When the headlines announce big jury verdicts, some people are fooled into thinking that a jury verdict is to be an expected outcome of every lawsuit. But, in fact, 95% of lawsuits result in settlements rather than jury verdicts. That is to say, only about one in 20 lawsuits will end up with a jury verdict at trial, rather than a settlement.
What is it?
A settlement is an agreement in which the person who was injured agrees to accept personal injury compensation in exchange for dismissing a claim for damages against the defendant who caused the injury. A settlement is often exclusively an award of money, but settlements can also include non-monetary awards, such as an apology from the defendant or a change in policy and procedure.
When does it occur?
For a personal injury case, the settlement can occur at any point from the time the injured person contacts an attorney to the very end of a trial. The case could be settled even before the Complaint is filed. But it’s more common for a personal injury settlement to occur after the Complaint has been filed and before the case goes to trial. Sometimes, attorneys for both sides might not enter settlement negotiations until after they start trial. And the injury claim process is so variable that sometimes settlement negotiations may continue even after the point at which the jury has heard the entire trial and begins deliberating. There have been many frustrated juries that come back to the court after spending hours or even days deliberating, only to be told by the judge that the lawyers reached a settlement!
Why enter into a settlement?
Many cases resolve by settlement before trial begins. Indeed, a main motivation in settling the case before trial is that trials can be expensive and risky. Even if your case seems strong, you can never truly predict what the jury will think and what conclusion they will draw. Perhaps they agree that the defendant caused your injuries, but what if they think you’re not really that injured? They may grant you a very small award.
To eliminate that risk of a jury that doesn’t agree with your position, both sides have to give in a little to reach a settlement. Indeed, settlements are often compromises. President Dwight D. Eisenhower is attributed as saying, “Compromise is like the middle of the road; always safer to walk on than the edges.” Thus, settlement is a safe way to ensure that both parties walk away with something reassuring: for the injured person, they walk away with guaranteed compensation; for the defendant, they walk away with the relief of not risking a large jury verdict in favor of the plaintiff.
If you would like to consult with experienced personal injury lawyers, contact the attorneys at VSCP Law.
If you think you have been a victim of surgical errors, here are some ways you can maximize compensation in your medical malpractice case.
PRESERVE EVIDENCE
Often, victims of surgical errors inadvertently lose or destroy key pieces of evidence. It is imperative that you preserve all necessary records and items pertaining to your surgical errors medical malpractice case. If you are unsure whether a document is essential to your case, err on the side of holding onto it. Keep everything you can because you don’t know yet what item will become crucial to the success of your case.
Examples of evidence include medical records, intake forms, toxicology reports, labwork, prescription slips, photographs and videos, work records, financial statements, and physical objects that are related to the medical malpractice (e.g., prescription bottles, medical devices, etc.). Even media such as emails, text messages, and social media posts should be preserved in case they can help your case.
Again, the absence of these items could reduce the value and success of your surgical errors medical malpractice case.
KEEP UP WITH FOLLOW-UP MEDICAL CARE
An error that victims of medical malpractice often make is failing to go to their follow-up care. Whether it’s out of a distrust of doctors, inconvenience, or physical discomfort, some people just discontinue seeking medical treatment after their medical injury. This is a huge mistake. You may seek a second opinion, you may change doctors, but you should not skip your follow up care. Further, make sure to document and keep track of all out-of-pocket medical expenses. Extensive follow-up care helps establish your future care needs for your surgical errors medical malpractice case and, hopefully and most importantly, it also helps you recover.
DOCUMENT YOUR INJURY AND RECOVERY
In order to maximize compensation, it will be important to establish that the effects of the surgical errors are continually burdensome. Make sure to take photos and videos throughout your journey to give a visual picture of the scarring and disfigurement you’re suffering. Journaling is another way to keep track of your injury and the uncomfortable effects of it.
It’s also helpful to document your conversations with healthcare providers. With time, your memory may fade a little so try to write down conversations with healthcare and rehabilitation providers soon after they occur.
TALK TO A LAWYER
In addition to the above important steps, a step you should take early on in the process is to consult with a medical malpractice lawyer. This lawyer will be able to make sure you abide by all the necessary regulations, including the time-sensitive statute of limitations. Your lawyer also knows all the important steps you need to take to maximize compensation and will help guide you through them.
If you believe you are a victim of surgical errors, contact the medical malpractice attorneys at VSCP Law.
