Compassionate Legal Advocacy For Personal Injury Victims
A personal injury accident can happen anytime, anywhere. You may be at work or driving in your car when your injury accident occurs. These types of accidents can be extremely traumatizing and some injuries may even have lifelong consequences. If you or someone you love has been injured in an accident that was caused by the careless, reckless or negligent actions of another person or business, you may be entitled to compensation for your injuries and losses.
At Knoll Leibel LLP, our lawyers have decades of legal experience successfully handling even the most complex personal injury cases. You don’t have to suffer in silence or face this alone. Our lawyers can help you get the compensation you are entitled to for the injuries you sustained in your accident.
The state of North Dakota allows personal injury victims in some circumstances to seek compensation for the following:
- Medical treatment
- Rehabilitation and long-term care
- Lost wages from missed work
- Future lost income
- Emotional trauma
- Pain and suffering
- Property damage
At Knoll Leibel LLP, we are well-respected by our peers and the judges in our community. Our office is located in Bismarck, and we offer our services to all the surrounding areas. We have helped many injured clients successfully seek justice and compensation for the injuries they endured as results of their personal injury accidents. Let us help you, too.
How We Can Help Injury Victims
Everyone knows that accidents can happen anywhere, anytime – whether in a car, as a pedestrian, during a slip-and-fall, in the workplace or during any other incident that happened at the hands of another party. Because personal injury can occur in almost any circumstance, personal injury law similarly covers a wide breadth of issues.
No matter the context in which you were injured, we can help you understand your rights and determine whether another party is responsible. Our lawyers are experienced with the following types of personal injury cases and more:
- Motor vehicle accidents involving cars, motorcycles, buses, trucks and commercial vehicles
- Pedestrian accidents
- Construction Accidents
- DUI accidents
- Train accidents
- Nursing home abuse/accidents
- Burn injuries
- Neck and back injuries
- Traumatic brain injuries (TBIs)
- Spinal cord injuries
- Slip-and-fall accidents
- Dog bites
- Aviation accidents
- Wrongful death
We handle all types of personal injury claims ranging from minor injuries to catastrophic and life-changing injuries. Call Knoll Leibel LLP, today to speak with one of our skilled and knowledgeable personal injury lawyers about your accident to find out if you have the right to pursue a claim for your injuries and losses.
Dog Attacks
While an untrained dog can be extraordinarily dangerous, any animal is capable of lashing out and unexpectedly attacking someone. These attacks can result in disfigurement, infections, severe scarring and even death. Children are especially vulnerable due to their small stature. Many times, these dogs victimize children under the age of 12. Over half of dog accident fatalities involve children under the age of 10.
Fortunately, North Dakota law permits a dog bite victim to seek out compensation. The owner(s) of the attacking dog, the owner(s) of the property where the dog attacked and the landlord(s) who allowed aggressive animals on their property can all be held liable for a dog attack under certain circumstances. If you or someone you love was recently injured in a dog attack, you may be entitled to compensation for your injuries and losses. Contact us at Knoll Leibel LLP, today to discuss your dog attack and find out if you have the right to file a personal injury lawsuit.
Nursing Home Neglect
Unfortunately, our elderly loved ones are among the most vulnerable and least represented members of our communities. Nursing homes and adult care centers are required by law to provide clean, safe and adequate care to their elderly and disabled patients. Many of these nursing homes and care facilities have continuous issues, such as inadequately staffed facilities, inadequately trained staff, poor or insufficient supervision of patients, poorly maintained equipment and the overmedication of patients, all of which can easily increase the risk of injury to their residents. Nursing home neglect can cause serious injury or even death.
Types of nursing home neglect may include physical abuse, sexual abuse, emotional abuse and financial abuse and exploitation. Look out for the following warning signs in your loved one:
- Social isolation
- Poor personal hygiene
- Unexplained injuries
- A sudden change in temperament
- Bedsores
- Signs of malnutrition
- Overmedication or sedation
Contact Knoll Leibel LLP, today to discuss your concerns and see if you have the right to file a lawsuit to be fairly compensated for your loved one’s injuries and suffering. We will help you build up your case and put an end to the abuse.
Slip-And-Fall Accidents
Slip-and-fall accidents are often dismissed as minor incidents. However, they can be extraordinarily serious and even lead to catastrophic injuries that result in death. These accidents may be caused by any of the following:
- Wet floors: Including spilled liquid, a recently mopped floor or recently waxed floors
- Uneven surfaces: Torn carpeting, loose floorboards, potholes in parking lots, cluttered floors, poorly designed stairways or defective and uneven sidewalks
- Weather conditions: Rain, ice and snow
- Nursing home neglect: Seniors are at an increased risk of falling, and when they do fall, they are more susceptible to suffering catastrophic injuries that sometimes lead to their untimely deaths. Seniors are often left unattended or are not properly monitored or assisted, resulting in dangerous accidents for them.
- Improper training: A lot of slip-and-fall incidents occur in the workplace. If employers don’t provide adequate training to their workers, they may be at fault when a slip-and-fall accident does happen.
It is important for you to seek out medical attention as soon as possible – especially if you struck your head. Sometimes injuries, especially head injuries, do not show obvious symptoms for some time.
