After an auto accident causes injuries, you can file a claim to potentially get compensation for what you’ve been through. When going through the process of filing an injury claim, you want a trusted legal representative at your side who will make sure that your settlement is fair and will cover the costs of your injuries.

While some costs, often referred to as damages, may be obvious to you, such as the totals of your medical bills or damages to your vehicle, you have to consider the other effects of an auto collision. You may have suffered from significant emotional stress and this may continue to affect your life. These kinds of damages are called non-economic damages. These are difficult to assign a numerical value to, but your lawyer will be able to expertly calculate a fair settlement based on both your economic and non-economic damages.

Physicians and medicine have been mentioned in some of the earliest laws ever discovered by historians. Medical malpractice litigation spans back thousands of year. There’s even a Babylonian code dating back to 1794 BC that mentions the repercussions for medical mistakes and promoting the idea that doctors should face punishments if they wrongfully harm a patient.

In the United States, however, the first case came about in 1794 after a patient died during an operation. The victim’s husband brought the case forward and won because the physician did not operate as skillfully as promised. After that, there was a large increase in med mal claims and the American Medical Association was founded. The litigation process has been designed to promote extensive discovery and negotiations between the opposing parties to encourage a resolution without going to trial.

Hearing that a loved one was in a car accident is a terrifying thing. It’s natural to worry about their injuries and how the recovery will affect them. You may find that their injuries can take a while to heal. It’s also completely natural to wonder what you can do to help.

There are plenty of ways you can support your loved one. Here are some tips:

Thousands of accidents happen every year on Mississippi’s roadways. As a result, people are injured, lives are lost, and families are changed forever. From distracted drivers to poorly designed roads, there are a number of reasons why car accidents happen. While drivers generally understand why crashes occur, there’s not as much emphasis put on where they occur. Understanding where wrecks are most likely to happen can help drivers remain vigilant behind the wheel. In Jackson and all over Mississippi, most collisions occur on highways and at intersections.

Dangerous Highways in Mississippi

Highways and interstates provide drivers with a quick and efficient means of travels. In general, drivers don’t have to worry about varying speeds or traffic lights. There are, however, dangers that drivers might not think about – like speeding and erratic merging. The following are the most dangerous highways in Mississippi.

Unfortunately, car accidents happen. When they do, the actions taken by those involved immediately following the accident play a very large role in the outcome. It is important for drivers and passengers to be informed and prepared in the event of an accident. They can protect themselves by following these five tips.

Tip 1: Remain at the scene of the accident

Always stay at the scene of the accident. Make sure that no one is seriously injured in the accident and if they are, call 911 immediately. If someone is injured and you leave the scene, you can be criminally charged. You will also need to exchange contact and insurance information with the other driver. Make sure to write down the names of any passengers involved as well. You should also gather information from any witnesses and speak with the police when they arrive on the scene.

Regardless of the severity of car accidents, they will always be traumatic experiences. While severe injuries are usually immediately evident, yours may only manifest over time. Even low-speed rear-end bumper-bashing incidents can cause whiplash that can lead to years of neck or back problems or one of several other delayed car accident injury symptoms. You may want to refuse medical evaluation immediately after a crash because there is no evidence of broken bones or bleeding wounds. However, this could make it much more difficult to include undiagnosed injuries in any personal injury claim that you want to pursue following the wreck.

Living in a rental property often means having less control over your environment than if you owned a home. You may be able to live without the option to change the color of your living room in exchange for the convenience and affordability of renting a house or apartment. However, you also lack the control over making important safety decisions that may affect your children.

Your landlord is responsible for keeping the property as safe as reasonably possible. If your building has smoke alarms, fire extinguishers and flood lights, your landlord may feel he or she is doing enough to protect you and your family. What your landlord may not see are the attractive nuisances on the property.

What is an attractive nuisance?

An attractive nuisance is anything that may lure your child into a dangerous situation. Perhaps the most common example of this is a swimming pool. Your child may see an unattended swimming pool as delightfully enticing. Without adequate fencing and locks that meet the codes of Mississippi, many pools have lured children to a tragic end. However, even if there is no pool on your landlord’s property, other circumstances may create an attractive nuisance that could place your child in danger, for example:

• A fountain, hot tub or well
• Machinery such as riding mowers, ATVs, golf carts or tractors
• Piles of debris such as materials your landlord is using for construction or renovations
• Old appliances like freezers or refrigerators with the doors still attached and unchained
• Unattended play equipment such as trampolines
• Abandoned or dilapidated sheds or outbuildings
• Dogs or other animals

It is not enough for the landlord to post a sign warning of the danger. Your child may not yet be able to read, and the enticement of the object may be enough that even a reading child misses the sign.

