Western Pennsylvania Personal Injury & Wrongful Death Attorney
"SERIOUS REPRESENTATION FOR SERIOUS INJURIES"
Losing a loved-one to serious injury or death due to someone else's negligence is extremely painful and difficult to deal with. In this time of hurt, whether your case occurs in Erie, or anywhere in Western Pennsylvania, it is crucial to retain an exceptional personal injury attorney as soon as possible.
The right attorney must have experience, and must be willing to fight to secure the best possible result in your case. At THE VEITCH LAW FIRM we strive to be at the forefront of legal representation and our experienced Erie personal injury lawyers have both of these qualities. We take pride in helping every person who comes to us for help and you can rest assured that if we are not the right attorneys for you, we will point you in the right direction.
Unlike many other law firms, we don't just make promises about how we will help you, we follow through.
We understand that choosing the right attorney can be a daunting task. At THE VEITCH LAW FIRM many of our clients are referred to us by fellow attorneys and previous clients, and we take pride in the fact that people trust us enough to handle cases for their friends and family. We are dedicated to helping those in need of help no matter what it takes. We will work on payment plans if you need them, and our rates are highly competitive. Lastly, in personal injury matters, there is never any fee unless we obtain compensation for you. If we are unable to represent you, we do our best to refer to only the top Erie injury lawyers in the region.
Make the right decision; give THE VEITCH LAW FIRM a call today.
Personal Injury
A personal injury occurs when you have suffered some form of injury, either physical or psychological, as the result of the fault of another. You then have the right under our country's laws to recover money damages to compensate you for the harm you or a close family member may have suffered due to the negligence or intentional act of another. Most personal injuries fall under the category which lawyers call a “tort”.
Torts may involve a car accident involving two or more cars, trucks, or a bus, a pedestrians, motorcyclists, bicyclists, or other motorized vehicles on or off of a public highway. A rear end collision is the most common tort with which we are most familiar.
Additionally, torts involve injuries or event which have been economically damaged another due someone's fault. The negligent person could be a corporation or an individual. In the case of a simple rear end collision, if one is injured and cannot work, the economic loss is not just medical bills, but the injured person's wage loss and property damage to their vehicle.
Types of injuries caused by folks who are negligent may include wrong death and survival claims, defective products claims, construction site or work place injury claims, premises claims and medical malpractice claims, which arise out of the negligence of a doctor, a hospital or a lower tier health care provider in the care and treatment of a patient. The injury or harm to the patient does not have to be intentional. Medical malpractice arises in negligence, meaning, the care of the health care provider fell beneath the standard of care of a reasonably prudent provider, in his or her specialty, acting under the same or similar circumstances at the time of the injury.
Examples of medical malpractice may involve a mid wife during a child birth, or a physician's assistant working under a lack of supervision of the attending physician or failing to refer a difficult case to a doctor or specialist rather than handling it himself/herself, or a nurse practitioner who commits negligence and causes injury and is not supervised sufficiently by her attending or fails to refer the case to a doctor rather than take it on herself/himself or a family doctor who is negligent in the care and treatment of a patient when he/she takes on care of a patient when the patient should have been referred to a specialist and not treated by the primary care family doctor, or when a specialist- such as a surgeon- negligently operates on a patient causing an injury to the patient are all examples of Torts which are also personal injury cases.
Medical malpractice may involve failure to provide informed consent to a patient. If a patient is not properly informed before a surgery or a procedure, the patient can recover damages for his/her injuries caused by the failure of the health care provider to provide informed consent to the patient which results in an injury or harm to the patient because the patient, had they been properly informed, would not have chosen to undergo the procedure.
Other examples of personal injuries are:
- Car accidents
- Motorcycle accidents
- Trucking accidents
- Slip and fall accidents
- Injury to children or people injured on another's property
- Dog bite injuries
- Work place injuries or construction site injuries caused by the negligence of another worker or contractor
Even if there is clear negligence and the person at fault admits fault, you may not have a case which makes economic sense to pursue; or you have have difficulty proving “causation”. This is all part of the process to assess and evaluate your case and whether it is meritorious. Often there I malpractice but you cannot prove the damages or injuries were caused by the medical negligence and the lawyer may decline your case.
To this end, even if you assume the other person was at fault, can you prove that your injuries and damages were caused by the negligent act of the at fault person or did the follow from another or different cause than the rear end collision or the act of medical malpractice?