Have A Committed Lawyer With You To Fight For Your Rights
Our seasoned and knowledgeable personal injury attorneys will go the distance to make sure you get the compensation to which you are entitled. Call us today at 701-255-2010 or fill out our online contact form to schedule a free consultation with us about your personal injury accident.
Our Clients’ Questions About Personal Injury
At Knoll Leibel LLP, we have handled personal injury cases from the first phone call with a client to the moment we have stood with them to receive a verdict from a jury. We have sat with families mourning the loss of loved ones and individuals who are grieving the loss of their physical health or a favorite activity. We have celebrated with our clients when they’ve obtained great settlements and we’ve felt their anguish when a judge has made a decision with which we disagree. Each of those moments is called upon when we advise our personal injury clients. This is why experience matters.
We understand that pursuing a personal injury claim can be overwhelming. It is likely that you have questions about your potential claim. For your convenience, we have compiled a brief list of personal injury law-related frequently asked questions.
Is it expensive to pursue a personal injury case?
While other types of cases at Knoll Leibel LLP, are generally taken on at an hourly rate, we usually take personal injury cases based upon a contingency fee. A contingency fee is the agreed-upon percentage of the compensation that the lawyer is entitled to when their client recovers damages from the responsible party or insurer. The amount of the percentage depends on the type of case and the complexity of the issues.
Generally speaking, when a lawyer accepts a case on a contingency and you do not recover money for your case, you do not owe the lawyer any money for their fees. However, every case is different, and lawyers often have different contingency contracts that address issues like costs, withdrawal and termination differently. Make sure you fully understand your rights and obligations before signing a contingency fee contract.
Is my injury actually significant enough to call an attorney?
Victims of seemingly minor personal injuries often underestimate their damages. However, any kind of personal injury has the potential to bring about significant injury, emotional suffering, loss of enjoyment of life, medical expenses, monetary losses, physical pain or property damage. If you are suffering from just one of these factors, you may want to consider speaking to an attorney.
How soon should I file my personal injury suit?
There are many different factors to consider when determining an appropriate time to make a demand or file a personal injury claim. Most importantly, all personal injury cases are affected by a statute of limitations, which is a time frame imposed by law in which claims must be brought or they are forever lost. In North Dakota, these periods of limitation can vary widely depending on the claimant, the responsible party, the type of injury, the nature of the claim and the date that the injury was discovered or known. For this reason, it is important to talk to a lawyer as early as possible to determine which applicable deadlines may apply to you.
Sometimes, the nature of your injury can also affect the timing of a lawsuit or a demand on a responsible party. It is usually good to have a full understanding of the nature and extent of your injury and damages before starting negotiations with a responsible party or their insurer. For example, it is not uncommon for soft tissue injury, like a whiplash injury, to progressively feel better only to suddenly become painful again with only minor aggravation. This is often referred to a “flare-up.” As another example, sometimes an injury is permanent and will never fully heal. A lawyer can help you make informed decisions as to the proper timing based on the conclusions of your doctors and health care providers.
Finally, lawyers can play a big role in helping you identify and preserve evidence that might be important to your case. A good lawyer can also help you maximize your case value by focusing on the types of facts that are important to insurance companies, like interviewing potential witnesses and securing surveillance videos. In certain cases, such as motor vehicle accidents involving semi trucks, this can be very important. For all these reasons, it is a good idea to talk to an experienced personal injury attorney as soon as you determine that you may have a claim.
What is my case actually worth?
We believe the value of a case can be boiled down to three factors:
- The evidence available to prove responsibility
- The evidence available to prove damages
- The ability of the responsible party or insurer to pay damages
For these reasons, it is usually not possible to value a case without a thorough investigation into your claim. However, some common factors that influence the amount of damages are whether the negligent or wrongful act was egregious, the amount of the medical bills, the estimate for future medical bills and expenses, past and future lost wages, pain and suffering, loss of consortium, and the nature and extent of disfigurement and scarring.
Will I need to go to court?
Some personal injury cases are settled before a lawsuit is filed. The overwhelming majority of personal injury cases are settled before a trial. Whether your case can be settled for a reasonable amount prior to a trial will depend on the facts of your case, the nature and extent of your damages and the responsible party’s – or its insurance company’s – willingness to make a fair settlement offer without a lawsuit.
However, deciding whether to settle your case or take it to trial is where the experience and judgment of your attorney can make the most difference. Sometimes, attorneys settle cases for far less than the case is worth because the attorney does not know any better. On the other hand, sometimes attorneys demand so much money for a case that there is no chance that the case will ever settle. Either outcome is a disservice to the attorney’s client.
Should I accept an insurance company’s first settlement?
Insurance adjusters are often experienced negotiators who are highly trained in evaluating cases. It is not uncommon for an adjuster to be evaluating and negotiating hundreds of claims at any one time and to know from experience the arguments and issues that will help them settle claims for the least amount of money possible. Some of them are honest and reasonable. Some of them are not, and those will use tactics like low-ball offers, intimidation and withholding information that is material to the value of your case. The challenge is knowing the difference.
If you have any questions about whether a settlement offer is reasonable, consult us at Knoll Leibel LLP.
You Have Us In Your Corner
If you still have questions, we would be glad to discuss matters further with you in a scheduled free consultation. Call us at 701-255-2010 or fill out our online contact form to discuss your matter.