In 2020, when the COVID-19 pandemic changed the world as we know it, hospitals and doctors’ offices had to scramble to transform traditional medical practice into one that could survive widespread shutdown orders. And thus, telemedicine – for the first time in history – became the primary way doctors and patients interacted with each other for most outpatient appointments. “Telemedicine” – also referred to as “telehealth” – is the delivery of healthcare using electronic information and technology, such as computers, videoconferencing, wireless communications, and the internet.
DEFICIENCIES IN TELEMEDICINE
While this form of virtual healthcare is inarguably more convenient than in-person healthcare, it is not necessarily better. Indeed, both doctors and patients will concur that some in-person visits are essential for proper care, diagnosis, and treatment. For instance, a dermatologist would have a difficult time establishing whether a mole is cancerous simply by looking at it on the small screen on her laptop. Instead, she’d have to look at it in person, from different angles and distances, tap it, squeeze it, and measure it to truly know whether it should be biopsied to check for cancer.
TELEMEDICINE AND PERSONAL INJURY LIABILITY
As to how telemedicine affects personal injury and medical malpractice lawsuits, it operates under the same laws as traditional, in-person medicine. That is to say, if you have been injured because of what a doctor or medical team has done or not done, then you might have a valid medical malpractice lawsuit. This is true whether the treatment took place in the same room or across the telecommunications highway. Even when the doctor is communicating with you and rendering medical treatment through electronic means, they must provide you proper care and if they don’t, they could be liable for your injuries.
TELEMEDICINE AND PERSONAL INJURY LAWSUITS
As in traditional personal injury lawsuits, telemedicine lawsuits will require the thorough preservation of evidence. Evidence includes health summaries, hospital notes, prescription slips, lab results, and other medical reports. When the doctor or hospital provides virtual care, they have the same duties to make an adequate record of their treatment of the patient. Even though the setting is different, their obligations to their patients are the same. Notably, it can be argued that the virtual healthcare setting is ripe for more medical mistakes. Indeed, as mentioned above, how can anyone be certain of a proper diagnosis when it’s rendered through a video conversation rather than through a thorough in-person screening?
Telemedicine cases can open up new issues for personal injury lawyers such as, where should the Complaint be filed if the patient was in one state and/or county and the doctor rendering care was in another? This and other confounding issues make the need to hire an experienced personal injury lawyer that much greater.
To consult with an experienced personal injury attorney about your potential telemedicine personal injury case, contact the lawyers at VSCP Law.
According to the John Lewis Institute for Social Justice, “social justice” is “a communal effort dedicated to creating and sustaining a fair and equal society in which each person and all groups are valued and affirmed.” Further, it seeks to end “all systems that devalue the dignity and humanity of any person.”
Given that social justice is an effort at the community level, how are personal injury lawyers advancing it? In order to understand that, first let’s explore a sampling of contexts in which certain persons are devalued, thereby creating the need for social justice advocacy.
WORKPLACE
In workplaces across the country, companies may engage in racist hiring, retention, compensation, and termination practices. Other unfair practices may include, for example, not providing proper safety equipment to a subgroup of workers, rendering them more likely than their colleagues to suffer serious injury from workplace accidents. Personal injury lawyers advance social justice when they fight on the behalf of these injured workers and ensure workplace safety is prioritized over company profit.
PUBLIC ACCESS
Disability rights are social justice rights. In other words, those in the disability community are included in the group of marginalized people who seek a fairer and more equitable society. There are various circumstances where a personal injury lawyer can help fight for disability rights. For instance, let’s say a company fails to comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). The ADA mandates that public accommodations (whether owned by the government, a non-profit organization, or a private company) must meet certain minimum standards for accessibility. Failure to meet these guidelines can cause people in the disabled community serious injury. A personal injury attorney can sue the company on behalf of the injured person.
CRIMINAL JUSTICE
Section 1983 of Title 42 of the United States Code provides an individual the right to sue state government employees and others for civil rights violations. Prisoners can use Section 1983, for example, to sue the prison for inhabitable living conditions, faulty healthcare, or the failure of a security guard to protect a prisoner during an assault. Other possible claims against a prison include false arrest, wrongful conviction, false imprisonment, abuse of process, and the use of excessive force. A personal injury lawyer can file a lawsuit against the prison and other government entities for the personal injuries they caused to the client.
As may be obvious, in many examples of social justice violations, there’s a corporate greed that seems to be valued over human safety. Often, injuries happen to people because the company is more concerned with their bottom line than the health, wellbeing, and safety of others.
Personal injury lawyers can help drive societal and systemic change by holding profit-hungry corporations, companies, agencies, and organizations accountable for their actions and inactions. And, notably, change happening at the court level operates at lightning-fast pace compared to change happening at the congressional or legislative levels.
