Posted on April 9, 2012 by Fast Lawsuit Team
Mishaps (a slip and fall, a car collision, a defective product and other misfortunes) can cause all kinds of bodily harm. Getting hurt can mean any of these things:
- Bone fractures
- Soft tissue injuries
- Wounds and lacerations
- Severed limbs
- Disability
The severity of the injuries may necessitate time in the hospital, as well as time for your recovery before you can actually go back to work. As a result, you miss opportunities to earn an income, whether as an employee or a businessperson.
A Loss of Income Claim
A claim for loss of income is one of the important components in a personal injury claim. For employees, this claim is referred to as lost wages. Meanwhile, for businessmen, freelancers, those working on commission, this is called loss of business income.
Loss of Wages
As the one making a personal injury claim, it lies upon you to show proof about loss of income. For employees, this means showing the following:
- Proof that you are employed in the company
- Documentation of daily/hourly wages
- Documentation of the days missed
- Doctor’s report that shows that you are unable to work
Loss of Business Income
It is more difficult to file a loss of income claim for people earning on commission, those who are self-employed, running a business or are independent contractors. It is difficult to pinpoint the amount of lost income. A business may have periods of low income, or no income, as well as peak periods. Commissions may vary from month to month. There is also no employer to verify the amount of income lost. Delays in a freelancers work may mean that he loses the project, but it may be challenging to show how the injury contributed to the loss of the project. The court may also expect freelancers to be able to hire someone else to finish the project in order to prevent more losses for the person you are suing.
One way of computing lost income for these cases is to present your federal income tax return. Since this shows how much you made in a year, you can divide the entire amount by the number of working days to get the approximate daily income amount. When showing your income tax return, you need only to show relevant pages. You also have the option to show income tax returns for the last few years, especially if your income for the previous year was not spectacular.
Other Complexities
Lost income can also be challenging if your injuries result in an impairment that means you have to leave the job you currently have and get another type of job. You will need to show how changing jobs will result in a drop to your income.
It is similarly challenging if the injuries result in permanent disability and you are unable to work again. The factors considered in this case include your profile (education, skills, training, employment history, age), as well as your financial profile and earnings history. To compute for lost income, you also have to take into consideration inflation, the benefits you get from the job aside from your salary and social security.
Negotiating Lost Income and other Personal Injury Claims
Most of the time, you will have to deal with the other party’s insurance company. You must remember that they will also work to bring down the amount they have to pay you. The insurance company may also try to drag their heels about paying you. You may need to file a personal injury lawsuit to recover lost income, as well as medical expenses and other losses related to the injury.
A personal injury lawsuit may prove to be complicated and drawn out. Knowing that you have missed days at work and have lost income as a result of your injury, this means that you are in an even more precarious financial situation. You have bills to pay and no income earned.
This is a time to consider lawsuit funding. This provides you with funds as you await the decision of the court and the settlement of the claim. Lawsuit settlement funding simplifies access to cash, cash you can use to fund daily expenses, pay your medical bills, as well as pay for court-related costs. Not only is it easier to get lawsuit funding, it also provides you with more peace of mind. Since the money is given on a non-recourse basis, you need not pay for the funds if the lawsuit fails to settle.
For quick and easy settlement loans, you can come to FastLawsuitMoney.com. FastLawsuitMoney.com has since built a reputation for simplified applications processes so that those eligible can get their funds in as quickly as 24 hours once their application is approved.
Posted on January 20, 2012 by Fast Lawsuit Team
It comes as an unpleasant surprise. You’re walking along, enjoying your day when suddenly, wham! You trip up on a section of loose carpeting or slip due to a wet floor.
A slip, trip or a fall can be mildly embarrassing. It can also be catastrophic. While with the first you just stand up and brush it off, the latter may result in huge medical bills, lost time at work or even a lost job, considerable pain and suffering, or worse, death. Slip and falls can result to a wide array of serious injuries such as sprains, broken bones, head, back or neck injuries, brain injuries and permanent disability.
