Posted on April 6, 2012 by Fast Lawsuit Team
Faulty electrical wiring may simply give you an unpleasant jolt. Or it can be career-ending. Worse, an electric shock can be fatal.
Take the case of a commercial airline pilot who suffered from electrocution while taking a shower in his hotel bathroom. He had recently passed a physical examination that vouched for his good health and eligibility to fly a plane. It was shown that the light fixture in the shower was defective and caused the electric shock, which affected his eligibility for his job. The pilot has the right to sue for compensation – for the pain and injury, as well as for the loss of his job.
Electric shock and burns
Electric shock and burns are caused by electricity passing through the body. The severity of the physical damage depends on the area of contact, the strength of the electric current and the length the person was exposed to the electric current. When the current that passes the body is perpendicular, passing from hand to hand, there is fewer electrical current that passes through the body. When the current passing through the body is parallel, passing from head to toe, there is more damage as more vital areas in the body are affected. If the person is wet (due to a shower or sweat), this could also have a negative impact on the severity of the injury.
Physical effects of an electric shock could include:
- Contact burns
- Deep burns in internal tissues
- Muscle injuries since the electric shocks force violent contractions of the muscles.
- Bone injuries (dislocations or fractures) – the violent contractions can also break or dislocated bones.
- Internal organ damage (kidney failure)
- Brain damage
- Cataract formation
- Death due to cardiac arrest
There are also secondary effects to the electric shock. If the person fell or was thrown backwards during the shock, he can also sustain additional injuries.
Causes of Electric Shock
Electric shock can be caused by:
Work accidents. Workers, particularly in the construction industry, have a higher than normal risk of electric shock, especially if safety procedures are ignored or violated. Construction sites may have open lines. Those working on roads may touch underground cables.
Defective products. Users of defective products may experience electric shock caused by faulty design or by faulty manufacturing.
Maintenance problems. Customers may be victimized in public facilities such as amusement parks, hotels, hospitals and so on if some of the equipment is poorly maintained.
Contractor mistake. Errors in the construction of the house and set up of electrical lines may result in electric shock injuries.
Other causes of electric shock include water penetration, sockets with too many electric appliances plugged in and faulty wiring.
Filing a Personal Injury Claim for the Electric Shock
For you to have a case against the erring party, you must show that the other party has a duty of care to you – you are a customer, an invited guest, an employee. The other party must have the responsibility of ensuring that the product or premises is safe from electric shocks. It must be shown that if they had not been negligent, the shock and subsequent injuries could have been prevented.
If you are a victim of electric shock, you must make sure to seek medical treatment for your injuries so that it can be shown that you have done your part to minimize the amount of damage you sustained.
When you file an electric shock lawsuit, you should include the following:
- Medical expenses related to the electric shock (both present and future)
- Loss of income
- Pain and suffering
- Cost of adaptive equipment and therapy
While you are waiting for your lawsuit to settle, you should consider applying for a lawsuit cash advance. This will help fund your medical treatment to ensure that there is no further physical damage. The cash you get from lawsuit funding can be also used to pay for your day-to-day expenses, as well as to cover for court-related costs.
FastLawsuitMoney.com is a reputable provider of lawsuit settlement loans for people who are awaiting the settlement of their lawsuit and are in dire need of funding. With FastLawsuitMoney.com’s streamlined applications process, you don’t need to provide records of your employment or credit rating. You can also get your funds quickly, once your application is approved.
Posted on January 23, 2012 by Fast Lawsuit Team
Were you hurt or injured while you are on another person’s property? Did you hurt your back from a slip and fall incident at the mall? Were you bitten by a neighbor’s dog while you were visiting? Were you injured due to an accident in an amusement park? Then you can file a premises liability lawsuit to claim for compensation for your personal injuries.
Premises Liability
If someone owns or maintains a piece of property (such as a house and lot, a mall, an amusement park or similar other properties), they are liable for any injuries another person incurs while he is on that property. The liability will also extend to public sidewalks that are right in front of the property and is used for access. Premises liability covers both private property (such as a home) and public property (such as a mall, an amusement park or even a government property).
