I guess the term personal injury is a bit odd. Aren’t all injuries personal? And let me tell you, if you get hurt, it is very personal to you.
A decade or so ago, when I told people I was a personal injury lawyer, they looked at me a bit strangely, not understanding how those three words went together. One guy asked, “So you hurt people with the law?” Well, no, it is actually the opposite, I explained.
That confusion is somewhat less these days, I guess, because of more advertising from attorneys.
Personal injury is any harm done to one person by another person because of that other person’s fault. Let me give you some examples. You are going down I-10, and another driver hits you. That is a personal injury. You are walking through one of the stores here in Tillmans Corner, and a pile of boxes falls off a shelf and hits you. That also is a personal injury.
Now, we also deal with property damage, which, of course, is not injury to a person’s body but rather to their things. To combine all this, we sometimes use the phrase tort law. Use that term and watch people have to do some googling.
By far, the most common personal injury case is a car accident. However, you can get hurt by someone else’s actions in many other ways. These include slip-and-fall, workplace accidents, dog bites, nursing home abuse, class action cases, boating accidents, medical malpractice, motorcycle accidents, 18-wheeler wrecks, and so much more. Here at Steele Ritchie Law, we even consider the lack of proper termite treatments to be a personal injury.
Another way of looking at personal injury is to look at the injury itself. As a rule, if you are suffering severe physical or mental trouble that requires an extended time to heal, you are probably suffering from a personal injury. These can include brain injuries, amputations, burns, broken bones, spinal cord injuries, and so much more. Even the death of a loved one can be considered a personal injury.
Ironically, Alabama has different laws covering different aspects of accidents, which may not be the same if the accident happens in Mississippi, Florida, or Georgia.
For example, except in rare circumstances, a personal injury lawsuit must be filed within 2 years in Alabama and Florida, or you will never be able to collect anything. Oddly, in Mississippi, it is 3 years.
If you are injured in a personal injury accident, you can talk to us at the law firm of Steele Ritchie for free. We genuinely want to help. We are local attorneys with decades of experience helping people, especially in the southwest Mobile area. Give us a call at (251) 666-1212. We are proud to be called the “personal injury lawyers near me” by so many people here in Mobile and Baldwin Counties.
Allen Ritchie
Alabama Personal Injury Lawyer