A serious accident can leave victims with physical injuries, mental anguish, and emotional struggles that severely impact their lives for years to come. Sometimes, accident victims find their lives are never the same. In addition, they are often left with heavy financial burdens as they face expensive medical bills and are forced to miss work due to their injuries.

If you or a family member is struggling to recover from injuries caused by someone else’s negligence, you need to speak with an experienced Del City personal injury attorney from Cain Law. Our lawyers can review your case for free and explain all your legal options for pursuing and recovering the maximum compensation you deserve.

Contact us now to learn how we can help you during this difficult time.

Types of Injury Cases We Handle

Our experienced Del City personal injury attorneys have the skills and resources to handle a broad range of accident claims. Some of the personal injury matters we handle include:

  • Trucking accidents: Due to the weight and velocity of a truck, commercial truck crashes can cause catastrophic damages when smaller vehicles are involved. Truck wrecks usually result in life-altering injuries, and victims should always seek professional assistance with their claims. Truck crash claims are significantly more complex and expensive than car wrecks to pursue. Because of the significant injuries, complexity, and expense involved in these claims, an injured party should hire a law firm that has the education, training, experience, and financial resources to handle a trucking claim and secure maximum compensation for the injured person.
  • Car wrecks: Car crashes are some of the most common personal injury claims across Oklahoma and around the country. Insurance companies fight fiercely to minimize the payout on these claims or deny them altogether, especially when victims are not represented by a personal injury attorney. Our Del City car accident lawyers can provide skilled representation so you can focus on your recovery.
  • Motorcycle accidents: Motorcycle crashes are common because drivers don’t always watch out for bikers. Additionally, bikers can sustain some of the worst injuries when in a crash, making these claims more complicated and costly. A skilled personal injury attorney from our firm can fight for the compensation you rightfully deserve.
  • Pedestrian accidents: Drivers in Del City do not always watch for people out walking, or they simply do not stop for them the same way they do for other motorists. When a driver is negligent and hits a pedestrian, the person on foot usually ends up suffering severe, if not fatal, injuries.
  • Bicycle accidents: Like motorcycle wrecks, bicyclists have little protection on the road and can be seriously injured when vehicles crash into them. These crashes require a thorough investigation and meticulous documentation of injuries.
  • Premises liability: Property owners are responsible for ensuring their property is safe for others to enter. When they fail to do so and someone is injured as a result, those injury victims can often file a claim for compensation.
  • Construction injuries: Construction accidents are complicated because there can be so many different parties involved. A worker may be entitled to payment through a workers’ compensation claim, or the victim may be able to file a personal injury claim against a third party that was responsible for the accident.
  • Wrongful death: In the most tragic cases, an accident victim dies because of someone else’s negligence. Our law firm has extensive experience representing clients who pursue justice and financial accountability responsible for their loved ones’ deaths.
  • Traumatic brain injuries: Traumatic brain injuries (TBI) can cause serious and life-altering consequences to victims and their families. Our personal injury attorneys work with leading medical and economic expert witnesses to establish the long-term impact of your injuries.
  • Bus accidents: Bus crashes are complicated because they often involve a government entity. Our attorneys have in-depth knowledge of Oklahoma law and can help you if you’ve been hurt on a bus.
  • Nursing home abuse: Some of the most tragic and sensitive personal injury cases involve nursing home abuse and neglect. We partner with the top nursing home abuse attorneys in the state of Oklahoma. Experienced nursing home attorneys can sort through the state and federal standards for nursing homes to prove negligence and hold the perpetrators accountable.
  • Medical malpractice: When a doctor makes a mistake, it can change the patient’s life forever. We partner with the top medical malpractice attorneys in the state of Oklahoma. This experienced legal team can help you seek maximum compensation after being injured due to a medical error.

Although some injury cases are more complex than others, each presents its own challenges. If you’ve been hurt in an accident that was someone else’s fault, you should speak to a Del City personal injury attorney from our law firm about the specifics of your case.

