Let’s face it: if it was obvious who caused you harm in an accident, it’s likely you would not need a personal injury attorney. However, accidents, a lot like life, are complicated, and often times more than one party shares the blame for the accident that caused you harm and trauma.
When you have suffered injuries as a result of someone else’s negligence and are seeking compensation for your troubles, contact the St. Louis personal injury lawyers at Combs Waterkotte. Our firm offers free consultations and puts our clients first in everything we do. Contact us today by calling (314) 900-HELP or filling out our online contact form to schedule a free, no-strings-attached consultation.
Who Is Responsible For My Injuries?
When filing a personal injury lawsuit, it is critical to make sure that you file it against the right parties. Indeed, it is something that a personal injury lawyer must do whenever they file your suit in court. If any defendants have a valid defense or counter-claim, they can raise it in court.
Every personal injury accident is different, and the parties you could name in a lawsuit vary as such. For example: say you slip and fall while shopping for groceries. You suffer a concussion and experience persistent back pain. After filing a claim with the store’s insurance company, it is denied, and as such you have no other choice but to file a lawsuit. In this case, your personal injury lawyer can name the following potential responsible parties in the suit:
- The store owner: the company that owns/operates the store is directly responsible for your injuries. It is their property, after all, and they have a duty of care to protect patrons
- The property owner: while some buildings are both owned and operated by their occupant, many others are owned by a landlord and only rented by a tenant. The building’s owner may be responsible for their injuries.
- An employee: if an employee was responsible for creating the conditions that led to your slip and fall–for instance, not properly cleaning up spilled liquids, or not leaving a “Wet Floor” sign out after a routine floor cleaning–they can also be held responsible for your injuries
Personal injury lawsuits in Missouri also operate under the pure comparative fault model. Under this legal principle, one or more parties can be deemed at fault or responsible for causing an accident, and the amount of damages they receive is adjusted accordingly. For instance, if it is deemed that three parties are all equally responsible for an accident where a jury authorized a $100,000 reward, each party would receive a little more than $33,000 in damages.
A St. Louis Personal Injury Lawyer Can Help Determine Fault
After a personal injury accident in St. Louis, hiring a skilled personal injury lawyer can help you not only determine who all shared the blame for your injuries, but also potentially maximize the compensation you can receive. At Combs Waterkotte, we provide our clients with the finest in legal representation as well as unmatched personal communication. Call us today at (314) 900-HELP or contact us online. Our initial consultations are always risk-free and complimentary, and if you hire us we will not collect a fee from you unless we win your case.
