Few events can disrupt your life and derail your future plans like a serious injury or sudden death in the family. Beyond the emotional hardship, you may be facing steep healthcare expenses, lost income, and other damages. The Orinda personal injury attorneys at Harris Personal Injury Lawyers are ready to help you fight for the compensation you need to get your life back. We are dedicated to providing aggressive and compassionate representation through every stage of the claims process. Our lawyers have many decades of combined experience and the resources to take on even the largest insurance companies. To schedule a free consultation, call us today at 1-800-GO-HARRIS. Our attorneys work on contingency fee contracts, so you won’t have to pay any legal fees unless we win.

Types of Cases Our Orinda Personal Injury Lawyers Handle:

• Car Wrecks
• Large Truck Crashes
• Turo Accidents
• Boating Accidents
• Train Crashes
• Pedestrian Accidents
• Motorbike Crashes
• Scooter Accidents
• Premises Liability
• Slip and Falls
• Dog Attacks
• Bus Accidents
• Airplane, Helicopter, and Other Aircraft Accidents
• Bicycle Accidents
• Rideshare Accidents
• Brain Injuries
• Spinal Cord Injuries
• Severe Burn Injuries
• Wrongful Death
• Other Personal Injuries

What Evidence Will My Attorney Need to Support My Claim?

Every personal injury case is unique, so the types of evidence your lawyer will need to support your claim will depend on a variety of factors: how your injuries occurred, where the incident happened, whether police attended the scene, etc. Most claims are filed against the at-fault party’s insurance provider on the basis of negligence. To win such a claim, your attorney will have to prove:

• The at-fault party was negligent, meaning that he or she failed to exercise a level of care that a person of ordinary prudence would have exercised under the same circumstances;
• This negligence caused your injury or loss; and
• The value of your damages.

There are virtually limitless ways a person’s negligence can injure another individual. Common examples of negligence that may warrant a personal injury claim include:

• Drivers who speed, operate a vehicle while under the influence, or break other traffic laws, resulting in a car accident;
• Business establishments that fail to warn customers about hazards on the premises or fix those hazards in a reasonable amount of time, resulting in an injury to a customer; and
• Commercial truck drivers who violate the Hours of Service regulations by staying on the road for too many consecutive hours, leading to a collision.

The circumstances of your injury will ultimately determine the types of evidence your Orinda personal injury lawyer may use to prove liability. For instance, if you were hurt in a motor-vehicle crash, your lawyer might use the police report, dash cam footage, photos of the scene, eyewitness statements, and accident reconstruction expert testimony to prove fault. If you were hurt in a slip and fall at a supermarket, important evidence might include the incident report, surveillance footage, and testimony from other customers and staff. Besides proving the other party was negligent, your lawyer will also have to show that this negligence caused your injury or loss. Key evidence might include photos of the scene where the injury occurred, medical documentation, and pictures of your injuries. Your attorney will then have to prove the value of the damages you have incurred and will incur in the future due to the accident. In the state of California, personal injury claimants can pursue compensation for:

• Healthcare expenses;
• Lost income;
• Loss of future earnings;
• Property repairs and replacement;
• Other objectively verifiable losses such as home care and alternative transportation;
• Loss of consortium;
• Emotional distress;
• Loss of enjoyment of life;
• Pain and suffering; and
• Punitive damages, which may be available in cases involving fraud, oppression, or malice.

The kinds of evidence your attorney will use to prove the value of your damages will depend on the severity of your injuries and how they have affected your life. Generally speaking, the following evidence often plays an important role in proving damages:

• Invoices for emergency care, surgeries, physical therapy, and medications;
• Paystubs and income tax returns;
• Estimates for repairing any property that was damaged in the accident;
• Receipts for other accident-related expenses;
• Testimony from loved ones and caregivers regarding how the injury has affected your life and the lives of your family members;
• Testimony from medical and financial specialists; and
• Your journal about how the injuries have affected you personally.

There are many other types of evidence that might be valuable depending on the facts of your case. Much of this evidence might be withheld, but an Orinda personal injury lawyer at Harris Personal Injury Lawyers can apply legal pressure where necessary to obtain the evidence needed to support your claim.

Discuss Your Case with an Orinda Personal Injury Attorney

At Harris Personal Injury Lawyers, we are dedicated to helping the injured pursue the full compensation they deserve from the parties who have wronged them. With decades of experience and over $300 million recovered in settlements and verdicts, our attorneys are truly in a league of their own. To schedule a free consultation, send us a message or call 1-800-GO-HARRIS.