How Our Personal Injury Law Firm Can Help You

Our Del City personal injury lawyers can be of great assistance throughout the entire process of your claim. When you trust our law firm to handle your personal injury case, we will:

  • Connect you with qualified healthcare providers: After being injured in an accident, the most important thing is your health and recovery. Failure to seek medical treatment immediately after an accident may impact your recovery and give the insurance company a defense to your injury claim. If you are unable to locate a medical provider, Cain Law can assist you in locating an experienced medical provider.
  • Calculate the full value of your claim: Injury victims often don’t understand the full extent or cost of their injuries. After you have completed treatment, we have experts evaluate whether your injuries are permanent and whether you need future medical treatment. Then, we calculate all damages you are entitled to receive so you know how much to ask for and are not faced with unexpected expenses down the line.
  • Prove liability: You may know who was at fault for your accident, but that’s not enough. In a personal injury claim, you must prove it as well. Our attorneys know how to do this by working with accident reconstruction experts, gathering all available evidence, and identifying all at-fault parties.
  • Proving causation of your injuries: The insurance company may challenge whether or not the crash was significant enough to cause the injuries you claim. Additionally, they can claim the treatment you received was for pre-existing injuries or conditions you may have had before the crash. Cain Law attorneys are experienced in handling these allegations and, when necessary, hire biomechanical and medical experts to refute the insurance company.
  • Manage all communication with insurance companies: Insurance companies are not your friends when filing a personal injury claim. They may act like they are, but they’re trained and paid to minimize the amount paid on your claim. Remember, the insurance companies have employees with many years of experience handling injury claims, and you do not. They will not advise you on what damages and claims you are entitled to make or the value of those claims. Our attorneys can protect you from insurance company tactics and are fierce and relentless in holding them accountable.
  • Explain what you need to know about the law: Oklahoma’s personal injury laws are extremely complex and difficult to understand. Be aware there are several out of state law firms that are accepting clients in the state of Oklahoma. Our trial attorneys are all located in Oklahoma and are educated, trained, and experienced in Oklahoma injury law. They will explain how Oklahoma injury law applies to your case so you feel confident every step of the way.

Our founding attorney, Monty Cain, has earned special recognition from his peers in the Oklahoma Super Lawyers, National Association of Top 100 Trial Lawyers, and Million Dollar Advocates Forum. We have a track record of successful results, culminating in more than $100 million in financial compensation for our deserving Oklahoma clients. Contact us today to learn more about how we can help you.

Financial Compensation You Can Recover in a Personal Injury Case

The personal injury compensation you could recover falls into two general categories:

  • Economic Damages: These cover the financial losses directly related to the injury. Examples include medical expenses, future medical expenses, lost wages, future loss of earnings capacity, the cost of rehabilitation, and property damage. Economic damages aim to restore you to the financial position you would have been in if the injury had not occurred.
  • Non-Economic Damages: These compensate you for non-monetary aspects such as past and future pain and suffering, emotional distress, and loss of enjoyment of life. They address the impact of the injury on your quality of life and well-being.

More specifically, you could be owed money for the following:

  • Past and future medical care, including emergency treatment, transportation, hospital stays, surgeries, medication, medical devices, and therapy. Cain Law has local and national experts trained to evaluate permanent injuries and the necessity for future medical care. They will evaluate you and determine the amount of medical care you will need in the future.
  • Lost wages, including salary, wages, tips, bonuses, commissions, and benefits you could not earn while you were too hurt to work in your previous capacity
  • Loss of future earning capacity. We partner with vocational and life care planning experts to evaluate how your injuries will affect your earnings in the future.
  • Property damage caused by the incident, such as the repair or replacement of a damaged vehicle
  • Physical pain and emotional suffering caused by the underlying injuries
  • Diminished quality of life if long-term impairment prevents you from performing certain tasks or taking part in favorite activities
  • Loss of consortium if your injuries affect your relationships with your loved ones

Our legal team will fiercely and relentlessly battle to secure maximum financial recovery for you and your family.

Steps Involved in Filing a Personal Injury Claim in Oklahoma

At Cain Law, we know that pursuing a personal injury claim can seem daunting, especially if you’ve never done so before. Fortunately, you don’t have to go through it alone. A Del City personal injury lawyer with our firm can walk you through the steps and handle the work on your behalf. These are the basic steps involved in many personal injury cases:

Get Medical Help – Road to Recovery

Your health is the top priority, so the first and most crucial step after sustaining an injury is to seek medical attention. This ensures your injuries are promptly treated and provides essential medical documentation to support your claim. Delaying medical treatment can not only worsen your condition but also weaken your case by giving the impression that your injuries were not serious or that they were unrelated to the incident in question. If you are unable to find a medical provider to help you with your injuries, contact Cain Law. We can provide you with the names of providers who can help you.

