Choosing the Right Lawyer is No ACCIDENT- A Personal Injury Guide - By Jeff Adelman (2025 Edition)
If you are reading this, you likely have been injured as a result of a car accident or slipping or tripping on someone’s premises as a result of negligence. In the pages that follow, I will provide insight as to what you should expect from a lawyer (attorney) fighting on your behalf for personal injuries. This book is intended as a general guide if you are unfortunate to have had this happen to you. It has been with the least amount of “legalese” as possible, so you do not have to be a lawyer to understand it.
If you are reading this, you likely have been injured as a result of a car accident or slipping or tripping on someone’s premises as a result of negligence. In the pages that follow, I will provide insight as to what you should expect from a lawyer (attorney) fighting on your behalf for personal injuries. This book is intended as a general guide if you are unfortunate to have had this happen to you. It has been with the least amount of “legalese” as possible, so you do not have to be a lawyer to understand it.
Transform your PDFs into Flipbooks and boost your revenue!
Leverage SEO-optimized Flipbooks, powerful backlinks, and multimedia content to professionally showcase your products and significantly increase your reach.
Choosing the Right Lawyer is No Accident
PUNITIVE DAMAGES
This is a phrase that is uttered by nonlawyers nonchalantly without really
knowing what it means. Punitive damages are not something that you
can just plead in a lawsuit. You have to show certain facts to the judge
and then the judge has to grant a motion allowing you to pursue a claim
of punitive damages. In automobile injury claims, this can come up when
you’re dealing with a DUI situation. Just because the judge allows you
to bring a count for punitive damages does not mean that you’ve
automatically won. You still have to prove them in front of a jury.
An interesting wrinkle to this is that the jury that hears the punitive
damages case most likely is not the jury that will hear the underlying
trial. For example, if you are dealing with personal injuries stemming
from a car accident caused by a drunk driver, your attorney will not be
able to say that you were hit by a drunk driver in the underlying car
accident causing an injury trial. The punitive damages count—that might
be heard by a different jury—comes after you are successful for the
initial reason for the lawsuit.
56
Jeff Adelman, B.C.S., Esq.
Change language