Personal Injury

Jackson County Personal Injury Lawyer

Motor Vehicle Accidents - Trucking Accidents - Product Liability - Prescription Drug and Medical Device Liability - Nursing Home Abuse - Medical Malpractice

At the Seymour, Indiana, offices of The Pardieck Law Firm, our sole focus is on helping individuals and families pursue personal injury and wrongful death claims. Every day, 100% of our resources are dedicated to helping our clients achieve fair and just compensation for the physical, emotional, and financial harm the have suffered as a result of a personal injury or wrongful death of a loved one.

Attorney Roger Pardieck and our accomplished team of Indiana personal injury lawyers have a proven track record of success that includes millions of dollars in awards and settlements for our clients.

Contact an Indiana personal injury lawyer today at The Pardieck Law Firm to find out how we can help you find justice and achieve a fair monetary settlement. We offer a free initial consultation and we handle all personal injury and wrongful death matters on a contingency basis - you pay no fees unless we recover a monetary award for you.

Our firm handles personal injury and wrongful death cases of all types, including those involving:

• Auto accidents 
• Truck and commercial vehicle accidents
• Construction accidents
• Product liability, dangerous goods, defective products
• Nursing home abuse and neglect / medical malpractice
• Pharmaceutical and medical device liability
• Brain and spinal cord injuries
• Premises liability, slip and fall, dog bites
• Industrial accidents

Personal Injury Overview

When someone is physically or emotionally injured, or his or her personal property is damaged, it is considered in law to be a “Personal Injury”. The laws covering personal injury allow the injured party to receive compensation for damages caused by someone else’s carelessness, negligence, recklessness, or intentional actions.

Personal injury law is also called “tort” law. States and the Federal government have enacted tort laws for the protection of your rights. Tort actions have three elements:

• there must be a legal duty between the defendant (the one doing the wrong) and the plaintiff (the person injured);
• there must be a breach of that duty;
• damage must occur because of that breach.

When all three elements take place, a personal injury, or tort, has occurred.

The laws of our society place demands on all citizens not to harm others. This means that not only should people be safe from harm, but their possessions also. Whenever someone else harms you or something that belongs to you, they become liable to answer to the tort laws governing the situation.

Liability can be caused by intentional acts, torts, or by negligence. An intentional act is one designed to cause harm or injury. The person committing the act wants to harm you. A negligent act occurs when someone fails to take appropriate action and you are harmed because of that failure. For instance, if an angry person throws a brick through your car window, that is an intentional tort (it may also be a criminal action).

On the other hand, if a careless driver runs into your car, that is a negligence tort. In the first case, the defendant wanted to cause an injury; in the second case, the defendant did not want to injure you but failed to take the appropriate action to prevent injury. In both cases, the defendant had a duty not to injure you or your property, because our laws and society create that duty. The duty was breached by the intentional or negligent actions of the defendant, and damage to your person or property resulted.

Strict Liability - What is it?

Another form of personal injury law covers “strict liability”. Strict liability means that there is responsibility whether or not negligence was involved. This is usually applied to situations that are in themselves abnormally or inherently dangerous. This concept also occurs in the area of product liability. Manufacturers are charged with the responsibility of assuring that their product is safe when used as directed. If someone is injured by a product, under the terms of strict liability they do not have to prove intent or negligence, only that the product was defective through no fault of their own, and that harm was done.

Damages

Once a personal injury has occurred, the defendant has a liability to make good the damage done. “Damages” is the term for whatever is owed to you to compensate you for your loss. Damages can be agreed upon by you and the injuring party, through insurance settlements, or by other means. However, often the damages offered to you may not fully compensate you for your loss.

This is especially true if you have suffered physical injury and have not been able to work. Personal injury law is the mechanism for determining who is in the wrong, or in other words, who is “liable”, and what the liable person should have to pay for the damage caused.

If you are the victim of a personal injury, there are several things you can do to help yourself:

• First and foremost, make sure that you seek proper medical attention and that you follow up with the proper authorities and your own insurance company.
• If you believe your injury was caused by the carelessness or intentional act of another, you may want to contact an attorney to discuss this. You should call as soon as it is convenient to do so and avoid discussing the matter with strangers and/or insurance representatives who are not from your own insurance company.
• You should be cooperative with the police, your own treating physicians, and your own insurance company. Most personal injury cases are covered by a statute of limitations, which means that you only have a certain period of time in which you can file a lawsuit.

Contact Us

If you or a loved one is in need of legal assistance, contact a personal injury lawyer at The Pardieck Law Firm today. Your initial consultation is free of charge. In addition, if we accept your case we will do so on a contingency basis - you pay nothing for our services unless there is a monetary recovery of funds. In many cases, a lawsuit must be filed before an applicable expiration date, known as a statute of limitations. Please call or e-mail us right away to ensure that you do not waive your right to possible compensation.