Slip and falls usually happen in places where there is a lot of foot traffic. These include department stores, hotels, restaurants, shopping malls, amusement parks and the like.
Slip and Fall Lawsuits
Slip and Fall Lawsuits fall under Premises Liability. Under this principle, property owners or those that maintain or manage the property have the duty to ensure that that property is safe from hazard. Any failure to act or any direct act of the property owner and representatives that resulted in a slip and fall may result in the property owner being liable for any damages incurred.
Potential hazards that cause slips, trips and falls include:
- Wet floor or water spills
- Uneven, damaged or unstable flooring
- Sidewalks that have potholes or are uneven
- Presence of snow, ice or puddles (esp. on the sidewalk)
- Damaged or broken stairs, handrails and railings
- Torn or loose carpeting
- Narrow entrances, hallways or stairwells
If you have hurt yourself in a slip and fall accident, you have the right to seek for compensation, particularly for:
- Your medical expenses (for ongoing and future treatment)
- Lost wages or loss of job
- Expenses for physical therapy
- Related medication
- Out of pocket expenses related to the treatment and therapy (gasoline to drive to and from the hospital or clinic, hotel and food expenses of the caregiver, cost of childcare or housekeeping, etc.)
- Cost of adaptive equipment
- Pain and suffering
The challenges of a slip and fall lawsuit
When you have been involved in a slip and fall accident, you should go to a hospital or seek medical attention as soon as possible, even if you feel “okay” right after the incident. This is to show that you acted to lessen the damage and physical injuries caused by the slip and fall. You also need to prove that the injuries were directly caused by the slip and fall.
When you file a slip and fall lawsuit, you need to prove that the property owner/manager was negligent, that it was not due to your carelessness and that the injuries you sustained were the result of a slip and fall in that property. There is also a need to prove that the property owner/manager knew about or should have known about a hazardous condition and failed to act to correct it. The owner (or their insurer) can also fight back by showing that the incident was in fact your fault because the condition was open and obvious and you should have acted to avoid the incident.
There is also the stigma connected with slip and fall lawsuits. Due to greedy complainants and their lawyers, there is a high level of doubt linked with slip and fall cases. As a result, lawsuits arising from these incidents are usually highly scrutinized cases and thus take longer to settle. It is also harder to prove your case if your injuries were soft tissue injuries, which are generally harder to prove.
Lawsuit Funding for a slip and fall lawsuit
The injuries sustained due to a slip and fall incident may be serious enough that the victim is unable to go to work. If this is your case, you are facing challenging times ahead. Aside from your medical bills, you also need to provide for your family, pay your debts as well as cover expenses related to your lawsuit.
The financial stress you are undergoing may leave you vulnerable to low-ball settlement offers from the other party. You may be sorely tempted to accept the offer even though it is obviously less than what the case is worth had you waited for it to continue through to the end.
Legal funding can be your lifeline during this time. Often also referred to as a lawsuit loan, this provides ready cash during your time of dire need, without you having to lose out on what the case is really worth. The funding is provided based on the strength of your case, and unlike a real cash loan, you don’t have to pay it back if the case does not come to a settlement.
Going for a lawsuit settlement advance is relatively easy, especially if you are working with FastLawsuitMoney.com. FastLawsuitMoney.com is committed to help complainants like you fight for fair and just compensation for their injuries. Upon approval, you can get your cash within 1 day.
Posted on November 4, 2011 by Fast Lawsuit Team
A humorist once said, “Your brain is perhaps one of the most important parts of your body. It tells all the other body parts what to do. Then again, guess which body part is trying to convince us of that?”
But kidding aside, the brain is a crucial yet delicate part of the body and when damaged, there may be serious consequences. Traumatic brain injuries are usually a result of a:
- Vehicular or a pedestrian accident
- Gun shots
- Falls
- Direct impact to the skull
- Medical malpractice
Head injuries fall into two types – closed head injury and open head injury. Closed head injuries result from head trauma – that is, something hits the skull and causes the brain to swell. Open head injuries involve a fracture in the skull. Open head injuries are considered “better” than closed head injuries since it provides room for the brain to swell. Closed head injuries (which are sometimes unnoticed and untreated) don’t provide space for the swelling of the brain and generally causes more serious damage.