A property owner is considered liable if he has been negligent in ensuring that his property is a safe environment. This is referred to in law as “duty of care”. A property owner’s duty of care depends on the category of the person injured, whether he is an invitee, a licensee or a trespasser.
Invitees. In a word, these are customers, people who enter the property for the property owner’s commercial benefit. Property owners are required to issue warnings for hazardous conditions (i.e. “Slippery when wet.”) as well as provide protection against such hazardous conditions.
Licensees. These are people who are given implied or express permission to enter the property, although the reasons for entry are not for the property owner’s commercial benefit. For licensees, liability exists when:
- There was no reasonable care on the property owner’s part to make sure that the property was safe.
- The property owner failed to warn the licensee of the unsafe condition.
- There existed an unreasonable risk of harm to the licensee and that the licensee had no had no way to discover that danger.
Trespassers. This pertains to people who enter the property without the property owner’s permission (whether implied or expressed). Trespassers enter the property not for the owner’s benefit but for their own purposes.
Each state varies on the level of duty of care and liability linked to these three categories.
Types of premises liability
By its nature, premises liability covers a lot of instances. These include:
- Slip and fall accidents, where the injury is due to someone tripping or slipping due to slippery or uneven flooring or because something caused the fall (i.e. a banana peel or a bottle of mineral water). Other factors include poor lighting and broken handrails and stairs.
- Burn injuries, where the fire should have been preventable.
- Animal attack, where pets or animals kept on the property injured visitors or passers-by.
- Accidental drowning, where the drowning resulted from a failure to place adequate safety measures (i.e. indicators of the depth of the pool, warning against trespassers, a secured gate, etc.)
- Assault, where the property owner failed to provide adequate security.
Premises liability also includes injuries due to faulty equipment such as escalators and elevators.
Claiming For Premises Liability
If you are a victim of an accident due to a property owner’s negligence and failure to provide the necessary safety measures, you can seek compensation through a premises liability lawsuit. With this, you can claim for the following:
- Medical expenses (both present and future). This includes doctor’s bills, hospital bills and medication.
- Loss of wages, or eventually loss of job
- Physical therapy expenses
- Expenses related to adaptive equipment or special aides
- Pain and suffering
Filing a lawsuit will not be easy. There will be court-related costs that you will need to shoulder, even if you get a lawyer on a contingency basis. Also, as your lawsuit is being heard, you will need to ensure that you are financial stable. There will still be bills to be paid, a family who needs food on the table and a roof over their heads. Your financial situation will be more problematic due to the fact that you also have medical bills to pay as well. And the injury may have resulted in loss of wages, or if it is catastrophic enough, the loss of your job.
Lawsuit Funding for Ready Cash
During this difficult time, it will be helpful to consider applying for lawsuit funding to help tide you over while you are waiting for the case to be settled. Lawsuit funding provides you with quick and ready cash to pay for your medical bills, living expenses, and other needs.
The great thing about lawsuit funding (or lawsuit loan as some may call it) is that it is not based on your credit rating or your employment status. Rather your application will be reviewed based on the strength of your case.
The important thing is you go with a lawsuit settlement funding provider that you can trust, such as FastLawsuitMoney.com. FastLawsuitMoney.com has been helping premises liability complainants by providing a simplified applications process. Once approved, you can get the funding within 24 hours. Because of this, you are able to negotiate and fight for a fair and just settlement for the injuries you have incurred.
Posted on August 29, 2011 by Fast Lawsuit Team
A car accident is an unfortunate event that may cost you, the victim, quite a lot. It may entail damage to property or worse, physical injuries. The sadder thing is that even when it is apparent that the other party is at fault, the payments may be slow in coming. You may actually need to file a lawsuit just for you to get just compensation for the losses you incur due to the car accident. You may also need to consider getting a lawsuit settlement advance as you await the settlement of the case.