Collect Evidence

Evidence is crucial and serves as the building blocks of your personal injury case. If possible, take photos of the accident scene, your injuries, any property damage, and the other driver’s driver’s license, tag, and insurance card. Get the contact information of any witnesses. Keep copies of your medical bills, explanation of benefits (EOBs) from your health insurance carrier, incidental expenses, and any correspondence you have with your employer about your injuries and their effect on your ability to perform your job. Cain Law can request a copy of any police report or other documents, such as photographs and reports generated by the police, dash or body cam footage, 911 calls, dispatch logs, and black box downloads. Assemble all these documents in an evidence file. Detailed and timely evidence collection can significantly strengthen your case by providing concrete proof of the circumstances and impact of the incident.

Notify Your Insurer

If you were hurt in a car wreck, inform your insurance provider about the incident as soon as possible. Your insurance contract may require this notification even if you were not at fault for the crash. Be factual about the incident details and avoid admitting fault or giving more information than necessary, as this can be used to limit your compensation. Cain Law recommends you do not provide a recorded statement to anyone without legal representation.

Schedule a Free Consultation

Now, it’s time to consult with a personal injury lawyer who can evaluate your case and pursue your personal injury claim on your behalf. Many lawyers offer free initial consultations, which allow you to discuss your case without financial commitment. This meeting will help you understand the strengths and weaknesses of your claim and the potential for compensation. Bring your evidence folder with you, as this will give your prospective attorney more information to work with.

Investigate the Incident

Once you secure legal representation, your personal injury attorney can conduct a thorough investigation of the incident to establish who’s to blame for your injuries and can be held accountable for their consequences. This includes reviewing police reports, interviewing witnesses, analyzing any available video or photographic evidence, and potentially working with accident reconstruction experts to interpret this raw data. The goal is to gather sufficient evidence to prove how the incident occurred and who is legally responsible for the injuries you sustained.

Evaluate Causation of Your Injuries

Often, the at-fault driver’s insurance carrier will contest whether or not the crash caused your injuries. The attorneys at Cain Law will evaluate whether or not property damage, biomechanical expert, and/or medical experts are needed to prove the crash caused your injuries. Our attorneys and experts are trained in locating hidden damage to your and the at-fault driver’s vehicle to prove the forces were significant enough to cause your injuries. Additionally, Cain Law will conduct inspections of your and the at fault driver’s vehicles to document the damage and to download the black box data regarding the crash from the vehicles. This crucial evidence can prove the forces involved in the accident were significant enough to cause your injuries. In addition, the downloads can prove seatbelt use, when braking occurred, and the speed of the vehicles.

Calculate  Maximum Compensation

Your lawyer can calculate how much your injuries have cost you, both financially and personally. This includes not just current losses, such as medical expenses and lost wages, but also future impacts, like ongoing medical treatment and reduced earning capacity. This step is crucial to seeking compensation for all aspects of your injury.

Send a Demand Letter

After calculating compensation, your lawyer will draft and send a demand letter to the at-fault party or their insurance company. This letter outlines the facts of the case, the losses you’ve incurred, and the compensation you’re demanding. It serves as a formal request for payment and starts the negotiation process.

Negotiate for a Settlement

Most successful personal injury claims are resolved through settlement negotiations rather than the formal trial process. Your lawyer negotiates with the at-fault party’s insurer or defense lawyer, using the evidence they collected as their starting point. If negotiations are successful, this step can result in compensation without the need for a trial. If not, your case may proceed to litigation.

File and Serve a Complaint

If it becomes clear that a fair settlement cannot be reached through initial negotiations, your lawyer may begin the formal legal process by filing a personal injury lawsuit. The complaint details your allegations against the defendant, including the nature of your injuries and the compensation you are seeking. After your personal injury lawyer files the complaint with the appropriate court, they must legally serve it on the defendant, notifying them of the lawsuit and giving them an opportunity to respond.

Complete the Discovery Phase of a Lawsuit

After the defendant receives notice of the lawsuit, they are required to file an answer to the plaintiff’s lawsuit.  After the defendant files their answer, the next phase of the lawsuit commences. It is called the discovery phase. Sometime during the discovery phase, the court will enter a Scheduling Order establishing deadlines to complete all the discovery and set the case for a pre-trial hearing. There are a few different types of discovery, including written questions that each party has to answer and produce documents requested by the opposing party, subpoenas to non-related parties for the production of documents, and depositions of the parties and other witnesses. Following completion of the discovery of all the fact witnesses, the defense is entitled to and may ask for a medical exam by their medical expert. Generally, the next phase is expert reports and depositions of treating physician and defense medical experts and expert witnesses. Finally, the parties are usually required by the court to participate in alternative dispute resolution.

