Frequently Asked Questions

Personal Injury FAQ

What is a Personal Injury Case?

Pennsylvania law allows a person to sue for monetary damages including lost wages, lost employment, pain and suffering, disfigurement, and loss of pleasure in ordinary life. Success in a personal injury case requires the injured party proving the alleged wrongdoer was at-fault or negligent. lawsuit is filed by a person seeking monetary damages for medical bills, lost income, pain and suffering, loss of pleasure in life, and disfigurement. To succeed in a personal injury lawsuit, the person filing the claim must prove the defendant was negligent or at fault for their injuries.


If you have a particular question about your case, and require urgent guidance from a Pennsylvania personal injury lawyer, call Jeffrey Penneys any time, 24/7 for your free personal injury case review.


Many injury victims have the same general questions in the days and weeks after an accident. Below, I’ve answered the most common questions I hear from accident victims and their families regarding hiring a Pennsylvania personal injury attorney and filing a Pennsylvania injury claim.

Under Pennsylvania law, accident victims have two years from the date of the incident to file an injury lawsuit. If your injury is not discovered until after the incident, you have two years from the day of discovery to file. If you are a minor, you have two years from the date of your 18th birthday to file.

The answer to this question varies considerably, depending upon the details of your case. A straightforward case with lots of evidence and few complications could be settled in a matter of weeks or months. If your case involves catastrophic injuries, a complicated incident, or a powerful entity (such as a hospital or trucking company), it could take much longer. Your case will also take longer if insurance company negotiations fail and your case goes to court. Keep in mind that since I don’t get paid until you do, my legal team works as quickly and efficiently as possible to resolve claims.

How much compensation you deserve depends upon the details and circumstances of your case, such as how badly you were harmed, how carelessly the other party acted, how much pain and suffering you endured and the cost of your medical expenses. When you hire an injury attorney to help you with your case, he or she will carefully calculate the economic and non-economic damages associated with your accident to determine fair compensation.

The insurance company may tell you that you don’t need an attorney to help you file your injury claim and settle your case, but you should know that not hiring legal help may come with a cost. Not having a legal advocate at your side during settlement negotiations may result in being paid much less than you are owed. You will not have a lawyer to inform you of your rights, or to send the message that you are serious about securing just compensation. You will also not have a partner who is familiar with insurance company tactics to deny, delay, and underpay claims.

Most injury claims are settled out of court between the injury victim and the insurance company with the help of a local injury attorney. However, sometimes negotiations fail and the insurance company will not agree to a fair payout. In these cases, I will not hesitate to bring your injury lawsuit to court so that a judge or jury can hear your case.

You must prove:

  • Breach of a duty (normally, breach of the duty of reasonable care) occurred.
  • The breach of duty actually caused the accident.
  • You suffered injuries because of the accident.

You must prove all of the damages that you are claiming by using admissible evidence.

There are no formal limits on how much compensation you can receive unless you sue the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania or a municipality. You are also limited to what the at-fault party’s insurance policy limits are. If a jury awards you an outrageously high amount, however, the defendant might appeal the award, and the appeals court judge might overturn it.

Yes, you can, if you can prove that:

  • The driver is liable for your injuries;
  • The driver was on-duty at the time of the accident; and
  • The driver is really an employee (rather than an independent contractor, as most commercial truckers are).

Yes, you can sue the establishment under the Pennsylvania Dram Shop Law, if the driver was served by the establishment while visibly intoxicated at the time when served.

Not automatically. Under Pennsylvania’s comparative negligence statute, you can still recover at least some compensation, as long as the accident was no more than 50 percent your fault. The amount of your compensation, however, will be reduced proportionately by your percentage of fault. For example, if your case is worth $100,000.00, but you were 50% at fault, you will get $50,000.00.

Most of my personal injury cases are resolved by settlement. In some cases, however, a settlement is reached only after a lawsuit has already been filed. In most cases, it is best to attempt settlement first, and then file a lawsuit if the defendant refuses to pay reasonable compensation.

The Pennsylvania wrongful death statute allows the personal representative of the victim’s probate estate to file a lawsuit. If he or she does not do so within two years of the victim’s date of death, the beneficiaries of the victim’s estate may file the lawsuit. Compensation goes to the victim’s estate and to close relatives.

Yes. You have until two years after an accident to file a personal injury lawsuit, and two years after the victim’s date of death to file a wrongful death lawsuit. Once you file the lawsuit, you have beaten the statute of limitations no matter how long the lawsuit takes to resolve. This rule is extended for those who are injured while minors. In that case, they have until the 20th birthday in which to settle or bring a lawsuit.

Pain and suffering damages are one form of non-economic damages. They are based on the physical pain that you might have suffered from your injury, as well as inconvenience, loss of life’s pleasures, humiliation, embarrassment, etc. In some cases, pain and suffering damages can far exceed the aggregate total of economic damages, such as medical expenses and lost wages.

