Personal Injury Types in Oklahoma Injury Law
Personal Injury Lawyers serving Oklahoma City, Norman and cities throughout Oklahoma
Personal Injury is a category of Oklahoma law that handles accusations that one person's action or inaction caused injury to another person.
These injuries may be physical or nonphysical. In general, personal injury lawsuits seek monetary compensation, called damages, for injuries. Damages can be economic - related to specific expenses that resulted from injury - or noneconomic, an attempt to put other aspects of injury, such as disability, disfigurement, or pain and suffering, into monetary terms.
This page contains a breakdown of some of the types of lawsuits that personal injury lawyers handle, but cannot give you information on your legal rights and options after an injury. The best way to get specific advice is with a free initial consultation. Please call 1-800-747-SELF (7353) or email Self & Associates today to schedule your consultation at our Oklahoma City office.
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Personal Injury Type by Cause
Most often when people are thinking about a type of personal injury lawsuit, they are thinking about what type of accident caused the personal injury. This will divide personal injury lawsuits into categories like:
- Car accidents
- Truck accidents
- Motorcycle accidents
- Boat accidents
- Train accidents
- Medical malpractice
- Nursing home abuse
- Trip/slip and fall
In each of these cases, the injury is caused by the event named in the case. When selecting a personal injury lawyer, it's important to ask the lawyer about his or her experience handling cases of these types because there are many legal issues associated with establishing negligence and appropriate damages in each of these types of cases. An inexperienced lawyer may not ask for enough damages, or may ask for too much, which can lead to a prolonged fight when you might best be served by a quick settlement.
Personal Injury Lawsuits by Type of Injury
Sometimes, personal injury lawsuits are classified by the type of injury suffered. This leads to personal injury lawsuit types such as:
- Traumatic brain injury
- Spinal cord injury
- Amputation injury
- Burn injury
Again, it's important to talk to your lawyer about his or her experience handling cases of injury of the type you suffered. Evidence requirements and damages in a traumatic brain injury lawsuit are very different from those in a burn injury lawsuit.
Personal Injury: Negligence vs. Strict Liability Cases
Most personal injury lawsuits involve an accusation of negligence. That is, a person's specific action or inaction led to another person's injury. Sometimes, however, a personal injury lawsuit involves an assertion of strict liability. In strict liability, it is asserted that one person or entity had a responsibility to ensure no harm of a particular type occurred. There is no need to point to a specific act or failure to act: the existence of the injury is enough. The most common types of personal injury lawsuits that involve strict liability are:
In defective product lawsuits, strict liability is based on the assertion that manufacturers have a duty to ensure that the products they make are safe for use, and if they are not, they should compensate injury victims. In dog bite lawsuits, most states, including Oklahoma, hold a dog owner strictly liable for attacks by their dog. There are some exceptions for attacks against a trespasser and attacks after a dog is provoked, but in general the dog owner is always responsible for these attacks.
When choosing a lawyer, ask whether strict liability or negligence is a factor in your case, and then ask them about their experience in handling cases of that type.
If you have suffered any type of personal injury and want to seek damages, you need the help of an experienced lawyer. Please contact Self & Associates in Oklahoma City to talk to our lawyers about their qualifications.