This is usually the crux of the case which must be evaluated before a lawyer will take on your battle. For example, in a medical negligence case, the doctor operated on the wrong leg. The doctor caught the mistake, that is, the nurse marked the wrong leg in the pre-op room before the patient was taken into the operating room. The patient was anesthetized but was brought out of it before the operation proceeded. The hospital and the doctor recognize their errors and offer to pay for the patient's out of pocket expense and do so.
Query: Is there malpractice? and if so, is this a cost effective case to take to a lawyer?
The answer is not simple. Yes there was medical negligence, but it is not necessarily cost effective to litigate and move this case forward because the patient has minimal, if any, damages. The health care provider paid all economic and out of pocket losses but there was no personal harm to the patient. Yes there is a personal injury, because the patient was inconvenienced or put under for a short period of time, but it is a case which should settle and not be litigated by a lawyer because the economics do not dictate that there are sufficient economic damages.
Additionally, a lawyer must evaluate comparative fault, assumption of risk or mitigation of damages, which are common defenses raised in personal injury cases. A client may be partially responsible for causing their injury. Take the rear end car accident. In a chain collision where there are multiple rear end impacts and multiple cars involved, a client may be partially at fault if he or she is rear end after they first rear ended the car in front of them. The reason is that the client was also following too closely and may have contributed, partially, to the collision. If you assume the client was 25 % at fault for rear ending the vehicle in front of it first, before it was rear ended, then the fault of the injured person (25%) reduces the total damages the person can recover. Whatever percent the person is comparatively at fault will be a damage reducing factor when determining the value of Plaintiff's personal injuries.
Often the spouse of the injured person will also have a claim for personal injuries or damages if they were in the zone of danger and witnessed the accident, or if they suffered damages which lawyers refer to as damages for “loss of consortium”. This means a family member, husband, wife, daughter or son can recover for the loss of the love, affection, companionship, support and loss of a loved one. These claims for damages are also part of the personal injury case.
If you or a loved one, a friend or family member have suffered an injury or economic loss cause by the negligence or intentional act of another you may be entitled to compensation if you have suffered a personal injury.
For further information and/or to speak to one of our experienced attorneys directly about your particular situation feel free to CALL NOW for a FREE CONSULTATION at (814) 314-0051 or email for a quick response: [email protected]
Being injured or having it happen to someone you know is extremely difficult, especially when the injury occurs due to someone else's negligence. In this time of hurt, whether your case occurs in Erie, or anywhere in Western, Pennsylvania, it is crucial to retain an exceptional personal injury attorney as soon as possible.
The right attorney must have experience, and must be willing to fight to secure the best possible result in your case. At The Veitch Law Firm, we strive to be at the forefront of legal representation and our experienced personal injury lawyers have both of these qualities. At The Veitch Law Firm, we take pride in helping every person who comes to us for help and you can rest assured that if we are not the right attorneys for you, we will point you in the right direction. Additionally, we regularly associate with other top injury lawyers in the region, at no additional expense to you, to ensure that your representation guarantees the best representation and expert witnesses possible.
ERIE MOTOR VEHICLE ACCIDENTS
Any time you are involved in a Erie motor vehicle accident, no matter the cause or result, you are most likely in for a major inconvenience and a prolonged struggle. Erie Motor vehicle accidents can cause the loss of property, time, health, and sometimes life.
Erie Motor vehicle Accidents can occur for a number of different reasons but are most likely due to driver error, negligence, being under the influence of alcohol or drugs, or inclement weather. When you have been a involved in an Erie motor vehicle accident you may have a sense of who caused it. Issues of fault, however, can quickly become complicated for numerous reasons. If the other driver was negligent, you will have to prove that the driver did not practice due diligence, which directly caused your damages.
Having the assistance of an experienced Erie personal injury attorney can be tremendously valuable in these situations. Attorney Veitch has years of experience and will give your case the attention it deserves, even if that means going to trial.
Remember, physical evidence can disappear quickly. Within days critical eye witnesses can become hard to track down. It is in your best interest to contact a Erie personal injury attorney immediately to ensure that you do not overlook any details that may jeopardize your case in the future. Personal injury lawyer Jeffrey Veitch will aggressively pursue those at fault and their insurance companies to guarantee that you secure the maximum compensation for your suffering
WESTERN PENNSYLVANIA AUTOMOBILE ACCIDENTS
In Pennsylvania, car accidents are an everyday occurrence, injuring and killing thousands of people. If you are injured in a Pennsylvania automobile accident due to someone else's negligence, inattention, or reckless driving you are entitled to compensation for current and future medical bills, rehabilitation costs, lost wages, and pain and suffering. Remember that there IS a remedy, and it all starts by hiring an experienced Pennsylvania personal injury attorney. The insurance companies have their attorneys on retainer 24/7 and it is critical that you have an accident attorney on your side from the beginning.