Yes, absolutely. Attorney-client confidentiality is a supremely important ethical principle in the legal profession, and a lawyer can lose his or her license to practice law for divulging confidential client communications. Even a court cannot order the release of confidential client communications.

Yes, you can, if you can prove that the state was negligent and that the inadequate maintenance caused your accident. Damages, however, are limited to $250,000 per victim and $1 million per case (meaning that if there are several injured victims in the same accident, they can all go after a total of $1 million.

No. Once you sign a settlement agreement or have a judgment issued in your case, your claim is permanently extinguished. For this reason, it is critical that you accurately calculate all your damages (future medical expenses, for example) so that you can include them in your original claim. As your injury attorney, I make sure that you are fully compensated for ALL accident-related damages.

No. My clients are always very happy when I present them with a check and tell them that it is tax-free.

Maybe. Punitive damages require: (i) outrageously culpable conduct on the part of the defendant, and (ii) proof of outrageous conduct by “clear and convincing evidence,” which is an elevated standard of proof. A drunken driving accident, for example, might be an occasion to try for punitive damages.

“Preponderance of the evidence” is the legal standard for proving your case. To win, you must prove each element of your claim (negligence, causation, and damages, for example) by a preponderance of evidence, which means roughly “more likely than not.” This standard is much easier to meet than the “beyond a reasonable doubt” standard used in criminal prosecutions.

Theoretically, you can recover for any loss that arose from your accident. These losses may include, among other items:

  • Medical expenses (past, present, and future)
  • Lost earnings during your recovery period
  • Future loss earning, also known as “loss of earning capacity”
  • Out-of-pocket expenses arising from your injury
  • Pain and suffering
  • Punitive damages (in a minority of cases)

Some injuries justify other forms of damages, as well, such as loss of enjoyment of life.

A personal injury lawsuit is a legal dispute arising after one person suffers harm from an accident or injury, where someone else could be held legally responsible for that harm.

Contact My Law Office for a Free, Private Case Review

I hope the above answers help you understand the basics of injury law, but I also want to answer questions about your specific accident and your specific claim. This is why I offer all Pennsylvania accident victims and their families a no-obligation, confidential case review. To schedule a meeting, please call me at (215) 771-0430 or fill out my online contact form and I will get back to you. I am available to take calls 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

 

I believe that it is important for all injury victims to understand the basics of personal injury law in Pennsylvania. Understanding these concepts can help you understand your case, legal options, and rights. In addition, some legal knowledge can help you determine whether you may need the assistance of a personal injury attorney. Below, I have answered a number of general questions about Pennsylvania personal injury law.

Under Pennsylvania law, negligence is defined as: “Failure to use ordinary care, that is, failing to do that which a person of ordinary prudence would have done under the same or similar circumstances or doing that which a person of ordinary prudence would not have done under the same or similar circumstances.”

This means that if someone did not act reasonably, or did not show a reasonable amount of care, they were negligent. For example, if the stairwell in a building had no handrails, and someone falls down the stairs, they may be found negligent for having no handrails when they should have.

If you were no more than than 50% at fault for your accident, you may still be able to collect damages from the other at-fault party or parties. However, the amount you collect will reflect your own involvement in your injury. For example, if someone else were found to be 60% responsible for your injuries, they would also be responsible for 60% of your medical expenses and lost wages. This legal concept is called comparative negligence.

Punitive damages are rewarded to the injury victim in order to punish the offending party and set an example for others. These damages, also known as exemplary damages, are only awarded in Pennsylvania injury cases where the at-fault party displayed “outrageous or wanton misconduct.” For example, punitive damages might be awarded if your car accident was caused by a trucking company that purposely retained a dangerous driver, or if a company continued to sell a defective product knowing that consumers would likely be seriously injured.

Yes, many health insurance policies contain clauses that require injury victims to pay back healthcare costs when they receive personal injury settlements. This is because the healthcare company initially paid for your medical expenses out of its own pocket and expects the responsible third party to pick up the bill in the future. This is called a healthcare lien.

As your local injury attorney, I can both negotiate a fair settlement with the insurance company and negotiate with your healthcare lien holder. Both of these negotiations are designed to put money in your pocket and get your medical expenses taken care of in a fair manner.

In some cases, if you have signed an agreement with your local injury attorney, your lawyer can settle your case and sign the paperwork without your consent. However, I would like to make it clear that I will never settle your case without explaining the settlement to you, talking to you about other options, and reviewing the risks of not accepting the offer. At my law offices, I believe in fully partnering with my clients and making sure they are aware and educated at every step in the settlement process. You should be part of every decision, from beginning to end.

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