To fight inequality and further social justice, hire the personal injury lawyers and social justice advocates at VSCP Law.
If you believe you’ve been injured as the result of someone else’s actions or inactions, you should consult with a Philadelphia personal injury attorney. Read on to understand the two main things you can do to prepare for the consultation.
GATHER INFORMATION
When you meet with a Pennsylvania personal injury lawyer, try to have with you documents that will be necessary in determining whether you have a viable case. Documents that may be necessary include: your work history, medical records, cell phone records, photos, emails, medical records and reports, statements from eyewitnesses, contact information for eyewitnesses, police report, and other information that helps establish what was happening immediately before you got injured as well as how you got injured and what happened after you were injured.
The more evidence you bring to your initial meeting with the Philadelphia personal injury lawyer, the better. And personal injury lawyers will always appreciate it if you organize the notes and records to make the review of them that much easier.
Notably, sometimes, your attorney might tell you not to do things that you think you probably should. For instance, if you were in a car accident, you may be inclined to have your car repaired immediately. But your Pennsylvania personal injury attorney would advise against that. How your car looks and how damaged your car is due to the accident are crucial elements of evidence and should not be altered. Thus, before the car is repaired, your lawyer may want to take a look and send an automotive expert to do so as well.
BE READY TO SIGN FORMS
Before the Pennsylvania personal injury lawyer can review all of the crucial evidence for your case, you need to sign a Contingent Fee Agreement with them. This agreement establishes the
client-attorney relationship. It stipulates that you, the client, do not need to pay the lawyer anything upfront. The lawyer will assume all the costs and expenses to build and try your case. The lawyer only gets paid back for all of those costs and expenses if the lawsuit is successful.
To find a personal injury attorney in Pennsylvania who will review the evidence you collect, thoroughly evaluate your case, file a complaint, and win a successful outcome for you, contact the experienced personal injury attorneys at VSCP Law.
If you are wondering, when is the best time to file a lawsuit? A Philadelphia personal injury attorney would tell you: “sooner, rather than later!”
Before examining why filing your lawsuit as-early-as-possible is the best approach, it’s important to understand Pennsylvania’s statute of limitations law.
Pennsylvania Statute of Limitations
Pennsylvania’s statute of limitations allows you two years from when you knew or should have known that your injury was caused by what the defendant did or didn’t do.
For example, in the case of a deceased party, Pennsylvania law allows you two years from the official death date to file a wrongful death medical malpractice lawsuit. This restriction is typically referred to as the wrongful death statute of limitations.
Timeliness of Evidence
Think of all the evidence a Philadelphia personal injury lawyer may need to present at trial to prove that the defendant’s negligence caused your injuries. In the case of an auto accident: police reports; eyewitness statements; photos of the car prior and immediately after the accident; statements from the tow truck company, the automotive repair company, and the insurance adjuster; records of the defendant’s cell phone activity immediately prior to the accident; emergency room and other medical records, including x-rays, CT scans, radiology reports, blood labs, toxicology reports, intake notes, and vitals for both you and the defendant. This list is in no way exhaustive.
What is essential to understand is that some evidence is finite in quality. That is to say, some evidence is more fresh closer to the date of the incident. Witness statements, for example: the testimony of eyewitnesses to the accident that caused your injury will not be fresh forever. With time, the crispness of the memory fades and the details become blurry. That’s why it’s essential to collect witness statements as soon as possible after the injury.
Timeline of Most Personal Injury Cases
Even if you file your lawsuit promptly, there will still be a wait time of at least a couple of years before your case goes to trial. Between the time your attorney files the Complaint and the actual trial is a lengthy period called “Discovery,” in which both sides to the lawsuit request, exchange, and examine information and evidence pertaining to the case. This includes depositions of parties, experts writing reports, and often a series of motions and hearings on evidentiary issues.
And notwithstanding the considerable length of the discovery period, another delay looms large in Philadelphia: cases are backlogged due to the closure of courts during the early months of the COVID pandemic. So, there is a long line of postponed trials that get priority over recently-filed cases.
In sum, the sooner you file your lawsuit, the less time you’ll have to wait until the trial. To talk with an experienced Philadelphia personal injury lawyer to help you file your lawsuit in the most timely manner, contact VSCP Law.
How can your Philadelphia personal injury attorney get you the best value for your injuries? Read on to learn the five best ways to increase the value of your personal injury settlement.