ERIE, ERIE COUNTY and PENNSYLVANIA MOTORCYCLE ACCIDENTS
In Erie County, motorcycle riding enjoys great popularity and enthusiasm. As such, the number of Erie motorcycle accidents remains high. Last year Pennsylavnia motorcycle fatalities were among their highest levels ever. Erie personal injury lawyers have seen an increase in Erie motorcycle insurance claims and ensuing lawsuits. We have also seen a rise in the dollar amount for settlements that personal injury attorneys have been able to secure in these difficult cases.
When you are in a Erie County motorcycle accident chances are that you are facing a devastating injury. In approximately 80% of all reported motorcycle accidents the outcome is substantial injury or death, usually due to a head injury; comparatively the figure for automobiles is about 20%. Motorcycles offer virtually no protection to the rider, meaning a rider can incur numerous physical injuries to all parts of the body in the event of a collision. Broken bones, amputations, brain and spinal injuries, and death are common. Even with the numbers as they are and the dangers evident, the number of motorcycle accidents is rising world-wide. Statistics currently show that a driver on a motorcycle is 83% more likely to be injured than drivers riding in other types of vehicles.This stark contrast is strong proof of not only the higher risk that goes along with riding a motorcycle, but that if you are involved in a Erie Pennsylvania motorcycle accident you must seek the help of an exceptional personal injury attorney as soon as possible.
The Veitch Law Firm will do everything within our power to secure the maximum compensation and give you the help you need.
PENNSYLVANIA TRUCKING ACCIDENTS
Large trucks, also called tractor trailers, semis, or big rigs weigh around 10,000 pounds. They pose a significant threat due to their size, particularly when operated by negligent drivers, therefore Seattle trucking accidents typically involve some of the most devastating and fatal injuries on the road. Although trucks comprise around 3% of vehicles in the U.S. they are involved in 12% of all fatal accidents.
A truck can strike a vehicle with the force of 20 cars, leading to catastrophic injury for the affected party. As a result, accidents of this nature can lead to complex litigation between large commercial trucking companies, big insurance providers, and severely injured victims and their families.
It can be a daunting situation for an injured victim to find themselves fighting an uphill battle against large companies with seemingly endless resources. Do not feel like you are all alone. The Erie personal injury lawyers at The Veitch Law Firm have made it our cause to represent people in circumstances just like this.
LET US HELP
The Veitch Law Firm provides serious representation for serious injury. Our personal injury lawyers will work with top investigators and experts to build your case and make sure an accurate picture of the accident is advanced in order to get you the best settlement possible. An Erie injury lawyer from our firm will explain your rights and inform you of just what we can do for you. The Veitch Law Firm knows that each case is important and unique in its circumstances and effect on your life, as well as the effects on your family. Our approach is to be selective in the cases we agree to represent and if we do not feel that we are best suited to help you, we always endeavor to help you find exceptional counsel elsewhere. We offer a free consultation with a skilled Erie injury lawyer to give you the information that you need. Our Erie personal injury lawyers are here to help you.
A COMPLEX MATTER
Automobile accidents are among the leading cause of injury and even death in our country. The good news is that victims, with the right Pennsylvania personal injury lawyer, have a variety of legal remedies at their disposal. There is significant investigation and preparation involved in these cases and it is important to have an experienced, professional Erie personal injury lawyer who understands these countless and intricate issues.
The complexities of insurance coverage and liability, accident reconstruction, and National Highway Transportation Safety Authority rules and regulations are just some of the issues that can quickly bog down an unrepresented injured party trying to recoup their losses. It is truly in your best interest to have an experienced Erie injury attorney by your side to handle your case.
The term “accident” is usually misapplied in these cases, as traffic collisions are often not unpreventable or unpredictable; therefore they are not accidents at all. Studies show that the majority of accidents are directly due to driver factors, or diver factors and some combination of roadway or vehicle factors. It is quite rare that an accident is caused simply because of a road or vehicle defect, in almost all cases a driver will be at fault.
As such, when hiring a Erie injury attorney it is crucial that they have experience in dealing with automobile accidents in the past. It is often tricky to prove negligence and which driver was at fault, so without a Erie injury attorney you have less of a chance at getting a fair review of your case.