Explore Alternative Dispute Resolution

Generally, after discovery is completed, both parties are ordered by the court to participate in alternative dispute resolution (ADR) methods, such as mediation or arbitration. ADR can be a less adversarial and more cost-effective way of settling disputes. During mediation, a neutral, third-party mediator facilitates the settlement negotiation process. In arbitration, an arbitrator listens to both sides and makes a binding decision. Your attorney can guide you through the ADR process and advise you whether it is a suitable option based on the specifics of your case.

Prepare for Trial

If the case cannot be resolved through ADR, at the pre-trial conference, the court will assign a trial date, and your lawyer will begin preparing the case for trial. This involves organizing evidence, preparing exhibits, finalizing witness lists, taking video trial depositons of witnesses that can’t attend the trial, and rehearsing opening and closing statements. Effective trial preparation is critical to presenting a strong case to the jury or judge, so it’s important to work with experienced trial lawyers who can craft the best arguments possible.

Go to Court

Now, it’s time to present your case to a jury. During the trial, both sides have the opportunity to present evidence, examine witnesses, and make their arguments. Your attorney’s goal is to leverage their preparation to make a compelling argument establishing the defendant’s liability and your right to maximum compensation. In a civil jury trial, nine or twelve jurors must find in your favor to win.

Receive Compensation

If the jury rules in your favor, the final step is receiving compensation for your injuries and losses. The jury bases its figure on the evidence presented during the trial and the cost of losses such as medical expenses, lost wages, and pain and suffering. In some cases, the jury may also award punitive damages. If the defendant fails to pay, further legal actions may be necessary to enforce the judgment.

FAQs

Money can be tight after a sudden injury. Fortunately, hiring an experienced Del City personal injury attorney does not add to your financial burdens. At Cain Law, we work on a contingency fee basis, which means our fee is contingent on our winning your case. Additionally, we will pay for case-related expenses. The expenses are reimbursed to the law firm when your case settles or you receive a money judgment from trial. You only pay attorney fees if we recover money on your behalf. The fee you pay comes as an agreed-upon percentage of that recovery. That way, you don’t pay out of pocket to access high-quality legal assistance.

As a general rule, you cannot file a personal injury claim on someone else’s behalf unless you have a specific relationship with that person. For example, you may have the right to file on behalf of your minor child or legal ward, an estate of which you are the administrator, or someone who has granted you power of attorney. If you’re in doubt about your right to file on someone else’s behalf, ask to speak to a lawyer.

The best time to contact a personal injury attorney is now. Oklahoma places a two-year statute of limitations on personal injury claims, meaning that, in most cases, you’ll have two years from the date of your injury to file your lawsuit. The exception to this rule is when you are injured by a city, county, or state employee. Then, you only have one year to put the governmental entity on notice of your claim. While that may seem like plenty of time, remember that these cases take time to investigate. The longer your attorney has to build their case, the stronger it will be. Don’t delay – contact Cain Law to get started today.

The duration of your case will depend on a number of factors, the most important one is when you complete your treatment because your damages can’t be calculated until you have completed treatment. Additional factors include the complexity of your case, the number of witnesses, the strength of your evidence, and the willingness of the other party to settle. Relatively simple cases can be resolved in a matter of months to one year after you have finished treatment, while more complicated ones can take a year or longer after you have completed treatment. A personal injury lawyer in Del City, Oklahoma can give you a better idea about what you can expect when you meet with them during a free consultation.

Not every personal injury case makes it to trial. In fact, only a very small percentage of personal injury cases ever see the inside of a courtroom. Instead, most are settled before trial, as doing so is more affordable for everyone involved. Still, if the defendant doesn’t make you a fair offer, your attorney should be willing to take your case to trial to assert your rights and demand fair compensation.

Like all other states, Oklahoma has a statute of limitations for personal injury claims. This statute of limitations restricts the amount of time you have to file your claim. The statute of limitations in Oklahoma is two years from the date of your accident. The exception to this rule is when you are injured by a city, county, or state employee. Then, you only have one year to put the governmental entity on notice of your claim.

However, it is crucial that you speak with a knowledgeable personal injury lawyer as soon as possible to begin work on your case. These claims take time, and evidence can quickly disappear.

Contact Our Personal Injury Attorneys in Del City Today

If you’ve been injured in an accident, you need a skilled attorney who will fight for every bit of compensation you deserve. At the Cain Law, our Del City personal injury attorneys will fight for your rights every step of the way.

Contact us today to speak to one of our attorneys about how we can help with your case.