Dealing with the problem

The law may not consider natural features such as trees or ponds to be attractive nuisances, and your landlord may escape liability if the cost of removing or remedying the situation is prohibitive. However, if you landlord can reasonably conceive that a situation or object on the property could cause harm to a child, he or she may have an obligation to remove or secure it. Each case is unique, and the court takes many factors into consideration.

If your child suffers injury because of an attractive nuisance on your landlord’s property, you may wish to seek the counsel of an attorney who will review the details of the case and advise you on the best course of action for your situation.

As you drive to town one morning, your brain mulls over all of the tasks you have planned for your seemingly ordinary day. Little do you know, however, that this same brain will soon take a hit — literally — in a motor vehicle crash resulting from a negligent driver.

Brain injuries are serious, with the potential to lead to lifelong complications. If you are involved in a car crash in Mississippi that causes you to suffer a traumatic brain injury, you have the right to seek to hold accountable the at-fault party through the civil court system.

Brain injuries

Each year in the United States, about 1.7 million emergency room visits, hospitalizations and deaths related to traumatic brain injury occur. You do not have to be traveling speedily or hit a hard object to suffer this type of injury. Any type of trauma affecting the neck or head region can actually cause your brain to swell, tear, bruise or bleed. Symptoms of these types of injuries include confusion, dizziness and nausea, a severe headache and even unusual sluggishness or tiredness.

Types of brain injuries

Two types of brain injuries exist: open and closed. You have suffered an open injury if you have fractured your skull, which may occur if your skull ends up making direct contact with an object or surface that is hard. Meanwhile, you have suffered a closed injury if the injury does not involve a fracture.

Closed injuries, however, may actually be more serious than open ones as a result of the potential for brain swelling as well as the formation of blood clots in the skull. Serious open and closed injuries may lead to the loss of consciousness, paralysis or death.

What to do

If you have suffered a traumatic brain injury in a car crash as a result of a careless driver, you may opt to file a personal injury claim against the driver, seeking damages. A preponderance of the evidence is required to establish liability in civil court in Mississippi. No amount of monetary damages in a successfully fought claim can undo the events leading to a brain injury. However, financial damages may help with addressing ongoing medical costs and other expenses stemming from such an injury.

A seemingly normal day can quickly become a devastating one in a split second if you are driving near a negligent driver. Unfortunately, oftentimes, there is no way to tell whether the driver behind you or beside you is careless, until it is too late.

If a negligent driver in Mississippi has reportedly caused you to suffer injuries in a car crash, your injuries can take a toll on you — not only physically but also emotionally, mentally and financially. However, you have the right to seek to hold this other driver accountable for your injuries. Here are a few helpful steps to take following an accident that was another motorist’s fault.

What to do directly after the crash

Following the accident, seeking medical attention immediately is critical, if the crash caused injury to you and other individuals. If you are able to write down notes about the injuries you have suffered, this may also be a wise move. Ensuring that all of the motor vehicles involved in the collision are out of traffic is additionally important to prevent another collision or a traffic jam.

What information to gather following the collision

Gathering several details at the scene of the car accident is paramount. These include the following:

• The allegedly at-fault driver’s name, address and phone number
• The other driver’s insurance company policy number and name
• Statements from witnesses and the witnesses’ contact information
• Photos of the accident scene

You may also want to contact the police so that authorities can file a report on the accident. Your explanation of the events leading up to the accident in the police report may ultimately give you some leverage if you decide to seek compensation for your injuries.

Your rights as an injured car accident victim

It is within your rights to file a personal injury claim against the driver who reportedly caused you to suffer injuries in your motor vehicle wreck. Competent proof of negligence — such as speeding or texting while driving — is necessary to establish liability before a civil court in Mississippi.

If you end up winning your claim, you may receive a monetary damage award that might help you to cover your medical bills related to the car crash. Your award might also help with addressing the loss of wages if your injuries prevented you from being able to return to work in a timely manner.