Millions of accidents occur every year in the United States for a variety of reasons. If your accident occurred because of the negligence or recklessness of another person or entity, you could be entitled to financial compensation to help pay for the costs associated with your accident. Every person has a legal responsibility to not endanger others, and when people fail in this duty, devastating injuries can easily occur. At Robert Wilson & Associates, our St. Paul personal injury attorneys are dedicated to helping accident victims fight for financial compensation from the parties responsible for their unnecessary pain and suffering.
If you or someone you know has been injured by the actions or inaction of another party, you may be entitled to financial compensation. To learn more about how our attorneys can help you in this difficult time, contact the experienced St. Paul personal injury lawyers of Robert Wilson & Associates today by calling (612) 334-3444.
Do I Need A Personal Injury Lawyer?
No matter what kind of accident you are involved in and no matter how obvious it may seem that another party was at fault, you should never expect an insurance company to pay you what you need and deserve. Insurers are always looking for any way possible to minimize their liability and reduce whatever they pay to victims in these cases.
A representative from an insurance company for the negligent party in your case will likely contact you soon after your accident and inform you that a claims adjuster has been assigned to your case. The agent may be especially friendly and express a willingness to make sure you are taken care of, but you should take all of these promises with an enormous grain of salt.
A claims adjuster will usually ask you to provide a recorded statement, and you should always decline until you have legal representation. Recorded statements are routinely used to get victims to unknowingly admit to forms of negligence that ultimately damage their injury claims.
In other cases, an insurance company could quickly offer you a lump sum settlement and pressure you into accepting it to resolve your case. While you may be tempted to accept the money, especially if you are struggling with unexpected expenses, it is almost assuredly not enough to cover all of your future bills and accepting such an offer will usually lead to a person having to pay those expenses out of their own pocket.
A lawyer can handle communications with the insurance company on your behalf while you sit back and focus on your recovery. Lawyers know how to gather necessary evidence, file appropriate documentation, negotiate with insurance, and know when to start the litigation process. With a lawyer’s help, you are likely to receive far more compensation than you would on your own.
Why Choose Robert Wilson & Associates To Handle My Case?
Robert Wilson & Associates handles a wide variety of personal injury cases, and we fight to help people recover all of the compensation they are entitled to. Our firm will be committed to assisting you with every challenge you face during your case, including issues relating to medical treatment.
Robert E. Wilson has over a quarter-century of experience and was named a Minnesota Super Lawyer in 2003 and 2004. Mr. Wilson successfully argued for an improvement in the law for disabled persons in Kersten v. Minnesota Mutual Life Insurance Co., 608 N.W.2d 869. (Minn. 2000).
Our firm will work towards a fair and full settlement to your case. When an insurance company refuses to make a satisfactory offer, we can file a lawsuit to try your case in court.
You should also know that Robert Wilson & Associates will handle your case on a contingency fee basis. This means that you will pay nothing up front and we only assess legal fees when you receive a monetary award.
How We Can Help
The St. Paul personal injury attorneys of Robert Wilson & Associates have been providing the St. Paul area with quality legal services for years, and we are ready to take on a variety of cases, including those involving:
- Automobile accidents — According to the 2017 Minnesota Crash Facts from the Office of Traffic Safety in the Minnesota Department of Public Safety (DPS), 78,465 traffic crashes involving 145,168 motor vehicles and 175,115 people were reported to DPS in 2017, and 358 people were killed and 29,412 people suffered injuries. The estimated economic cost of these crashes to Minnesota was $1,799,084,000. The Office of Traffic Safety stated that 72 of the fatal crashes in 2017 were known to be drunk-driving related, 88 were speed-related, and 25 were related to distracted driving, and all three of these common causes are types of driver negligence that can make drivers liable for all damages stemming from a car accident.
- Slip and fall/premises liability cases — Premises liability is an area of law that concerns a property owner’s failure to maintain their property or warn visitors about potentially dangerous conditions. Slip and fall accidents are one of the most common kinds of premises liability claims, usually stemming from incidents involving wet, slippery flooring, stray electrical cords and wires, cracked or uneven flooring, snow and ice, inadequate lighting, defects in pavement, dirty and/or trash covered floors, potholes, ice, or curbs in parking lots, broken handrails, or torn floor mats.
