Personal Injury Lawyer in Charlottesville

How Can An Injury Lawyer In Charlottesville Help You?

For more than a century, the Charlottesville personal injury attorneys at Marks & Harrison have protected the rights of personal injury victims and the families of those who have died due to others’ negligence in wrongful death claims. We go to work right away on cases, appointing our investigation team (which includes a former state trooper and two former local police officers) to find out why our client was injured and who should be held responsible.

We also thoroughly review medical records and consult with experts to carefully assess damages. Our attorneys then seek to efficiently resolve cases through settlement negotiations, and they are always prepared to take a case to trial. Our goal is to make sure our clients receive all compensation they are due.

How Did Your Injury Occur In Charlottesville?

The personal injury attorneys of Marks & Harrison can assist clients in Charlottesville in a wide range of cases, including those that involve:

• Car accidents
  When you are injured or lose a loved one in a crash caused by another driver, we can help you to seek just compensation for all of your damages by filing a claim against the other driver and, if necessary, filing a claim through your own uninsured/underinsured motorist (UM/UIM) policy.
• Pedestrian accidents
  When a pedestrian and motor vehicle driver gets involved in a collision, a key issue may be who had the right of way. We thoroughly investigate these cases and fend off any efforts by insurance companies to wrongfully claim their insured driver had the right of way.
• Motorcycle accidents
  Our motorcycle accident lawyers at Marks & Harrison work aggressively to protect the rights of motorcyclists who are injured by careless and reckless drivers, including those harmed in hit-and-run accidents and those who suffer life-changing head or brain injuries. We will vigorously challenge any insurance company’s attempts to place undue blame on you for the crash.
• Truck accidents
  We know the importance of moving quickly to investigate accidents involving large commercial motor vehicles. Our truck accident lawyers can take immediate steps to preserve, gather and analyze evidence. We also can determine whether violations of state and/or federal trucking regulations contributed to the crash that harmed you or your loved one.
• Medical malpractice and nursing home abuse and neglect
  We have the experience and resources to handle these complex cases, including those which involve a misdiagnosis, emergency room mistake, surgical error, anesthesia error, medication error, or birth injuries. We also help families whose loved ones have been neglected or abused in nursing homes.
• Slip-and-fall injuries
  Our slip and fall lawyers work diligently on assisting clients who have suffered injuries from slip and falls that occur due to the negligence of property owners. In many cases, these slips and falls are caused by property owners’ failure to repair or warn about dangerous property conditions.
• Dog bites and animal attacks
  We protect the rights of clients who suffer severe cuts, infections, and other injuries after being attacked by dogs or other animals. We seek to hold negligent animal owners and handlers accountable for failing to take reasonable steps to control the animal and protect others, including children.
• Defective products
  When a product harms you after you use it as intended, the manufacturer and others in the distribution chain should be held accountable. The product may have been defectively designed or manufactured, or the manufacturer may have failed to provide an adequate warning about side effects and complications associated with the product.

When you are ready to take legal action, call or reach us online for a free consultation. Our practice is not limited to personal injury. Our lawyers can help the Charlottesville community with workers’ compensation and Social Security disability benefits. We can assist with initial claims for benefits as well as any appeals that may be pursued.

What Types Of Injury Cases Do Our Charlottesville Attorneys Handle?

Many of the clients we assist in Charlottesville suffer from catastrophic, or life-changing injuries, including:

• Traumatic brain injury
  A brain injury can lead to a coma or death. The victim may suffer long-term or permanent cognitive, motor control, and behavioral issues and never be the same again. Even a minor concussion may lead to lingering problems that prevent a person from being able to work or go to school. An experienced brain injury lawyer at Marks & Harrison can help.
• Back and spine injury
  One of the most common injuries in accidents is damage to the spine such as a sprain, strain, or a slipped or herniated disk. In the most severe cases, a victim may suffer the loss of sensation and control, or paralysis, in one or more limbs.
• Internal injury
  Many accident victims suffer no visible injuries and believe they are fine. However, as symptoms develop in the hours and days after the incident, they may discover that they have suffered internal bleeding or organ damage.
• Whiplash
  When a person’s head violently snaps forward and backward in a crash – especially in a rear-end collision – it can cause serious muscle, ligament, and other soft tissue damage at the base of the neck. The victim may suffer permanent chronic pain.
• Burn injury
  In many types of accidents, victims can suffer severe burns that cause disability and disfigurement and lead to other complications such as infections. A burn injury victim may need extensive medical treatment in order to repair the harm.
• Broken bones
  An accident can cause fractures that require extensive medical treatment, including surgery, and leave a victim unable to work for an extended period of time. Some fractures can result in a permanent full or partial disability.

A dedicated Charlottesville personal injury lawyer from Marks & Harrison will pay close attention to how you have been impacted by another person’s negligence. Our attorneys will aggressively pursue full and fair compensation for you and your family so that you can pay for your medical treatment and move on with your life. If you are hurt at work in Charlottesville our workers compensation lawyer can help.

