There are more than 700,000 compensation claims filed each year in America. Many people take this course of action to get the money they think they deserve. It can help them to pay for food and keep a roof over their head when they are recovering from the injury they sustained. But which are the most common types of personal injury claims?
Road Accidents
There are many road accidents, and many people get injured in them who have done nothing wrong. Anyone who gets injured on their road through no fault of their own is within their rights to pursue a compensation claim. There are about six million car accidents on US roads every year, and that leads to a lot of compensation claims. As soon as the driver or passenger has recovered from the injuries, they can use those medical reports as proof. That documentation can be very useful when it comes to securing compensation for the accident. It’s a long process, but the success rates are pretty high.
Work Injuries
When someone gets injured at work, they usually look for someone to blame. This is understandable because employers have a duty to look after their employees at work. If their workplaces are not safe, then accidents will happen, and compensation will have to be paid out. Contacting compensation lawyers and pursuing a claim is what the injured person will quickly do. Most workers don’t like their bosses, so they’re not going to shy away from taking their money. The only way to make sure that this doesn’t happen is for employers to make sure that workplaces are safe. Strong health and safety measures are vital to keeping everyone protected from potential harm and hazards.
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Medical Malpractice
If a patient can prove that they were injured by the actions of a doctor or medical professionals, they can claim medical malpractice. When this happens, and the evidence all checks out, the money that the victim can claim can be huge. The process isn’t quite as straightforward as that though. An independent medical professional has to look at the case and verify that the original doctor acted incorrectly. If all that goes to plan, the claim should be successful though. Any expert witnesses that were present can help your case if they’re willing to testify for you as well.
Accidents Caused by Negligence
There are millions of accidents every year in which people fall over or slip on a floor. These kinds of accidents often get attributed to someone’s negligence. If someone has cleaned a floor in a public place and failed to put up a sign making that fact clear, they could be negligent. This kind of thing happens each and every day. So, it’s not a surprise that this is one of the most common forms of personal injury claim in the US at the moment. Sometimes, the person who got injured is persuaded to sign a waiver or settle the issue out of court before they can take it further.
The United Nations has formally rejected compensation claims by victims of a cholera outbreak in Haiti that has killed almost 8,000 people.
UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon called Haitian President Michel Martelly to inform him of the decision.
The UN says it is immune from such claims under the UN’s Convention on the Privileges and Immunities of the UN.
Evidence suggests cholera was introduced to Haiti through a UN base’s leaking sewage pipes.
The UN has never acknowledged responsibility for the outbreak – which has infected more than 600,000 people – saying it is impossible to pinpoint the exact source of the disease, despite the mounting evidence the epidemic was caused by poor sanitation at a camp housing infected Nepalese peacekeepers.
In a terse statement, Ban Ki-moon’s spokesman said damages claims for millions of dollars filed by lawyers for cholera victims was “not receivable” under the 1947 convention that grants the UN immunity for its actions.
But a lawyer for the cholera victims said that UN immunity could not mean impunity, and said the case would now be pursued in a national court.
The UN has formally rejected compensation claims by victims of a cholera outbreak in Haiti that has killed almost 8,000 people
The lawyer, Brian Concannon, said the victims’ legal team would challenge the UN’s right to immunity from Haitian courts, on the grounds that it had not established an alternative mechanism for dealing with accountability issues, as stipulated in its agreement with the government.
Brian Concannon also said lifting immunity would not challenge UN policy, which is protected by the convention, but its practice, such as how to test troops for disease and properly dispose of sewage.
In December the UN launched a $2 billion appeal to fight the cholera epidemic, which is currently the worst outbreak in the world, and Ban Ki-moon reiterated to Michel Martelly the UN’s commitment to the elimination of cholera in Haiti.
Cholera is a disease of poverty, analysts say. It is spread through infected faeces and, once it enters the water supply, it is difficult to stop – especially in a country like Haiti which has almost no effective sewage disposal systems.
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What you should know if you experience an accident
It is possible to experience an accident or injury at virtually any time, or in any place, and personal injury law and lawyers cover most of these situations and experiences. One of the less common types of injury of this kind is that of airplane accidents. However, this term can refer to anything from a relatively minor accident which takes place during the course of a flight – such as a fall while standing in the plane, a spilt hot drink due to the motion of the plane or being hit by luggage falling from one of the overhead compartments – to something far more serious like injuries sustained in the wake of an aircraft crash. Therefore lawyers dealing with this particular area of the law need a significant degree of specialist knowledge and understanding.
Accidents on an airplane journey come under the heading of personal injury when it comes to compensation claims, but they represent a complex area of this type of aviation accident law compensation. Like many other forms of personal injury claim, a specialist aviation accident lawyer will take on cases on a no-win, no-fee basis – thus enabling people on lower incomes to make claims for compensation they are rightfully entitled to. Complicating the issue of compensation when it comes to airplane accidents is the fact that there are differences in making a claim depending on whether you were injured during an international flight or one within the UK – which is another major reason why it is best to seek the help of a qualified airplane accident lawyer if you wish to pursue a claim of this kind.
The Montreal Convention
Airplane accidents which happen on international flights are legally covered under the terms of the Montreal Convention, which ensures that people injured during the course of an international flight can pursue their compensation claim in the country where it will be most favourable to them – whether this happens to be the country that they were travelling to on their flight, or the country they primarily live in. This was incorporated into UK law in 2002, meaning you or your legal representative need to fully understand it in order to make such a claim.
