Articles Posted in Car Accidents

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verdict-300x200In civil litigation, there are several processes that go on at the same time. One is the conducting of the adversarial process in accordance with the rules of court that exist in Louisiana. Civil litigation, of course, is not just a mere game; it is more than just a series of rules and a contest that determines a winner and a loser. It is also the pursuit of justice. To achieve that end, the law allows you certain latitude in the conduct of your case. Put another way, Louisiana law is clear that hyper-technical compliance with rules should never trump fundamental fairness and should not prevent a deserving person from obtaining justice through a civil judgment. To ensure you get the justice you deserve in the Louisiana courts, make sure you have a knowledgeable New Orleans injury attorney on your side.

To understand this importance of prioritizing justice over hyper-technical compliance, there’s the case of B.T. and G.B. from Monroe. The injury that spawned this lawsuit arose from an intersection collision. D.T. ran through a stop sign and hit the vehicle driven by B.T. The impact hurt both B.T. and her passenger, G.B. B.T. and G.B. sued D.T. and his insurer. In their lawsuit, the pair alleged that D.T., by failing to yield at the stop sign, was 100% to blame for the accident and for their injuries. While the lawsuit named both D.T. and the insurer as defendants, only the insurer was served initially.

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Louisiana_map-300x210In a Louisiana personal injury legal case, you may hear many technical words and phrases tossed around. You might hear things like “venue,” “personal jurisdiction,” “subject matter jurisdiction” or “territorial jurisdiction.” These things can be extremely important to your case because if you sue in the wrong court where jurisdiction isn’t present your action may get dismissed. Even if you are allowed to re-file later, it will cost you valuable time and may cost you your case entirely if the statute of limitations has run out. That’s why it is so important to get it right the first time. To that end, you should be sure that you have legal representation from a knowledgeable New Orleans injury attorney, to avoid these legal traps that can potentially stymie otherwise deserving plaintiffs.

One injury case that included extensive arguments about jurisdiction was the auto accident case of C.T. C.T. was injured in New Orleans in the fall of 2011. One year minus one day later, she sued in parish court in Jefferson Parish to seek compensation for her injuries. The injured woman sued the other driver and his auto insurer. The defense tried to attack the lawsuit using a procedural approach. They argued that because the accident happened in Orleans Parish and the defendant driver lived in Orleans Parish, the court in Jefferson Parish didn’t have jurisdiction to try the case.

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filling_deadlines-300x200In your auto accident injury case, you’ll likely face many types of opposition from the other side. They may argue that you do not have enough evidence to have a valid case, that you’ve sued the wrong party, that the court lacks jurisdiction to rule for you, or that you’ve fallen short of procedural requirements, such as filing deadlines. Whether the potential hurdle placed in your way is jurisdictional, factual or procedural, it is important to have a skilled advocate on your side to overcome that hurdle. For this kind of representation, be sure to rely on a skilled and experienced Louisiana injury attorney.

One type of filing deadline with which many people are familiar is the statute of limitations. There are actually many other deadlines, depending on the circumstances, imposed by the statutes and the court rules. These deadlines are very important, because missing even one may be enough to cause the dismissal of your case, meaning you receive no compensation.

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Jury-300x199You went to trial… and you lost. But then, after the verdict, you find out there was jury misconduct. What do you do? What can you do?

Sometimes, cases are clear-cut. In fact, sometimes, the defense may even admit liability. Other times, however, each side will strongly present almost diametrically opposed descriptions of the underlying facts, and leave it in the jury’s hands to decide which side is more credible. In any injury case, but especially if your case falls into that latter category, you need to make sure that your outcome is decided by a jury free of prejudicial misconduct. If jury misconduct does happen, you need to know how to handle it. In other words, no matter what comes you way, you need to make sure that you have experienced New Orleans personal injury counsel on your side to handle your auto accident case.

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Many of us know the dangers of traveling streets or roads as a pedestrian. Pedestrians can be easily overlooked and, if struck, have the least amount of protection. However, one does not need to be walking on a major road to be in danger of harm while on foot. Even a trip to the local home improvement store can carry these risks. Whether your accident was along a major road or happened inside a store parking lot, it is important to be sure you know how to get all the information and assess all the facts. Sometimes, you may find that there are more people and/or entities who are liable to you than otherwise might have believed. To get the clearest picture of all of your options in the legal system, reach out to a skilled Louisiana injury attorney right away.