Pennsylvania personal injury lawyers know that one of the most important actions they can take to increase the value of a personal injury case is to aggressively pursue and preserve evidence. They know what actions must be taken early in the process such as ordering medical records; reviewing police reports; and collecting witness statements, photographs, and videos. The presence or absence of these crucial forms of evidence could determine whether your lawsuit is successful or not. Much of the critical evidence is in the possession of the defendant and if those items aren’t requested early in the process, the defendant might destroy them, even inadvertently. Thus, you need an experienced Pennsylvania personal injury attorney to pursue and preserve any and all necessary evidence.
Your personal injury attorney will aggressively seek as much evidence as possible, but the clients, themselves, need to do some work too. Personal injury clients usually have firsthand access to medical records, financial documents, police reports, photographs, and videos, and all of these items can be useful in increasing the value of your personal injury case.
Let’s say you coached your kids’ soccer teams for years until you were injured. You also played soccer on an intramural team. Now, as the result of your personal injury, you can no longer play soccer or even coach your kids’ teams. How do you prove that you were once a great player and coach? Photographs, trophies, etc. How do you prove that you’re too injured to play and coach? Document your physical struggles, journal your pain, take photos/videos of yourself on days you cannot get out of bed. How you were before your injury and how you suffer since your injury all help to increase the value of your personal injury case. And you are in the best position to attain and collect this evidence.
At times, insurance companies might reach out to you and try to settle the case early “before getting lawyers involved.” This is a mistake. Whatever amount the insurance company tells you they will settle the case for is typically far less than what a Philadelphia personal injury lawyer can collect for you. Don’t be tempted to settle the case early with an insurance company. Get a lawyer involved so that your lawyer can get you the highest possible value of your case.
Your best chance of getting the most value out of your personal injury settlement is to listen to your lawyer and follow their advice. Your personal injury lawyer has years of experience trying similar cases, has worked against many defense firms and insurance companies, and knows the ins and outs of the Pennsylvania judicial system.
To find an experienced Pennsylvania personal injury attorney, contact the lawyers at VSCP Law.
When someone dies and their family successfully sues the party responsible for the death, the family may recover compensation for the loss of their family member. There are two possible avenues for the family to collect money: Wrongful Death and Survival Action. They are not the same. Read on to learn the difference.
Wrongful Death
Under the Pennsylvania Wrongful Death Act, the family of the deceased may collect:
Past Lost Contributions. This is the amount that the family has lost between the time of the death to the present. It includes the money the deceased family member would have spent on or given to his family for things like food, clothing, medical care, education, and even gifts and recreation.
Future Loss of Contributions. This is the amount of money that fairly compensates the family for the loss of future gifts the deceased family member would have given. In other words, the contributions the deceased family member would make from today until the deceased family member would have died had there been no negligence. For instance, if the deceased family member had a life expectancy of 85 years, you would calculate how many years until she would have reached the age of 85 and you would be compensated for the loss of her contributions for that period of time.
Past and Future Noneconomic Damages. When someone dies, they can no longer give their family their companionship, emotional comfort, sense of humor, etc. The family can be compensated for the profound emotional and psychological loss of their treasured family member.
Survival Action
Under the Pennsylvania Survival Action, the family member of the deceased person can collect:
Past Lost Earnings. If there is a period of time that took place between the time of the negligent act and the time of the death, the family is entitled to be paid for the amount the deceased person would have earned in damages between those two events: negligence and death.
Future Loss of Earnings. This amount covers how much the deceased family member would have earned from today to his life expectancy, as explained above.
Past Noneconomic Damages. When someone is injured as the result of someone’s negligence, they don’t always die immediately. Sometimes, they could suffer briefly and sometimes they could suffer for a prolonged amount of time before they die. Whatever length that period is, it can be a category of damages. The family of the deceased person can recover money for the mental and physical pain, suffering, and loss of life’s pleasures from the moment she’s injured to the moment of her death.
It is often the case that the family is entitled to both Wrongful Death and Survival Action damages. It is up to your experienced wrongful death lawyer to plead these claims and ensure that you get the most compensation for your loss. To speak with an experienced wrongful death attorney, contact VSCP Law.
A personal injury attorney may be the key to your successful personal injury case. Here are five reasons you should hire one.
It’s very possible that someone else is responsible for your injuries. Either through their actions or inactions, someone else caused you to suffer an injury. The only way to truly know whether someone else played a part in your injuries is to hire a Philadelphia personal injury attorney. Your attorney will investigate the facts leading up to your injuries and make a professional determination as to whether the other person was negligent and thus liable to you for your injuries.
