Walla Walla Personal Injury Lawyer

Also called tort law, personal injury law is a field of civil litigation designed to hold wrongdoers accountable for injury or harm they cause. Most personal injury lawsuits are the result of accidents, and all personal injury cases are based on negligence. Negligence is the legal way to say “carelessness,” and occurs when someone acts or fails to act and someone else gets hurt as a result.

The most common type of personal injury case involves motor vehicle accidents, so we can use a car accident as an example. To prove a driver is negligent after an accident you must show:

• The at-fault driver (the defendant) owed you (the plaintiff) a duty of care – all licensed drivers in Washington and Oregon owe others on the road a duty of care
• The defendant breached that duty – the driver did something careless (i.e. texted while driving, failed to pay attention to the road)
• You were injured – you had to go to the hospital after the accident
• The defendant’s breach caused your injury – medical records reflect the accident caused you to suffer fractures or another injury
• Although proving a case of negligence may seem straightforward, it rarely is. At-fault drivers and their insurance companies may try to avoid liability or downplay the seriousness of your claim.

When you choose Hess Law Office, however, our Walla Walla personal injury attorneys have your back.