Now, it is important to determine just how much you can expect as your compensation. It is usually easier to determine the value of the lawsuit if it is only property damages that must be taken into consideration. You usually just need to know how much it will cost to repair or replace the dented fender or broken taillights. However, if the claim involves personal injuries, it may take quite some work (and some negotiating) on your part to make sure that you are not short-changed and are fully compensated for the injuries you sustained.
There is a longer list of items to be considered when determining the cost of a personal injury. These include:
- Hospital costs. Depending on the extent of the injury, the bulk of the costs will cover the hospital bills incurred in your treatment. When computing for hospital costs, don’t just compute for the current bills, but also the future hospital and treatment costs in the course of your treatment. The costs should cover hospital or clinic charges, ambulance costs, emergency room fees, dental or chiropractic treatment, prescription medication and over the counter drugs, fees for lab or diagnostic tests and so on. It should also cover the medical supplies used, as well as doctor’s fees, nurse’s fees and surgical fees. The medical damages should also include the cost of therapy, prosthetic implements, medications you will need to take during and after the treatment and so on.
- Related damages. There are expenses related to your car accident injury that may not be medical in nature. For instance, you or your family may need to spend for travel expenses (going to and from the hospital or therapeutic center), as well as other out of pocket costs during your hospital stay. This may also include the payment for household help or childcare during your treatment and/or recovery.
- Adaptive equipment. Your injuries may also impair you in some way that you may need medical or adaptive equipment installed in your home or car in order for you to adapt to your injuries. For instance, you may need to buy a wheelchair and have a ramp built on strategic areas in your house.
- Lost wages/job loss. Your stay at the hospital will also mean days of not being able to go to work. This should also take into consideration lost earnings on overtime pay and sick days. Thus, even if you are paid your salary while you are laid up in the hospital due to the fact that you have claimed for sick days, you can still include the sick days as time lost from work.
If the injuries are such that you can no longer function in your old job, the other party should also compensate you for the loss of your job. If you are self-employed, you may have to prove just how much income you have lost. You should also get compensation if your injuries resulted in the loss of a job, the need to work on a part time basis or the need to get a job at a lesser rate.
- Loss of use, permanent disability or disfigurement. If you become disabled or lose the use of a certain body part, you may have to undergo regular treatments and checkups throughout your lifetime. Your age will play an important role in helping to determine how much compensation will be given with regards to disability or loss of use. Those who are younger usually get higher compensation due to the fact that they will suffer the disability or loss of use far longer.
- Loss of experiences (with regards to family life, your social life and educational experiences). Compensation should also be given for the loss of enjoyment you suffer because you are no longer able to take pleasure in the company of your family and friends or of educational experiences due to your injuries. You are no longer able to engage in activities, sports or even household tasks that you used to do and enjoy.
- Pain and suffering. Among the costs considered for a personal injury, this is perhaps the hardest to put a number on. This may be negotiated upon with the other party before the beginning of a trial or this may be determined by a judge or jury. Pain and suffering should also take into account the mental anguish, depression, embarrassment or stress sustained as a result of the injury. Often, the amount of pain and suffering damages will be based on how much a judge or jury is willing to award.
- Punitive damages. Depending on the state where you filed the lawsuit, you may also avail of punitive damages which are what the other party has to pay as a punishment for his careless or willfull act that resulted in your injuries. The punitive damages are also levied as a deterrent to others. The other party may be charged with higher damages if he failed to act in order to lessen or mitigage any damages he caused. For instance, if he hit you and escaped instead of stopping and bringing you to the hospital, then, the punitive damages will be higher.
Now, it will also be helpful for you to determine how much it will cost you to file your personal injury lawsuit. This can help in determining whether you need settlement funding or not.
- Lawyer’s fees. For one, you may need the help of a lawyer to ensure that your rights are duly protected. When it comes to personal injury lawsuits, you may be able to find a lawyer that is willing to work on a contingency basis. This means that they will notbe paid unless the lawsuit is settled. It depends on how much in contingency fees the lawyer will require. The contingency fee is usually lower if the lawsuit is settled before it comes to trial and higher if the lawsuit goes into trial or is appealed. The advantage of getting a lawyer on a contingency basis is that you won’t need to pay legal fees if you fail to settle the lawsuit. You should also ask when the contingency fee is applied – whether it is charged on the total amount of the settlement or after the cost of the medical bills have been deducted.