Based on statistics provided by the Brain Injury Association of America, there are around 50,000 deaths out of 1.4 million cases of brain injuries every year. There are also over 200,000 hospitalizations where brain injuries were treated.
The Symptoms of a Traumatic Brain Injury
Brain injuries are sometimes dubbed as “silent” injuries, because it sometimes does not manifest itself immediately after an accident. But when left untreated, it may lead to debilitating results and sometimes these are irreversible. Some victims of brain injuries suffer from memory loss, personality disorders, mental disability, speech problems and mental retardation.
If you figured in an accident or an event where you hit your head or your head was severely tossed to and fro, it is important that you seek medical attention immediately. Brain injuries may manifest themselves not immediately after the event, but hours or days after. Be mindful of the symptoms.
For mild brain injuries, you may notice a loss of balance, a persistent headache, a ringing of the ears, blurry eyesight, a feeling of being lightheaded or dizzy and even a loss in your ability to focus and concentrate. There may be instances where you have unexplained mood swings or are unable to remember things. Some symptoms of moderate to severe brain trauma include getting into a coma, being paralyzed, a feeling of numbness in some body parts, slurred speech, convulsions and respiratory failure.
The Impact of a Brain Injury
You may be a victim of a brain injury due to someone else’s mistake, negligence or willful and malicious act. If so, you have the right to seek compensation from the erring party for the loss you incurred due to a brain injury.
Some cases include a doctor’s negligence, where the patient did not get enough oxygen to the brain which subsequently resulted in brain damage. There is also a case where a policeman used a stun gun on an intoxicated man. The man had a cardiac arrest and suffered from brain damage. Brain damage may also be sustained after a head-on collision of two vehicles.
And the loss may be considerable. This includes:
- Medical bills and medication
- Therapy
- Loss of income or loss of a job (as a brain injury will considerably restrict a victim’s cognitive capabilities and render him unable to do the work he used to do).
- Everyday expenses
Lawsuit Funding and Your Brain Injury Lawsuit
In some cases, brain injury lawsuits can be complicated because it may be hard to prove the extent of the injury. You will need to hire expert witnesses to show the injury and how it has affected your quality of life. The lawsuit may take you longer to settle than you expected. The question is, how will you survive that long?
Lawsuit settlement funding can help provide you with funds so that you can:
- File your case and not worry about legal fees and court costs
- Have money to pay for hospital bills and therapy
- Have the funds to provide for the family’s needs (money for groceries, to pay the rent or mortgage, etc.)
With the help of what is sometimes called a lawsuit loan, you can have ready funds while you are waiting for the results of your lawsuit. This means that if you lose the case or the case fails to settle, you don’t have any obligation to pay back what you have received.
This lawsuit settlement advance is usually based on the strength of the case, and not one’s credit standing or employment record. With a quality lawsuit funding provider such as FastLawsuitMoney.com, you could quickly get the cash in as quickly as 24 hours once your application has been reviewed and approved.
With the funds, your attorney can even work and negotiate a settlement with the other party. And since you are not pressed for funds, you negotiate from a position of strength. In this way, you and your family are able to fight for just compensation for the brain injuries you suffered.
Posted on August 12, 2011 by Fast Lawsuit Team
Wham! A car crash – unexpected, devastating and something that can change your life. A car accident may result in serious, even fatal, physical injuries. To make things even more difficult, the accident was not even your fault but the other driver’s recklessness, carelessness or mistake. And you then find out that you may have to file a personal injury lawsuit to get the compensation you deserve for all the pain and suffering you have gone through.
Now, how do you prepare for a personal injury lawsuit when you are a victim of a car accident? What are the things you have to keep in mind to make sure that your case is as strong as it can be?
