Duluth Georgia Personal Injury Resources from Wolfe Law Group

Duluth Georgia personal injury victims can find helpful information for their legal rights here. It only takes a quick review of our website to know that our only practice area is personal injury. We pride ourselves on practicing personal injury law in Duluth, helping clients with a variety of different types of personal injury claims.

Duluth is sandwiched into one of the most convenient areas of metro Atlanta. Personal injury lawyers are in high demand in the area because many dangerous intersections and roadways in Duluth create a propensity for a car accident. Sometimes an accident in Duluth can be so severe that it results in the victim suffering crippling injuries or even wrongful death. If you have been a victim in a car accident in Duluth, or an injured party due to fall mishaps or a defective product, we recommend that you continue reading for legal guidance. The practice area of personal injury actually encompasses a collection of practice areas, but all relate to a victim who has been injured due to the negligence of an at-fault party who did not adhere to the appropriate standard of care. Premises liability, wrongful death, dog bites, and car accidents are all considered personal injury. The most common incident that leads to a personal injury victim is a car accident.

What to do after a Duluth car accident?

The first thing you should do is call 911. First and foremost if you have sustained an injury for which you need immediate medical treatment, you should advise the 911 dispatcher. Apart from assisting you in getting emergency medical treatment for an injury, 911 will send out a police officer to assist you and the other motorist whose negligence caused the collision. The next step you should take is to capture the entire scene with photographs and video. When we engage in legal representation of any personal injury victim, one of our first questions is whether they took photographs. Photographs are fundamental to any injury claim. You should take photographs of the damage of all of the vehicles involved in the car crash. The photographs should be taken from many different angles, including from up close and far away. Photographs of the scene of the crash are also very useful to provide context and perspective of how the crash occurred, and sometimes may capture debris on the roadway that may be critical in demonstrating how the crash occurred. It is also important to take photographs of your injuries to document them. If you have any bruising, swelling, cuts, scrapes, scars, or stitches, it is important you memorialize these in photographs. Once your injuries heal, there will be no way to capture them in photographs again. In some cases, from the time of the accident until a trial, years can pass. During that time your injuries may heal. Showing a jury what you have been through during your road to recovery will be crucial to helping you obtain the compensation you deserve. Sometimes, if you have crippling injuries or incapacitating injuries, your lawyer may even wish to have a videographer document a day in your life to show an insurance company or jury exactly what you are going through.

The importance of photographs does not relate as much to presentation of the case to the insurance company as it does the potential perception a jury would have of your case. Obviously if you have incapacitating injuries, it may be impossible for you to take photographs. In such case, the moment you are able to communicate with a family member or friend, you should ask them to take photographs of the vehicles involved in the car accident, as well as the scene of the accident. These are critical pieces of evidences for your personal injury attorney to use when fighting in your personal injury case against an insurance company.

One of the steps that personal injury lawyers in Duluth take when investigating a car accident is to obtain a copy of the crash report to determine the actions that led to the at-fault party’s negligence. An experienced personal injury attorney knows what state and local agencies to send open records act requests to for records. In a wrongful death case for example, it is important that the lawyer contact the coroner’s office. Normally in devastating accidents where a wrongful death results, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation becomes involved. Conducting a thorough investigation early on in a case is the aggressive advocacy that gets accident victims maximum compensation for their accident.

Apart from seeking medical treatment for your accidental injuries and taking photographs, you should also write down any statements that you overheard the at-fault driver make following the accident. In car accidents, for each resulting individual injury claim these excited utterances are useful as evidence to prove fault. Moreover, our memories are not perfect. If you do not make a record of the statement made by the other driver, you may forget what the negligent driver said.

The next thing you should do is call a Duluth accident lawyer. Wolfe Law Group has a Duluth personal injury lawyer ready to talk to you about your injury case right now. We do not recommend that you speak to any insurance company before speaking to a qualified Duluth Georgia law firm. By not speaking to a qualified injury lawyer, you put yourself at risk of not getting the maximum compensation for you injury case.

