Biloxi Personal Injury Lawyers

An injury, no matter how minor, can have a negative impact on your quality of life. A car crash, animal bite, slip and fall, or another type of accident could leave you with medical bills, unpaid time off of work, property damage you have to pay for, and other unexpected expenses. When the injury is the direct result of someone else’s poor choice, it feels incredibly unfair that you get stuck holding the bill at the end of the day.

That’s why the field of personal injury law exists. If someone else’s negligence causes you to suffer injuries, you deserve representation. At Holcomb Johnson PLLC, we help accident victims in Biloxi fight for fair and full compensation. Call us at 228-432-6652 to schedule a consultation now.

What is a Personal Injury Case?

The world of personal injury law looks at injuries, the short-term and long-term impact of those injuries, and who is responsible for the damages arising from those injuries. This is a fairly broad area of practice that includes many types of accidents, including:

• Car crashes
• Truck accidents
• Motorcycle accidents
• Pedestrian accidents
• Slip and fall injuries
• Dog bites and other animal attacks
• Defective products
• Wrongful death

The goal of a personal injury claim is to make the victim whole through financial compensation. A personal injury suit is a civil lawsuit, so it does not hold some criminally liable for their actions, but instead seeks to compensate a victim for what they have lost.

Compensation for Your Injuries

There are lots of factors that go into compensation for a personal injury claim. To start, you have to prove liability. There are four elements of liability—find them described below, using a defective product claim as an example.

• Duty of care. The alleged negligent party had a duty of care to you, the victim. In this case, consider a toy manufacturer that created a baby toy found to be a choking hazard. As a toy manufacturer, the company has a duty of care that requires them to take all reasonable steps to prevent someone from getting hurt with their products.
• Breach of the duty of care. The other party failed to fulfill their duty in some way. In this example, the manufacturer did not do proper safety testing or did not realize that a toy with strings or detachable small items could put babies at risk for choking. In doing so, they put people at unnecessary risk and breached their duty.
• Resulting injury. The breach of duty must lead to an injury, and you must be able to show that the other party’s negligence ties directly into the injury that follows it. Your baby played with the toy in a way that a manufacturer could reasonably expect a baby to use their product. Although you supervised them, a bead detached from the toy and got lodged in their airway. This is directly linked to the unsafe design of the product.
• Measurable damages. The injury must have measurable losses. You cannot collect compensation because something worse could have happened—you can only seek compensation if something actually caused you to suffer clear damages. Your baby suffered a mild acquired brain injury because of oxygen deprivation while you struggled to get the bead dislodged from their throat. They ultimately required hospital care and follow-up treatment, costing in total over $50,000. It took weeks for them to recover fully, and you had to take unpaid time off of work to stay with them.

Building a Case

Evidence is key in building a personal injury case in Mississippi. That’s why it’s important to think ahead and gather anything that might be useful to your claim as you navigate the aftermath of an accident. Useful evidence includes:

• Photos of the accident scene. If you crash at the busy intersection of Pass Road and Beauvoir Road just outside the military base, take a few minutes to take pictures before leaving the scene. The police will swoop in after and clean everything up, at which point it will be too late for you to get pictures.
• Medical bills. Medical care is one of the largest expenses associated with a personal injury. Keep copies of everything, including proof of mileage when you drive to and from appointments, parking fees, and tolls. If you go to a local facility like Merit Health Biloxi, Keesler Medical Center, or AlphaCare Urgent Care, take copies of your records and treatment notes after each appointment.
• Eyewitness testimony. While this may not be as useful as other types of evidence, it can still be helpful to your attorney. If someone provides assistance at the scene, get their name and number to pass along.
• Police report. If the police issue a citation for anything that caused the accident, this may make it easier for your attorney to prove the other party’s liability. The Biloxi Police Department may have copies of your accident report.

How the Team at Holcomb Johnson PLLC Can Help

No matter what type of injury you have suffered, you may be able to seek compensation from the liable party’s insurance provider. However, if you really want to get what you deserve, plan on selecting an attorney to represent you.

Insurance adjusters are very good at getting accident victims to accept lower settlements than what they truly deserve. If they call you shortly after an incident, you may feel hopeful about their promptness and take it to mean that they simply want to do the right thing.

In reality, they just want you to accept an offensively low settlement offer and sign a liability waiver before you realize how much your claim is truly worth. This gets them off the hook legally and ensures that they don’t have to be responsible for any further injuries that may be discovered later on resulting from your accident.

At Holcomb Johnson PLLC, we know that you need a strong advocate willing to fight for you. We’ll handle everything, from the investigation and collection of evidence to negotiating and taking your case to court if needed.

Schedule a Consultation Now

Ready to start your personal injury claim and find out if you are entitled to compensation? Let’s set up a time to talk about your accident. Call us at 228-432-6652 or fill out our online contact form to get started.