Welcome To The Law Office Of J. Ridge Hicks In Arizona

Arizona law permits the victims of injuries caused by the negligence of another person or a business entity to seek out fair compensation for the physical, emotional, and financial losses they have suffered. An injured person who is seeking compensation in Mesa, AZ can file a negligence claim with the assistance of a personal injury attorney. Negligence occurs when a person or a business fails to put forth the same level of care that a reasonable person or business would contribute in the same or a very similar situation. In order to be permitted to recover in a personal injury lawsuit in Mesa, Arizona, the injured individual and their personal injury attorney must be able to prove to the court that the defendant did legally owe them a certain duty of care. They must prove that the defendant then breached that duty of care, and they must prove that the breach of care the defendant committed resulted in an injury to the plaintiff that would have been foreseeable to any reasonable person. Finally, it must be proven that the victim did suffer actual damages as a result of their injury.

The owner of a shopping venue, for example, owes a certain legal duty of care to all of the customers who enter that property. A professional truck driver has a legal duty to obey any and all state and federal trucking laws any time that he or she is driving their commercial vehicle. A doctor must follow whichever may be the prevailing standards of professional care in their area of specialty during the time that they are treating a particular patient. If any of these individuals or businesses fail to meet the standards of care that are required from them, they can be held liable for any injuries that result from that negligence.

The smartest move any victim who has suffered injuries due to, for example, a drunk driver in Arizona can make is to immediately hire an auto accident attorney to pursue compensation for his or her damages. These recoverable damages can include pain and suffering, lost wages, medical expenses, property damage, and any other type of loss that they can prove they have endured. Each state allows a certain amount of time within which an injured person can file their negligence lawsuit. This legal limit is known as the statute of limitations. If the accident victim fails to file their legal claim before the statute of limitations is up, that individual will be permanently barred from recovering any damages for that specific injury. Some types of negligence claims may have additional time limits that will require the timely expertise of an Arizona personal injury attorney.

Arizona adheres to a complete comparative negligence rule when assessing the damages in a personal injury case. This means that even if the defendant can prove that you are 99% at fault for your own injuries, you can still recover a reduced amount of damages for those injuries. It still is absolutely essential that you invest in an experienced personal injury lawyer to fight against the defendant’s claims that your own negligence contributed to your injuries in any way in your Mesa, AZ case to avoid a drastically reduced amount of compensation. Some instances, like a dog bite, fall under a rule of strict liability, and may not require that you prove all the elements of negligence. If you have suffered a dog bite injury, be sure to speak to an experienced dog bite attorney in Mesa, Arizona as soon as you possibly can.

Wrongful death is the legal the name for what occurs when a person dies as a result of the negligence of another person or company. In Arizona, certain family members of the person whose life was lost to negligence are entitled to recover specific types of damages for their loss. Those damages can include the loss of financial support and also of the moral and emotional guidance, which the family members will no longer be able to count on receiving from their deceased loved one. In Arizona, a wrongful death case must be filed within two years.