- Dog bites/animal attacks — Minnesota dog bite laws operate under the doctrine of strict liability, meaning that as long as the victim was legally on the property where they were attacked and did not provoke the dog, they can recover financial compensation from the owner. Whether the dog had a violent history or not is irrelevant.
- Product liability cases — Most products sold to consumers are presumed to be safe to use, but certain dangerous or defective products can cause very serious injuries. In Minnesota, a product liability claim needs to prove that a defendant’s product was in a defective or dangerous condition relating to its intended use at the time of sale, the defect or dangerous condition existed when the product left the defendant’s control, and the defect or dangerous condition was the cause of the victim’s injuries. Product liability claims may be based on strict liability, negligence, or breach of warranty, depending on the details of your case.
- Traumatic brain injuries — A traumatic brain injury (commonly abbreviated simply as TBI) is one of the most devastating injuries a person can suffer, and the extent of the damage caused is not always visible to the average person. Some TBI victims may suffer particularly severe symptoms that require full-time 24-hour care, but even supposedly minor brain injuries can still create more subtle cognitive issues that make it difficult for some victims to return to their former jobs or even maintain any form of employment.
- Spine injuries — The spinal cord is how your brain sends information to the rest of your body, so an injury in which the spinal cord is damaged impacts how the brain communicates with the body can affect the way a person functions. The human vertebral column includes 33 vertebrae. The vertebrae affected by a spinal cord injury usually determines the extent of the injury. The general rule is the higher up the spinal cord, the more serious the injury. Injuries to the high-cervical nerves (C1-C4) are more serious than injuries to low-cervical nerves (C5-C7), often causing difficulty breathing or controlling bowel or bladder movements. Injuries to the vertebrae in the upper back (T1-T5) are more serious than injuries to the vertebrae in the middle of the back (T6-T12), with T1-T5 injuries possibly requiring a wheelchair while T6-T12 injury victims can usually walk again with braces. Injuries to the lumbar nerves (L1-L5) can also result in wheelchair use in some cases, but many are able to walk with braces.
- Burn injuries — Burn injuries are most commonly thermal burns resulting from contact with fire, hot objects, hot liquid, or steam, but some burns are electrical burns stemming from contact with electrical currents. Other kinds of burn injuries can also include radiation burns involving exposure to thermal radiation, ionizing radiation, or ultraviolet light (UV rays); chemical burns (also called alkali burns) resulting from contact with acidic substances; and friction burns stemming from rubbing skin against a rough surface. Burn injuries are most commonly classified into one of three degrees: First-degree burns involving superficial burns of only the epidermis, or the outer layer of the skin, that often heal within days; second-degree burns involving damage to the epidermis and the layer beneath it, the dermis; and third-degree burns which are full thickness burns involving damage or destruction to both layers of skin and extending into underlying tissues and sweat glands. Other possible but much less common burn injuries include fourth-degree burns extending into the fat, fifth-degree burns extending into the muscle, and sixth-degree burns extending into the bone.
- Wrongful deaths — When someone dies as a result of someone else’s negligence or maliciousness, certain surviving family members can pursue a wrongful death claim against the at-fault party. Wrongful death cases must be filed within three years of a person’s death, which may be a later date than the date of the accident or another event that caused the fatal injuries.
If you have been the victim of any of the above, you may be able to take legal action against those responsible for your injuries and other losses. When it comes to legal actions based on negligence in Minnesota, the state uses a modified comparative fault system for awarding damages.
Modified comparative fault means that a person can recover damages from a defendant so long as their negligence did not exceed the defendant’s. Furthermore, a person can have their jury award reduced by their percentage of contributory negligence to their accident, such that an individual who is awarded $100,000 in a personal injury action but is found to have been 25 percent at fault for their injuries will have their award reduced by $25,000 and ultimately receive $75,000.
Contact Us
Although accidents caused by the negligence of another party are unfortunately common, they are not excusable. If you were injured by someone else’s carelessness or recklessness, contact the experienced St. Paul personal injury attorneys of Robert Wilson & Associates today at (612) 334-3444 to see how we can help you with your case.