In the aftermath of a serious accident, things can feel like they are out of control. The fear and trauma of a bad accident can linger, and as medical bills mount and income is lost, the future can feel very uncertain indeed. However, our legal system provides some ways for victims of accidents to get help in putting their lives back together. Personal injury laws allow for lawsuits that can hold the correct parties accountable, forcing those who were negligent to compensate those burdened by the aftermath of a serious accident. Below, we’ll lay out everything that you need to know about personal injury law and how it could affect you. While we can’t tell you just how to make the law work for you in your situation, we can tell you how to find out.

Personal Injury Law Basics

The law is a complicated thing, and many of us view personal injury law as something very abstract. Most people understand that personal injury attorneys file lawsuits to win money for injured parties, but not everyone understands the basic principles that underlie the process. The reality is that the basics of personal injury law are quite straightforward, and that they set out what a personal injury suit must prove to achieve success.

Personal injury lawsuits compensate people injured in an accident caused by someone else’s negligence. To be successful, a lawsuit must prove that damages (such as lost income or high medical bills) were caused by an injury; that the injury in question was caused by an accident; and that the accident in question was caused by the negligence of another party.

The description above is true of personal injury law all over the Western world: from big firms in huge American cities to the local office of a personal injury Lawyer Halifax, Nova Scotia, the same basic principles exist. Things can get a bit more complicated, of course–for instance, liability and negligence aren’t all-or-nothing calculations. The point is that personal injury law helps victims who are suffering because of someone else’s negligence.

Do You Have a Personal Injury Case?

To determine if you might have a personal injury case, you should check the basics above and slot in your personal experience. If you yourself caused the accident that injured you, and nobody else involved was negligent, then you may not have a case. If there was an accident, but you weren’t injured and suffered no damages, then the same is true. However, if there’s any chance at all in your mind that you could have a case, your next step is clear: you need to speak to a lawyer.

Nobody but a practicing attorney should be giving you legal advice. While articles like this one can lay out general truths about personal injury law, it’s very important that you not accept specific advice from anyone who is not an attorney–and you won’t find anyone reliable offering any outside of the lawyer-client relationship.

Making the Case: What You Need to Know

Knowing that you need an attorney is the most basic personal injury lawsuit advice we can give. However, there’s more to know, of course, in the time after an accident. Let’s talk about what you should do.

First, time is of the essence. After an accident, the evidence that you need could be disappearing. Document the scene as best you can, and then speak to an attorney quickly, so that the attorney can work to preserve the facts that will be needed in your case.

When you see your attorney, be prepared to speak in detail on the facts of the case (and skip the emotions–they aren’t relevant to the case). Show up with documentation like medical bills and police reports–your attorney will want to see those.

From there, your attorney can guide you. If you have a case, you may find that the burdens you’ve been dealing with since your accident become significantly lighter.