Boston Personal Injury Attorney
Per the American Bar Association, “personal injury law, also known as tort law, is designed to protect you if you or your property is injured or harmed because of someone else’s act or failure to act. In a successful tort action, the one who caused the injury or harm compensates the one who suffered the losses.” The Law Office of Joseph R. Linnehan, Jr. is a Boston personal injury law firm. Every day, we help people who were injured because of another party’s negligence on the road, at work, in a doctor’s office or factory, or on somebody’s public or private property. We work to hold negligent actors accountable to the people they have harmed by requiring them to pay significant compensation that makes up for their medical expenses, lost wages, pain and suffering, and other damages to the greatest extent possible.
If you’ve suffered a personal injury in Boston, call the Law Office of Joseph R. Linnehan, Jr. for a free consultation, and let us help you get the care and compensation you need to deal with the harm inflicted on you by another’s negligence or reckless misconduct.
- Amputation Injury
- Car Accident
- Automotive Product Liability
- Bicycle Accident
- Burn Injury
- Defective Workplace Machinery & Equipment
- Distracted Driving Accident
- Dog Bite
- Drunk Driving Accident
- Electrocution
- Forklift & Crane Accident
- Fractures
- Front-End Collision
- Grocery Store Injury
- Intersection Accident
- Ladder Falls
- Medical Malpractice
- Motorcycle Accident
- Municipal Injury
- Negligent Security
- Pedestrian Accident
- Premises Liability
- Product Liability
- Rear-End Collision
- Restaurant Slip & Fall
- Rollover Accident
- Scaffold Collapse
- Shopping Mall Injury
- Soft Tissue Injury
- Spinal Cord Injury
- T-Bone Accident
- Tractor-Trailer Jackknife Accident
- Traumatic Brain Injury
- Trench & Excavation Accident
- Truck Accident
- Uber or Lyft Accident
- Uninsured Motorist Accident
- Workplace & Construction Accident
Proving Liability and Damages in a Boston Personal Injury Claim
Personal injury claims generally boil down to two basic issues that must be proven – liability and damages. Proving liability means demonstrating how the other party was at fault, that they were somehow negligent and that their negligence caused the accident, such as an auto accident because they were drunk or driving distracted, or a slip and fall because they maintained their premises in a dangerously unsafe way. Proving damages means showing how the accident has affected you financially through medical bills, missed work, or future disability, as well as in other ways, such as the pain and suffering you are forced to endure or the loss in your quality of life due to the accident.
Often the negligent party or the insurance company defending them will dispute liability. They’ll claim they weren’t negligent or that the accident wasn’t caused by their negligence. They might blame some other party, or they might blame you and say your own negligence caused the accident. Proving liability requires understanding Massachusetts personal injury law and applying the law to the facts of the case in a compelling manner, whether negotiating a settlement with the insurance company or trying the case in court for a jury verdict.
The other issue is damages. To get compensated appropriately, you have to know the value of your claim and be able to convincingly demonstrate (to the insurance company or a jury) the nature and extent of your injuries and what this accident has cost you or will continue to cost you in both economic and non-economic terms. If you aren’t represented by an attorney, the insurance company is likely to offer you far less than your claim is worth and convince you to take their settlement and release them from liability. They might also dispute your injuries, saying they couldn’t have been caused by the accident, aren’t very serious, or were caused by some pre-existing condition. Having an experienced personal injury attorney on your side is essential to knowing what your claim is worth and how to go about getting that amount through a verdict or settlement.
Helping Accident Victims Maximize Compensation Under Massachusetts’ Comparative Fault Law
Every state has a law deciding how personal injury cases should be handled when the accident victim is considered to be partly at fault for causing the accident. Massachusetts is one of 23 states that follow a rule known as modified comparative fault – 51% bar. This rule means that if you are considered to be over 50% at fault compared to the other responsible party or parties, then you cannot pursue a negligence claim and recover compensation against the other party, even if they were nearly as much to blame as you, and even if their negligence caused you considerable pain and expense.
So long as you were not more than 50% to blame for the accident, you can pursue a claim against the other party and recover compensation for your damages. However, the amount of your damages will be reduced in proportion to the percentage of negligence assigned to you. For instance, if you suffered $100,000 in legal damages but are 30% to blame, you would only get $70,000 instead of the full $100,000.
So who decides whether you were partly to blame for the accident or not? If the case goes to trial, a jury does. Outside of court, it’s a matter of dispute and resolution between the parties. At the Law Office of Joseph R. Linnehan, Jr., we start from day one preparing your case for court. We gather the evidence and all the facts, research the law, and are ready to prove the full extent of the other party’s liability without letting you get saddled with any of the blame that doesn’t belong to you. We’ll be ready to negotiate an appropriate settlement or argue your case to a jury if that’s what it takes to get you the proper result.
Get Help After a Personal Injury in Boston
If you or a loved one has been hurt because of another party’s negligence, call the Law Office of Joseph R. Linnehan, Jr. at 617-275-4200 for a free consultation with a dedicated and successful Boston personal injury lawyer. There’s no fee if we don’t recover compensation on your behalf.
