If an unsafe or defective product caused you injuries, you might be entitled to hold the designer, manufacturer, or distributor liable under Louisiana law. Doing this, however, requires knowing how to handle insurance companies and navigating the complex process. This can be a difficult endeavor if you are severely injured and trying to concentrate on your recovery.
A Morse product liability lawyer can investigate your claim, negotiate with liable parties, and pursue compensation on your behalf. Laborde Earles Injury Lawyers offers complimentary consultations so you can find out more about your legal rights and how our personal injury lawyers can help.
How a Morse Product Liability Lawyer Can Help You
The time after an injury caused by a defective product can be incredibly stressful. You may be dealing with pain, financial losses, and the struggle to organize your own medical care. In addition, pursuing compensation to cover your costs will require you to complete several tasks and meet specific deadlines.
Fortunately, our lawyers are ready to assist you. Having a product liability attorney at your side will significantly simplify the compensation recovery process. In fact, a lawyer can complete many essential tasks for you and help in the following ways and more:
Providing Expert Legal Guidance
Personal injury attorneys are legal professionals highly-educated in all aspects of civil law. They can develop effective strategies for recovering compensation that will increase your chances of success and maximize your settlement amount.
Furthermore, a lawyer can keep you informed about the progress of your case and ensure all your paperwork is completed correctly and submitted on time.
Investigating Your Case and Gathering Evidence
Not all product liability cases are the same. For this reason, a Laborde Earles lawyer knows how important it is to thoroughly investigate the unique circumstances before, during, and after your injury. In doing so, your lawyer can pinpoint who the liable party is and collect evidence to support your case.
Evidence is essential for any successful personal injury claim since it will be required to prove both the other party’s liability and the damages you’ve sustained. Crucial evidence in a product liability case may include the following:
- Police reports of the incident
- Medical records showing the severity of your injuries
- Photos documenting your injuries and their progression over time
- Medical bills proving injury-related financial damages
- Pay stubs, bank statements, and tax returns verifying income loss
- Photos and videos of the scene of the accident/incident
- Surveillance video that recorded your injury as it occurred
- Eyewitness statements and affidavits
- Supporting testimony from expert witnesses, such as police officers, accident reconstructionists, engineers, health professionals, life-care planners, etc.
- Safety reports or product recalls from the manufacturer
- The defective product itself
- Insurance policy documents
Calculating Your Damages and Building a Compensation Claim
Based on the supporting evidence collected by your attorney, they will identify the losses or “damages” you can recover. Each will be assigned a value and calculated into an aggregate amount to be submitted to the insurance company requestioning compensation.
Purely economic damages can be supported by evidence like bills and receipts that give an exact cost. Expenses related to future losses, including the need for ongoing medical care, can be supported by expert witness testimony from a healthcare professional.
Non-economic damages, such as pain and suffering, take a devastating personal toll but can’t be easily calculated. However, your lawyer can combine expert witness testimony with special legal formulas to determine a fair amount to compensate for these losses.
Communicating With the Insurer
After you and your lawyer have constructed a solid compensation claim, you will submit it to the liable party’s insurance company. Your ultimate goal is to negotiate a settlement out of court that compensates you fairly for your damages.
But unfortunately, because insurance companies are profit-motivated, their goal will be to undervalue the amount they owe you. If you have a Morse product liability lawyer negotiating on your behalf, they will know how to sidestep the insurer’s tactics and ensure your claim is taken seriously.
Fighting for You in Court
Insurance companies generally want to avoid lawsuits because they often cost them money more than settling out of court. Still, if settlement negotiations fail, Laborde Earles Injury Lawyers is ready to fight diligently for your right to fair compensation in court.
Laborde Earles injury was great for me they took care of me very fast and professional. If for any reason I need legal help they will be who I use.
ClientRecoverable Compensation in a Morse Product Liability Case
The costs of a preventable injury can be extensive, so the compensation you pursue should be sufficient to cover all your physical, personal, and financial losses, such as the following:
- Medical expenses, such as ambulance fees, emergency care, surgeries, hospital stays, doctor visits, prescription medications, medical equipment, etc.
- Expenses related to making your house handicap-accessible
- Lost wages due to time off work while recovering from your injury
- Diminished earning potential in the future due to disability caused by your injury
- Property damage, including anything damaged by the defective product and the product itself
- Physical and emotional pain and suffering
- Scarring and disfigurement
- Long-term or permanent disability
- Diminished quality and enjoyment of life
Wrongful Death Compensation
If your loved one was fatally injured by a defective product, you might be entitled to pursue wrongful death damages, including the following:
- Funeral and burial expenses
- The decedent’s outstanding medical bills
- Loss of household income and benefits
- Loss of care and guidance
- Loss of spousal consortium
I thank God for Digger & David. I don’t know what we would have done if it hadn’t have been for them.
Rick Smith | ClientStatute of Limitations in Louisiana May Apply to Your Morse Product Liability Case
It is important to note that Louisiana laws provide a shorter window of time in which you are eligible to pursue compensation. Per CC Articles 3492 and 2315.2, you have just one year from the injury or death to seek damages in a personal injury lawsuit or wrongful death lawsuit, respectively.
The reassurance from Digger and his staff gave me that renewed hope that it’s going to be okay down the road.
ClientDetermining Liability in a Morse Product Liability Case
A product moves between multiple parties between the time it’s designed and manufactured and is in the hands of the consumer. Consequently, there are several potentially liable parties when a product injures someone.
There are two ways to prove product liability. One by demonstrating that a party was negligent and liable for compensating you, which includes the following elements:
- The other party owed you a duty of care to ensure their product was safe for use as intended.
- They failed to fulfill or “breached” their duty to you by allowing you to purchase an unsafe or defective product
- The unsafe or defective product directly caused you injuries, and you incurred losses as a result
Another way to prove a party is legally responsible for compensating you is by using a concept known as strict liability. Under Louisiana law, manufacturers are strictly liable for all damages caused by their products when used as intended. This means you don’t have to prove negligence, only that before leaving the manufacturer’s control, the product was either:
- Unreasonably dangerous in composition, construction, or design
- Sold without adequate safety and warning labels and documents
- In breach of the manufacturer’s express warranty for repairing or replacing the product
Our personal injury attorneys will help you prove your claim using whichever liability strategy is relevant and will be most effective for your case.
They treated us like no other people would. Whenever we needed something they were there for us. I put my trust in them and I don’t regret it.
ClientContact Laborde Earles Injury Lawyers Today
If an unreasonably dangerous or defective product caused you harm, you shouldn’t have to pay for your injury-related expenses. At Laborde Earles Injury Lawyers, our mission is to ensure that the parties responsible for your injuries and that damages compensate you for your losses.
Contact us today for a free consultation and to learn more about your rights and options. We will handle your case from start to finish and take care of all the legal and administrative tasks needed to secure the compensation you deserve.