- Court costs. This may entail filing fees, the costs in getting witnesses to court, and the deposition of witnesses and so on.
- Expert witness costs. A car accident may need the testimony of experts to show to what extent the other party was at fault. Of course, you will need to cover the costs of hiring an expert witness.
Funding when You Need It
A personal injury lawsuit may mean a considerable amount of money, but it could also mean an extended waiting period you will have to endure as you wait for the lawsuit to settle. Meanwhile, you may suffer from financial troubles as a result of your injuries. It’s a good thing that you can get lawsuit funding from reputable provides such as FastLawsuitMoney.com.
Often called a settlement loan, this provides timely funding at the time when funds are dangerously low and you are tempted to settle for far less than what the personal injury lawsuit is actually worth.
FastLawsuitMoney.com is a trusted provider of Utah lawsuit funding and has helped a lot of victims of car accidents to have funds while they are waiting for the lawsuit to settle.
Posted on April 4, 2011 by Fast Lawsuit Team
Lawsuit funding offers a welcome lifeline at the time when a plaintiff needs cash the most. Lawsuit funding provides the plaintiff with the money that they can spend as they sees fit. More likely, this is to help cover medical bills, household expenses and legal costs.
But for this article, we will explore how lawsuit funding helps the lawyer. Yes, it’s not only the plaintiff that benefits from lawsuit funding. The fact that the plaintiff has received this funding will also affect how the lawyer can build the case.
So, how does lawsuit settlement funding help lawyers? Let us count the ways, shall we?
It helps plaintiffs withstand and survive a personal injury lawsuit. A lawyer can provide advice, but of course, the decision is up to the plaintiff. The plaintiff may decide to accept a settlement because of their financial situation. At a time when the plaintiff is severely injured, they may be temporarily or permanently disabled to the point that they have lost their job for a period of time or is on the way to losing it. The injuries will also mean that they have already spent quite an amount on medical costs (or are facing a whole lot of hospital bills). On top of this, they also want to ensure that their family’s needs are met, the mortgage or rental is paid and food is on the table. The financial pressure of all these may be too much that the plaintiff will say “yes” to a settlement that the lawyer knows is not in their best interest. With lawsuit funding, litigation can be continued without pressure on both the plaintiff and the lawyer so that the lawyer can fight for the maximum settlement.
It develops a good relationship with the client. During this time of need, a client will usually look to the lawyer for some financial help. In most cases, the client may request the lawyer for a loan – and the lawyer has to say no. Lawyers are not allowed to provide loans to their clients – this is prohibited by ethical rules in most states. A lawyer’s saying no may put a damper on his lawyer-client relationship. There are some states that allow lawyers to provide loans, but the money should be provided in advance without interest.
It helps the lawyer build a strong case. A lawsuit involves a lot of paperwork and legwork. Lawsuits involve taking depositions, hiring expert witnesses, getting tons of pictures of the scene of the accident, getting reports from applicable institutions and so on. The building of the case may be seriously hampered by the client’s financial situation. A lawyer can actually advance the cost of litigation and make it contingent upon the result of the lawsuit, but if the lawyer has financial limitations, this may also affect the case.
Getting the maximum settlement for the client is good for business. Word spreads. People talk about how this lawyer got the best settlement deal for their client. And more people who are thinking of filing a lawsuit will think about using this lawyer. And satisfied clients will also come back to the lawyer when they need legal advice and service and will direct their friends and loved ones to their attorney of choice.
Thus, settlement funding can be an effective tool, not just for the plaintiff/client but for the lawyer as well.
FastLawsuitMoney.com provides you with fast and reliable pre-settlement lawsuit funding. We only need to talk to the lawyer to discuss the case and determine whether the client is eligible for the funding. This can help the lawyer and their client work to get the maximum settlement value.