Your attorney will gather evidence that is critical to your case. If you were injured in a slip and fall, your attorney might collect building records, weather history, janitorial schedules, etc. If you were injured in a car accident, your attorney might gather auto mechanic invoices, cell phone records, and the defendants’ driving records. Other examples of evidence that your Pennsylvania personal injury lawyer will collect include witness statements, photographs and videos, and all physical objects that are related to the events leading up to your injury.
And after all that, if your personal injury lawyer determines that there is no negligence that caused your injury and there is no one to sue, you won’t lose any money. Your attorney undergoes all that investigation at zero initial cost to you.
In many cases, a personal injury lawsuit is complicated and requires expert review and analysis. Your personal injury lawyer in Scranton has access to the best experts in the country. They will ensure that the most appropriate and qualified experts review your case. And they will ensure that those experts write an ironclad report to bolster your claim in court.
People tend to (wrongly) think they can keep things simple by handling everything by themselves. They don’t want to get lawyers involved because they worry that there are hidden costs or that it will take too much effort or time. When you file a claim with your insurance company, the insurance company may try to convince you that they can handle everything. More often than not, an insurance company will undervalue your case. In other words, they will tell you that they can only collect a certain amount of money (because that is the maximum amount they’d be able to collect for you). Whatever amount the insurance company tells you is typically far less than what a Philadelphia personal injury lawyer can collect for you.
Under Pennsylvania law, there are two main categories of compensation: economic and non-economic. Economic damages are quantifiable; the exact figure can be established with documentation. They include lost wages, medical expenses, and future health-related costs.
Non-economic damages are not quantifiable – they are more of a subjective assessment of your suffering. They include loss of companionship, embarrassment, emotional distress, loss of quality of life, and pain and suffering.
Your personal injury lawyer in Pennsylvania knows how to build a case that is designed to help compensate you for your suffering and make sure that you get the most money possible for your injuries.
An experienced personal injury attorney knows what actions must be taken early in the process such as ordering medical records; reviewing police reports; and collecting witness statements, photographs, and videos. The presence or absence of these crucial forms of evidence could determine whether your lawsuit is successful or not.
Much of the critical evidence is in the possession of the defendant and if those items aren’t requested early in the process, the defendant could destroy them.
Thus, you need a Pennsylvania personal injury attorney to preserve any and all necessary evidence.
To find an experienced personal injury in Philadelphia or Scranton, Pennsylvania to represent you, contact the attorneys at VSCP Law.
People who get injured may decide not to hire a Philadelphia personal injury lawyer. They may think their injury wasn’t that bad. They may not want to make a fuss. They may wonder if their actions contributed in any way to the injury. But there are many more reasons to hire a Philadelphia personal injury attorney than not to. Below are some reasons that a person might hire a lawyer after suffering an injury.
It’s very possible that someone else is responsible for your injuries. Either through their actions or inactions, someone else caused you to suffer an injury. The only way to truly know whether someone else played a part in your injuries is to hire a Pennsylvania personal injury attorney. Your attorney will investigate the facts leading up to your injuries and make a professional determination as to whether the other person was negligent and thus liable to you for your injuries.
Your attorney will gather evidence that is critical to your case. If you were injured in a slip and fall, your attorney might collect building records, weather history, janitorial schedules, etc. If you were injured in a car accident, your attorney might gather auto-mechanic invoices, cell phone records, and the defendants’ driving records. Other examples of evidence that your Pennsylvania personal injury lawyer will collect include witness statements, photographs and videos, and all physical objects that are related to the events leading up to your injury.
And after all that, if your personal injury lawyer determines that there is no negligence that caused your injury and there is no one to sue, you won’t have lost any money. Your attorney undergoes all that investigation at zero cost to you.
In many cases, a personal injury lawsuit is complicated and requires expert review and analysis. Your personal injury lawyer in Scranton has access to the best experts in the country. They will ensure that the most appropriate and qualified experts review your case. And they will ensure that those experts write an ironclad report to bolster your claim in court.
Under Pennsylvania law, there are two main categories of compensation: economic and non-economic. Economic damages are quantifiable; the exact figure can be established with documentation. They include lost wages, medical expenses, and future health-related costs.
Non-economic damages are not quantifiable – they are more of a subjective assessment of your suffering. They include loss of companionship, embarrassment, emotional distress, loss of quality of life, and pain and suffering.
Your personal injury lawyer in Philadelphia knows how to build a case that is designed to help compensate you for your suffering and make sure that you get the most money possible for your injuries.
To find an experienced personal injury to represent you, contact the attorneys at VSCP LAW (www.vscplaw.com)