LAWYER HELPLINE: ☎ 855 804 7142

There are over 500,000 motor vehicle collisions in Canada every year which cause almost 250,000 people to be injured, over 20,000 of which are critical injuries of which about 3,000 are fatalities. There are about 8 deaths every day on Canadian roads and there is a serious injury every 2 minutes resulting in over 100,000 claims for compensation ever year in Canada. If you would like to talk to an Alberta car accident lawyer without further obligation then just use the helpline or send the contact form or email our offices and a Alberta car accident lawyer who deals exclusively in personal injury accident claims will speak to you with free advice and information on how best to preserve your legal rights to compensation for your injuries.

 

Alberta Car Accident Lawyer - Negligence

 

A legal term that is important to understand if you are involved in a serious accident or injury situation where you suffered an injury is the term, negligence. In order for you to hire a lawyer to sue another person involved in the incident, you need to show negligence. If the person, corporation, or government agency was negligent in the incident, it must be shown that something about their behavior was something that no reasonable person would do.

In showing negligence, your Alberta car accident lawyer needs to demonstrate that a duty of care existed in the situation. A duty of care means the person or persons had some kind of responsibility over your health or your welfare. For example, your doctor owes you a duty of care to care for you in such a way as to maintain your personal health. A railroad company would owe you a duty of care to maintain the railways so they allow you to travel safely.

In showing negligence, your lawyer must also show that a breach of the duty of care existed. Breaching the duty of care means that the person who caused the accident or injury to happen showed substandard behavior during the incident. Your Alberta car accident lawyer must decide what the normal standard of care is and then show that the behavior of the person was worse than the acceptable standards. Interestingly, while getting a ticket for a driving violation shows substandard behavior, you can demonstrate substandard behavior even if the person did not get a ticket for what they did.

Finally, in order for your lawyer to get some compensation for you for your losses in the accident or injury, he or she must prove that such losses exist. It may not be enough to claim you suffered pain and anguish as a result of the incident. Your lawyer must demonstrate pain and anguish by getting psychological records or by talking to your therapist and documenting pain and anguish. Usually, however, there are more losses than that.

Your Alberta car accident lawyer must, after showing negligence, create a legal claim for compensation of your losses in the incident that is filed before the court. A compensation claim has three components. The first is “special damages”. These are damages that an ordinary person can determine because they have an actual monetary value already attached to them. Lost wage, medical bill costs and costs to fix an automobile are all included in special damages because you can easily see how much they cost.

“General damages” are also included. These damages are hard to calculate because they have no innate monetary value to them. They are things like pain and anguish, loss of affection and loss of ability to do the normal things in life. What an Alberta car accident lawyer tries to do is decide how much these things cost and then they can put this amount on the claim.

“Punitive damages” are damages related to punishment of the person or persons who caused the accident or injury. It has to be something serious, such as proving that a motorist intentionally rammed another driver and this action resulted in the driver’s injuries or death. Punitive damages may or may not be awarded in every case.

When your lawyer has compiled the content of the legal claim, he or she must file the claim before the court system. Often, attempts are made to make a settlement with the defendant’s lawyer so the case can be settled instead of going to court. If a settlement out of court cannot be arranged, the case is settled in a court of law with the decision on the claim to be made by a judge or jury.

LAWYER HELPLINE: ☎ 855 804 7142