You’ve Just Been Injured, Now What?


Civil Litigation

One moment you are fine, and the next you find yourself injured because of another person’s actions or inactions. Does your injury count as a personal injury? If so, what are the next steps in your legal proceedings? According to our friends at Cohen and Cohen, a personal injury case occurs as follows:

You or someone you love suffers an injury.

This injury must be due to someone else’s negligence. This might look like medical malpractice, a car accident, defective products, premises liability, and more. Your injury must have resulted from something that someone should have taken care of already. For example, if a business sells a product that they are aware could catch fire easily but does not warn the consumer, and you receive burns from using this product, then you have a personal injury case.

It’s time to contact a lawyer.

After determining that your injuries could have been preventable if the other party in the case followed the law, you should then contact a personal injury lawyer. A knowledgeable attorney will provide you with a consultation. If they choose to take on your case, they will require you to provide any documents or evidence you have on hand showing the causes of your injury. These documents might be medical records or police reports. Other forms of evidence may be witness testimonials or photos and videos of the incident in question. Your lawyer will take this information and conduct their own investigation to ensure help get you the compensation you deserve.

File a claim.

Once your lawyer has completed their investigation, it’s time to file your claim. Your attorney will complete all the necessary paperwork and guide you through this process. This claim is to alert the proper parties that you have been injured and are seeking compensation for said injuries. At this time there is not much that you will need to do for your case, as your lawyer will generally handle everything.

Accept a settlement or go to court.

After filing a claim, your lawyer will negotiate with the other party. In most cases, this means negotiating with the insurance companies that are involved in covering your injuries. Insurance companies want to protect their bottom line. Your lawyer wants to protect you and your interests. Insurance companies may make multiple offers. You are not required to accept any of these offers. In fact, your lawyer may advise you not to accept a settlement if they know the insurance companies are not offering fair dollar amounts. Should you choose not to accept the settlement, your lawyer will then work to take your case to court.

Work through a trial.

Although you are working through a personal injury case, it is important to note that personal injury law is simply a subset of civil law. When your case goes to trial, it is at this point that you are working with a civil litigation attorney on your personal injury case. They will represent your interests in court in front of a judge. Your lawyer will work to fight for the compensation you deserve. If necessary, a judge or jury will review your case and decide on the compensation (if any) you should be rewarded for the injuries you suffered.

If you or a loved one has recently been injured due to someone else’s negligence, contact an experienced attorney for guidance with your case.

The information in this blog post does not constitute legal advice, nor create and attorney-client relationship. Laws constantly change, and this information may become outdated; moreover, the information here is only a general overview and may omit some aspects of the law. It is provided for discussion purposes only; not to be relied as legal advice.

©2025 Lanza & Smith PLC. All rights reserved.

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