After you contract your attorney, you should check in with him periodically. Your lawyer will be interested to hear how your life has been effected by your injuries. One element of the damage pertaining to pain and suffering is loss of enjoyment of life. Some of the most intimate parts of your life may be effected. You are entitled to compensation for all of the ways that your injuries caused by the negligence of the at-fault party effect your enjoyment of life.

Our personal injury lawyer may recommend that you keep a pain journal. A pain journal is a personal notebook in which you keep track of your pain on a daily basis from the day of the accident going forward until your case resolves. In the notebook, you would also make sure to note in detail the activities of your day that are effected by the pain. For example, if you find it difficult to get out of bed because of pain, find putting your clothes on impossible because of loss of flexibility, or difficult to walk or engage in your hobbies because or your injuries, these are precisely the types of facts that will be important to your case. If you do not relay these aspects of your life to your attorney, he will not know to communicate these aspects of your pain and suffering to an insurance company or jury.

These steps should also be taken if you have had a motorcycle accident. In many respects, a personal injury claim from a motorcycle accident involves similar steps as a car accident. The more you follow the instructions and legal guidance of your attorney, the more effective his aggressive advocacy will be in advancing your case.

How does a Duluth GA Personal Injury attorney get paid?

A Duluth personal injury attorney normally is paid on a contingency basis, this means that the lawyer is not paid unless he and his law office recover money for you. A qualified personal injury lawyer will understand how damage works in an injury claim where a victim has suffered injuries as a result of another party’s negligence. Damages come in the form of general damages and special damages. General damages are pain and suffering. Special damages are derived from your medical bills (past and future), and lost wages (past and future). Normally a Duluth personal injury attorney will charge between 33.33% to 40%. The law firm normally also covers all of the up-front out of pocket expenses in your case. Any out of pocket expenses will be reimbursed to the law firm out of the proceeds of the settlement. Whether you accident occurred as a result of a motorcycle accident or slip and fall accident, the fee structure does not change.

How does a Duluth personal injury attorney work for you?

First and foremost a personal injury lawyer will advise you of your legal rights and give you legal guidance. The lawyer also serves as a spokesperson for his clients to both the insurance companies involved, as well as to the public if the case ever goes to trial. An experienced personal injury attorney will be able to exercise judgment to make important decisions in your case, such as when to make a settlement demand, and how much money the insurance companies should pay for your case. The lawyer should also be able to give you realistic expectations about the length of time that your case will take to resolve. If you hire an experienced personal injury attorney like Justin Wolfe, it will be explained to you that every case is different, and results vary.

Contact Our Law Firm

If you are in need of a personal injury lawyer in Duluth, and you want a law firm that can empathize with your pain, stress, and confusion, we recommend that you give us a call. Our attorney Justin Wolfe has been identified by numerous publications including Super Lawyer magazine as a Super Lawyer Rising Star. Super Lawyer magazine identifies no more than 2.5% of attorneys within the state for this distinction. Justin also is a fluent Spanish speaker. If you or your friend or loved one are looking for a personal injury lawyer but wish to communicate in Spanish, Justin can communicate without issue. We value the trust that our clients place in us. For this reason, we fight to obtain maximum compensation for each and every one of our clients. If you are looking for a lawyer for a car accident, wrongful death, or slip and fall, give our law firm a call at (404) 348-0884. Tell our receptionist that you are a new client and you will be promptly connected to an intake specialist who can gather critical information that the attorney will need before speaking to you. After that, you will receive a call from our attorney and have a consultation free of charge.

Useful Duluth GA Information

• Duluth Car Accident Resources
• Duluth Truck Accident Resources
• Duluth Motorcycle Accident Resources
• Duluth Premises Liability Resources
• Duluth Wrongful Death Resources

Duluth Government Resources

Duluth Police Department-The local police force for Duluth.  They can be reached for non-emergency calls at (770) 476-4151.

Duluth Municipal Court-The small claims court handles local small claims and misdemeanor criminal cases.  They can be reached by phone at (770) 476-3434.

Gwinnett County Superior Court-This is the trial court of general jurisdiction for Gwinnett County in which Duluth is found.  To reach the office of the Clerk of Court, call (770) 822-8100.