What should you do if you’ve been in a car accident?

If you need emergency care – or anyone involved in the accident does, calling 9-1-1 should be your first phone call.

Report the accident to Charlottesville police or Albemarle police depending on where the collision happened.

If you are able, take photos and videos of every aspect of your accident and any injuries. Get the contact information for any witnesses. Ask the police where your vehicle has been towed so investigators can examine it and preserve critical evidence. Ask when a copy of the police report will be available.

Exchange contact information with the other driver and with any witnesses. Record license tag numbers of all vehicles involved.

It’s important to have a doctor evaluate your injuries. Even if you don’t detect any significant injuries, see a doctor as soon as you can. Some serious injuries may not be immediately apparent except to a trained healthcare provider.

Keep all your follow-up doctor’s appointments and therapy sessions.

If your accident was caused by another driver in Charlottesville, you should contact a car accident lawyer who has experience with the personal injury law of Virginia.

Marks & Harrison is one of the largest personal injury law firms in the state. With 11 offices in Virginia, including one in Charlottesville and one in Louisa, we’re never far away when you need an attorney to protect your rights, represent your interests, and lay the groundwork for your insurance claim.

What does a car accident attorney do?

After a car wreck, having a skilled Charlottesville car accident attorney on your side will give you peace of mind. In addition, there are important responsibilities a lawyer handles that you may not realize.

A personal injury lawyer from Marks & Harrison will investigate the accident and work to gather evidence to support your injury claim. Securing evidence is key. It’s important to act quickly to preserve evidence before it is lost.

Gathering evidence and developing a case involves talking to witnesses, analyzing police reports, gathering medical records, and evaluating expenses and lost wages. These are vital to the success of your claim.

Our overall goal is to get you the full compensation available by law, whether the accident occurred in Charlottesville, Richmond, or elsewhere in Virginia.

Our attorney will handle all communications with the insurance company. It’s important for communications with the other side to be firm, precise, and consistent. We can help you with this, freeing you to heal and recover.

Evidence will be the backbone of our settlement demand package. This package will cover the facts in ways that will convince the insurance company to negotiate toward a payout.

Should the insurance company refuse to negotiate, our attorneys are ready to go to court on your behalf. You can have confidence knowing that Marks & Harrison lawyers are fully capable of filing the appropriate legal documents and representing your case in court.

How much does a car accident lawyer cost? Is it worth it?

You may wonder, “How much do you charge?” Personal injury is an area of the law where all people have equal access to justice. The reason for this is the contingent fee agreement.

At Marks & Harrison, most of the cases we handle in the Charlottesville area involve a contingent fee contract. That means we do not get paid until and unless we recover money for you. This is the case whether we settle out of court or try your case in a court of law.

Full details of our fee and cost agreement will be explained to you in detail before we begin our work on your claim. Learn more at “How We Are Paid.”

When you retain an injury attorney from Marks & Harrison’s Charlottesville office, the amount you will be charged will be a percentage of the total amount of money we recover for you. Our firm routinely advances litigation expenses while the case is pending. Those expenses are deducted from your recovery at the conclusion of the case.

At Marks & Harrison, a contingent fee arrangement ensures our interests are aligned with yours.

What kind of settlement could you get for your car accident?

Your losses from an injury may include medical expenses, lost wages, pain and suffering, and, in some instances, property damage such as a totaled automobile.

As part of a personal injury lawsuit settlement, you may seek compensation for:

• Medical expenses, including reimbursement for ambulance transport, emergency room treatment, hospitalization, surgery, prescription drugs, rehabilitation therapy, crutches, wheelchair, hospital bed and even modifications to your home.
• Lost wages, which include loss of income while you cannot work because of your injuries and reduced income if you have to take a job that pays less because of an accident-related disability. It may include future lost income including retirement fund contributions, and lost opportunities for bonuses, commissions, promotions, and other career growth.
• Pain and suffering, which addresses the physical and emotional stress you experience. It’s often based on a multiple of medical damages. You may also demand compensation for disability, disfigurement and loss of enjoyment of life.
• Property damage, which in most car accident cases means to repair or replacement of your vehicle.
• Punitive damages, which are awarded in special circumstances to punish a driver whose actions were particularly bad, such as a drunk driver or a hit-and-run driver who was later caught.

How much you may be eligible to recover will depend on the severity of your injuries and the specific facts of your case.

How long do you have to find an attorney and file a claim after a car accident?

Contact an experienced personal injury attorney with Marks & Harrison as soon as possible after a Charlottesville car accident and after you’ve sought emergency medical attention. We will help you understand the legal steps available to you. If we handle your case, we will act promptly to preserve evidence and secure statements from witnesses. It’s best to gather this information while the accident is fresh.

Virginia law imposes a two-year statute of limitations for filing a personal injury action. After the time expires, you can no longer take such action. It takes time to prepare a case, so contact a Charlottesville injury attorney right away so we can get started.