Take, for instance, the case of B.M. B.M. was a man who was visiting an Alexandria big-box home improvement store in October 2015. As B.M. exited the store, another customer, L.C., backed up and struck B.M. with his Chevy Silverado pickup truck.

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lawsuit_Problem-300x200The above question is not an unreasonable one. It’s one among many circumstances that illustrate how many different challenges or unique things can happen in your Louisiana injury case. Many of these may be things for which you are unprepared or, at least, are not equipped (in terms of legal knowledge) to utilize to your maximum advantage. So, if you have sued and the party who injured you filed his pleadings too late, or did not file anything at all, there may be ways to obtain a judgment in your favor without the other side’s participation and without requiring a full trial. For the advice and representation you need when unusual things like this happen, be sure you’re equipped with a skilled Louisiana injury attorney on your side.

When the other side does not respond in a timely manner or doesn’t respond at all to your lawsuit filing, you can choose from several different options. One of these is called a default judgment. A default judgment is a judgment ordered by the court in which the judge says that you filed your lawsuit properly, that you laid out all of the required elements of the claims you asserted, that the other side did not respond, and that you are entitled to a judgment in your favor on all claims as a result. This kind of judgment is just as binding as if you went through a full trial and received a jury verdict in your favor.

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I’ve been injured in an auto accident by a delivery driver driving a car belonging to another person. What is the best way to proceed with my case?

In modern slang or metaphorical language, the phrase “lots of moving parts” or “a lot of moving parts” is considered to be an alternate way of saying that something is complex or has numerous working pieces to manage. Many times, your Louisiana auto accident case can be something that has lots of moving parts. There is the identification of the proper defendants, including possibly the driver, the driver’s employer, the vehicle’s owner and one or more insurance companies. There’s the pre-trial discovery process and the collection of evidence. There’s decision-making like whether to settle or to take the case to a jury verdict. These, of course, are just to name a few.

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pedestrian_accident-300x200

When you’ve been injured in a vehicle accident, whether you’re a pedestrian, driver, passenger or cyclist, you may have certain legal options available to you. You may know that you can go to court and sue the driver who crashed into you. But, you may not know that there’s often more to a completely successful result than that. There may be procedural maneuvers that an experienced attorney will know to make to protect your interests that you, as a non-lawyer, would not reasonably be expected to know about. In other words, your auto accident injury case is too important to leave anything to risk, so be sure you have a skilled Louisiana injury attorney advocating for you.

A case highlighting this truth was the negligence action pursued by W.B., who was a pedestrian injured in Jefferson Parish. According to her lawsuit, she was standing behind her vehicle when A.G. crashed into W.B.’s vehicle with her vehicle, causing W.B. to suffer substantial injuries.

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Sometimes you are injured in a crash through absolutely no fault of your own. Another driver does something ill-advised and negligent, and there is nothing you can do to avoid the collision. When that happens, you’ll probably want to seek compensation in court and you’ll likely argue that the other driver was 100% at fault and 100% liable for your damages.

In a case like that, the defendant driver and/or their auto insurance company may argue that you, the injured plaintiff, were actually to blame for the accident, at least in part. All drivers in Louisiana are required to drive at a safe speed, keep a proper lookout and keep their vehicles under control at all times. A defendant driver may try to claim, in an effort to reduce their damages (or avoid them entirely,) that you failed to do one or more of those required things. When that happens, you need an experienced Louisiana injury attorney to help you defeat those arguments.

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Roughly half-way between New Orleans and Baton Rouge, a mid-March accident claimed the life of one Louisiana man. That man, a 54-year-old from Holden, left behind a fiancée, a mother, two siblings and many nieces and nephews. He was killed by a driver whom police believed to be driving while intoxicated. Certainly, a DWI that causes injury or death usually will be a criminal matter. However, if you were injured (or a loved one killed) by an intoxicated driver, what you and your family may need is often much more than just the closure that comes from an intoxicated driver’s criminal punishment.

The law gives people injured (and the loved ones of people killed) by intoxicated drivers the ability to seek compensation in criminal court. To get the answers you need and to find how best to go about pursuing your legal options, be sure to reach out promptly to a skilled Louisiana injury attorney.

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