Dayton Personal Injury Attorneys

Dayton Personal Injury Attorneys

Personal injury law guides a wide, important area of the law, which addresses injuries that are caused by someone else’s negligence. Personal injury law focuses on the damages caused by negligence in relation to a duty of care owed. While every personal injury claim is unique to the situation at hand, the basics remain constant across all personal injury claims. If you’ve been injured as a result of someone else’s negligence, seeking the professional legal guidance you need from an experienced Dayton personal injury attorney is in your best interest. 

Common Types of Personal Injury Claims

While personal injury claims come in many varieties, some of the most common include:

• Traffic accidents of all kinds
• Premises liability claims, such as slip and fall accidents
• Dog bites

Additional claims that are very similar to personal injury include workers’ compensation, wrongful death, and medical malpractice claims. 

Are You Owed a Duty of Care?

Personal injury claims hinge on whether or not there is a duty of care owed, and traffic accidents are a prime example. Everyone who gets behind the wheel of a car or another kind of vehicle owes a significant duty of care to everyone with whom he or she shares the road, and this responsibility includes adhering to the rules of the road and to driving safely in relation to what is happening on the road (including taking the condition of the road into consideration). Failure to live up to this responsibility can lead to serious accidents that cause serious injuries.

The Elements of Personal Injury Claims

In the State of Ohio, personal injury claims must contain four distinct legal elements that include:

• You were owed a duty of reasonable care
• The person who owed you this duty of care failed to live up to the responsibility
• As a result of this party’s negligence, an accident occurred
• You were injured in the course of this negligence-based accident

Reasonable in this context relates to the level of care that other reasonable parties exhibit in similar situations.  

Premises Liability

Another common personal injury claim is the slip and fall, which is a form of premises liability. Let’s break a claim down into the four necessary elements in an example involving a restaurant owner:

• Restaurant owners are responsible for maintaining safe premises, including cleaning up dangerous spills in a timely manner.
• A restaurant owner who knows about a dangerous spill but allows it to go unattended breaches the duty of care owed.
• If a patron slips on the spill, the element of an accident caused by negligence is met. 
• If the patron is injured in the accident and suffers legal damages, such as medical expenses, lost earnings, and/or pain and suffering, all the necessary elements are satisfied. 

Personal injury claims, including slip and falls like this example, are often quite serious and can involve significant damages. 

Consult with an Experienced Dayton Personal Injury Attorney Today

The personal injury attorneys at The VanNoy Firm in Dayton focus their practice on helping injured clients like you resolve their claims favorably. To learn more, please contact or call us today.