Alabama?
Under Alabama personal injury law, a personal injury can comprise any bodily or psychological harm caused by another’s negligence. Negligence in this context means violating a reasonable standard of behavior. To make a personal injury claim against another, you must prove the offending party was negligent when they caused your injury.
For example, someone who causes an accident while texting and driving is negligent. They didn’t intend to hurt anyone but were careless and fell short of the threshold for reasonably safe behavior.
Most personal injury claims are for injuries due to negligent acts or omissions. However, you can also make a claim for injuries due to intentional actions, like assault and battery. There is also a class of personal injury called strict liability claims. Under strict liability, offenders can be responsible for injuries even if they weren’t negligent.
Statute of Limitations for Personal Injury Claims in Alabama
Alabama’s statute of limitations places a general two-year time limit on filing a claim for personal injury (Alabama Code 6-2-38(l)). Once the two years pass, your legal claim to financial compensation will expire. Usually, the two-year clock starts counting down on the date of the injury.
The two-year time limit applies to most kinds of personal injury claims in Alabama, like car accidents, dog bites, and slip and fall accidents. However, there are different time limits for a few specific cases:
- Dangerous Products – The deadline to file a product liability claim is one year from the injury date instead of two. You also can’t make a product liability claim if more than 10 years have passed since you purchased the defective product (Ala. Code 6-5-502).
- Medical Malpractice – You can make a medical malpractice claim within two years of discovering the act or omission, but no more than four years after the act or omission occurred (Ala. Code 6-5-482(a)).
- Intentional Torts – Alabama limits personal injury claims for intentional torts (e.g., assault and battery) to six years (Ala. Code 6-2-34(1)).
These time limits are extremely strict and admit few exceptions, so you should start promptly. The sooner you start, the less likely you are to face payment delays or complications.
Common Types of Personal Injury Claims in Alabama
Below are some of the most common types of personal injury claims attorneys manage in Alabama:
- Auto Accidents – Car, truck, and motorcycle accidents are a common source of personal injury claims for motorists and pedestrians.
- Dog Bites – Dog owners can be liable for injuries and other losses if their pets bite or attack another person.
- Defective Products – If a defective product causes injury, the victim can file a lawsuit against the manufacturer.
- Slip and Fall – Slip and fall accidents are common in both businesses and private residences, often caused by tripping hazards such as spills or clutter on the floor.
- Premises Liability Accidents – Landowners are generally liable for injuries that occur on their properties due to hazardous property conditions.
- Brain and Spinal Cord Injuries – Both brain and spinal cord injuries can cause permanent disability that requires extensive lifelong medical treatment.
- Wrongful Death – If someone dies in an accident due to wrongdoing, the deceased’s survivors can file a wrongful death lawsuit to recover their losses.
Steps to Filing a Personal Injury Lawsuit in Alabama
Below is a general guide to the process of filing a personal injury claim in Alabama.
Step 1. Seek Medical Attention
Your priority should be seeking medical attention for your injuries. A doctor can provide treatment and an official diagnosis. Ensure you get copies of medical records, including intake paperwork, imaging results, diagnostic tests, doctor’s notes, lab reports, and discharge paperwork.
Step 2. Gather Evidence
After seeing a doctor, you need to document the accident scene. Take pictures and videos of any relevant features and get the at-fault party’s insurance information. Ask eyewitnesses to make statements and get a copy of the police accident report.
Step 3. Consult a Personal Injury Lawyer
You should also take the time to contact a lawyer. An attorney can provide general legal advice and manage the claim process for you. Most importantly, attorneys have experience navigating insurance claims and can maximize your chances of success.
Step 4. Filing the Complaint
Your attorney can walk you through the steps of filing the complaint. The process differs depending on the insurer, but you’ll have to submit evidence of your injuries and an account of the accident. You’ll also need to send evidence of the losses you suffered.
Step 5. Discovery Process
After you file the complaint, the insurance company will perform an investigation to validate your story. This is why your attorney conducts a parallel investigation – to resolve disputes and factual disagreements that may arise during discovery.
Step 6. Negotiation & Settlement
Once the insurance company verifies your claims, it will send a settlement offer. Most insurance companies lowball the first offer, so your attorney can negotiate a counteroffer for a higher settlement. The back-and-forth counteroffer negotiation process continues until both sides agree.
