Decatur, Alabama

Known as "The River City," Decatur is located in Morgan and Limestone Counties. Its main thoroughfares include Route 31, State Route 20, State Route 24, and State Route 67. The city also has two railroads that traverse it. For many accident victims in Alabama, bringing a personal injury lawsuit is the only way that they can afford a full recovery after suffering catastrophic injuries in a car crash or another accident. Through a lawsuit, they can recover compensatory damages for injuries such as brain trauma, spinal cord damage, broken limbs, complex fractures, bruising, internal bleeding, organ damage, disfigurement, and loss of limbs. Decatur personal injury lawyer Greg Reeves understands how challenging it is to face the prospect of huge medical bills while needing to take time off to recover from serious injuries. He works hard to help his clients recover all of the damages to which they are entitled.

A person or entity responsible for an accident should be held accountable for the costs and expenses that arise from it. A personal injury lawsuit aims to hold responsible any parties that caused or contributed to an accident through their negligence or wanton conduct. Personal injury lawsuits are appropriate in many different contexts, including car accidents, truck accidents, defective products, certain types of workplace injuries, and injuries suffered by victims of crimes such as sexual assault.

Most personal injury lawsuits in Alabama require a plaintiff to establish negligence by a preponderance of the evidence. This means that a victim must try to show that more likely than not, the defendant owed them a duty of care, the defendant breached this duty, the defendant's breach was an actual and proximate cause of the accident, and they suffered actual damages.

In some cases, the circumstances of the accident may require a personal injury attorney in Decatur to prove additional elements. For example, if the injury arises from a slip and fall, you will also need to show actual or constructive notice of the dangerous condition that caused the fall to the property owner or occupier. Similarly, if you developed mesothelioma because an asbestos manufacturer knew about the danger of asbestos exposure from a particular product but willfully chose not to issue warnings, it may be possible to recover economic and noneconomic losses arising out of the mesothelioma.

Alabama is one of the few states to follow the contributory negligence doctrine. Under this doctrine, a plaintiff cannot recover damages if their own negligence contributed to the accident. Most states follow some version of comparative negligence, where a damage award is reduced by an amount equal to the plaintiff's fault. Alabama personal injury attorney Greg Reeves can help you work to defeat any allegation of contributory negligence in your case.

The damages available depend on the extent and nature of the injuries. Generally, you can recover compensatory damages for both economic and noneconomic losses. These losses may include lost wages, household services, medical bills, pain and suffering, mental anguish, scarring, disfigurement, loss of enjoyment, and sometimes loss of consortium.

Many of these damages, such as pain and suffering or mental anguish, are intangible. There is no fixed monetary standard whereby it is clear ahead of time how much compensation will be owed. The damages for pain and suffering include not only physical pain but also the terror, indignity, fear, nervousness, and grief that come with significant injuries. The jury determines how much to award in intangible damages, and the amount depends partly on the pain that they believe it is reasonable to suffer under the circumstances. Sometimes insurers look at similar cases involving similar injuries to determine how much an award is likely to be, and this helps them determine how much to offer in settlement negotiations.

Whether you suffer injuries on the road, in a workplace, or because of criminal conduct, you should seek guidance from the Reeves Law Firm. Greg Reeves has 30 years of legal experience and has served as faculty at Gerry Spence's Trial Lawyer's College, a nationally renowned program for training trial lawyers, since 2011. Call us at 256-355-3311 or use our online form to set up a free appointment to discuss a personal injury or wrongful death case.