Choose the right lawyer. Getting quality legal advice and service is one thing you should do to ensure that your rights are properly protected and defended. A good lawyer will fight to get you fair and just compensation for your personal injuries. A good lawyer will also work to build your case – he will interview witnesses, get the opinions of experts, or maybe hire an investigator to get the details of the accident. In addition, your lawyer should have the necessary experience in dealing with car accidents and the personal injury lawsuits that arise from these.
Evaluate your case. With the help of your lawyer, you can ask crucial questions before you even dive into the lawsuit. Evaluate the strength of your claim based on the evidence you can get. You should also know the instances with regards to similar claims and how these were settled and how much the settlements were. Knowing these cases can help you while you are negotiating your claim since you can refer to these cases as a benchmark for your claim.
Build your case. Be sure to keep all medical records with regards to your treatment and prospective treatments and therapy. Ideally, you should also make a list of the witnesses of the accident, have photos taken of the site and prepare all the necessary evidence you will present to the court.
Be mentally and physically prepared. A personal injury lawsuit is a stressful affair. You need to be mentally and physically prepared to meet with the pressure and strain with regards to the proceedings of the lawsuit. If you are brought to the stand, the opposing side’s lawyer will scrutinize your statements and will barrage you with questions to show that you may be partially or even equally liable for the accident or that the accident is not the other party’s fault. You may also need to prepare yourself by getting counseling to ensure that you don’t get too emotional while you are in the witness stand.
Know the settlement amount you are gunning for. A settlement offer may sound attractive because the amount sounds big. But you have to evaluate the amount that you are offered vis a vis the financial loss you incurred.
- Medical expenses. You need to calculate not just the amount you have already been billed but also the additional expenses you may incur in the future. This includes physical and occupational therapy. You should also compute for any expenses involved in equipping your house and car with adaptive or medical devices to make it easier to deal with day-to-day activities after your injury.
- Loss of income. You should also consider the loss of income involved – not just during the time you were in the hospital and in recovery but also the potential income you might have earned were you not injured.
- Property damage. Obviously, your car will have also suffered damages due to the accident. You need to include this in your computation. Usually, the amount is based on the car’s fair market value and how much it will cost to repair the car.
- Other damages. This includes compensation for pain and suffering, the loss of enjoyment and the loss of the ability to enjoy family relationships as a result of the personal injury. You should also compute the out-of-pocket expenses you spent (i.e. paying for child care while you are in the hospital, paying for petrol going to and fro the hospital and so on).
Be financially prepared. During the lawsuit or even before filing one, you may be sorely tempted to accept a low-ball settlement offer just because you are in dire need of funds. After the accident, you may be faced with a lot of odds – mounting medical bills, the loss of income (or even the impending loss of your job), financial obligations you need to face with regards to your household and so on. To avoid succumbing to this temptation, it is best for you to have the funds that will see you through until the lawsuit is finally settled.
Car accidents and Lawsuit Funding
One important aspect of your preparation is getting the funding you need so that you are able to negotiate and fight for the best compensation amount. This is where lawsuit funding comes in. Lawsuit funding (or often referred to as a lawsuit settlement loan or a lawsuit settlement advance) provides you with ready cash even before the lawsuit is settled. This allows you to pay bills, ensure that your family is provided for even as you spend to build a strong case.
FastLawsuitMoney.com has been helping people get the funding they need as they wait for their lawsuit to settle. In fact, FastLawsuitMoney.com has worked to make it easier for you to apply for lawsuit settlement funding. The funding is based on the merits of your case and not on whether you have a good credit rating or a good employment record. And once you are considered eligible for the funding, you can get your cash in as little as 24 hours.
A personal injury lawsuit (and pre-settlement lawsuit funding) can help you make the best out of a very challenging situation. A car accident can wreck you and your family’s lives. But that does not mean that you can’t get up and pick the pieces and move forward to a better future.