Step 7. Trial (If Needed)
If you cannot negotiate a satisfactory settlement or the insurance company denies your claim, the next step is formal litigation. During a trial, both sides present evidence, and a jury decides how much compensation to award, if any.
How Damages Are Calculated in Alabama Personal Injury Claims
Through a personal injury claim, you can recover financial compensation or “damages.” Damages in personal injury claims can be divided into two main types: compensatory and punitive damages.
Compensatory damages are meant to compensate you for losses and fall into two kinds: economic and non-economic. Economic damages compensate you for losses with an explicit dollar value, such as medical bills, lost work income, and reduced future earning potential. Non-economic damages compensate you for intangible losses, like pain and suffering, loss of consortium, loss of enjoyment of life, or mental anguish.
Calculating economic damages is straightforward because the losses have a definite dollar amount. Non-economic damages are more subjective, particularly in cases involving pain and suffering. Courts might use the multiplier method, in which the economic damages are multiplied by a number between one and five (based on pain severity, how long it is supposed to last, and how much it impacts the victim’s life) to determine pain and suffering amounts. They might also use the per diem method, in which the court assigns a dollar value to the pain and suffering the victim feels each day and multiplies that number by the number of days the victim is expected to be in pain.
Punitive damages are instead meant to punish the offender, not compensate you for losses. Courts might award punitive damages if the offender displayed particularly egregious or wanton conduct. Alabama Code 6-11-21(d) caps punitive damages for physical injury at $1.5 million or three times compensatory damages, whichever is more.
What You Need to Know About Alabama’s Contributory Negligence Rule
Contributory negligence is a legal doctrine under which a plaintiff’s shared liability makes them ineligible for compensation. If an injury victim is partially responsible for their injuries, then contributory negligence would completely bar them from any financial recovery. Even if the victim were just 1 percent responsible, the shared fault would void any right to monetary compensation.
Alabama is one of four states that still use contributory negligence when assigning damages in personal injury cases. So, if you get into an accident in Alabama and it’s partially your fault, you may not be able to recover any financial compensation at all. For instance, if you’re speeding and another driver runs a stop sign and hits you, the fact that you were speeding could render you ineligible for compensation.
Contributory negligence is extremely strict, so you need to build an airtight case to preserve your right to financial recovery. An experienced personal injury attorney can argue against accusations of shared liability and present a strong argument for your lack of fault.
Tips to Maximize Your Personal Injury Claim in Alabama
The personal injury claim process is complex, and it’s easy to make mistakes that could impact your final settlement. Below are some tips to avoid mistakes and maximize how much you might recover:
- Don’t delay seeking medical attention. If you wait to see a doctor, insurance companies might argue your injuries aren’t as serious as you claim.
- Get as much medical documentation as possible. Insurance companies frequently deny claims due to insufficient medical evidence.
- Don’t casually discuss your case with others or post about your case on social media. Out-of-context statements can be used to attack your credibility.
- Keep records and receipts of all expenses incurred due to injuries, like medical bills, lost work income, childcare costs, transportation, etc.
- Don’t accept any settlement offer without first reviewing it with an attorney. Your attorney may be able to negotiate a higher offer.
When to Contact a Personal Injury Lawyer
You should contact a Madison personal injury attorney as soon as possible after the accident – ideally within two to three days. An attorney can promptly start building your case and take steps to initiate the claims process. More specifically, an attorney can:
- Preserve Evidence – A personal injury attorney can investigate the accident scene and preserve important evidence. They can locate eyewitnesses, gather police reports, and help you organize medical documentation to prove your injuries.
- Manage Claims – An attorney can manage all the administrative aspects of making a claim, including managing communications and meeting filing deadlines/requirements.
- Negotiate with Insurers – Attorneys are skilled negotiators who can resist attempts to shift blame or deny liability. They can also negotiate with insurers to secure you a higher value settlement.
- Pursue Litigation – If insurance companies refuse to negotiate in good faith or deny claims without explanation, an attorney can take them to court in formal litigation to recover your losses.
Call Our Alabama Personal Injury Attorneys for Help
Collins Law, LLC, has been serving injured Alabamians for over a decade with our brand of personable and empathetic legal representation. We have experience managing personal injury cases of all kinds and can be the legal advocate you need. We dedicate our work to the principles of justice and believe that everyone deserves a chance to right wrongs committed against them. Life after a serious accident can seem uncertain, but you are not alone. Let us make sure your voice is heard.
Contact our office online or call today for a free case consultation with a personal injury attorney in Birmingham.
