Personal Injury

At ER Law Trial Lawyers, we help people seek financial and physical recovery after they have been injured due to another person’s negligence in North Carolina.

Do Not Remain a Victim of Personal Injury in North Carolina — ER Law Trial Lawyers Can Help

A personal injury can present a range of challenges, which often include physical pain, financial strain, and emotional turmoil. In North Carolina, the compounding repercussions of an accident reach far beyond the initial trauma, potentially touching every aspect of your life. Medical expenses can spiral, lost wages can threaten financial stability, and the stress of dealing with insurance companies can feel insurmountable. When such hardships arise, the value of experienced legal guidance from a knowledgeable personal injury lawyer becomes immeasurable. An injury claim can hold solutions to many of these difficulties, putting your life back on track.

At ER Law Trial Lawyers, we understand that the path to recovery is not just about healing physically — it’s about securing you appropriate compensation and securing justice. Our dedicated personal injury attorneys possess the experience and tenacity required to tackle the complexities of your personal injury in North Carolina. We navigate our clients through each step of the legal process, from thorough investigations to combating lowball settlement offers. If you’re struggling in the wake of a personal injury, allow our professionals to shoulder the legal burden, providing you with the space to focus on what matters: your recovery.

Human beings make mistakes. If you have suffered a loss due to someone’s mistake, you may have a legal claim to seek compensation from that individual under North Carolina personal injury law. Contact us today to schedule a free initial consultation and learn whether you have a legal claim for an incident that caused you harm or loss. We will devise a tailored legal strategy to guide you through your next steps.

Types of Personal Injury Cases in North Carolina

Personal injury claims in North Carolina can often fall into one or more of the following categories:

Many injury cases involve serious or catastrophic injuries, such as traumatic brain injuries (TBI), spinal cord injury (SCI), severe burns, or amputations. Traumatic brain injury and spinal injury are both common in car crash cases. Serious injuries can lead to significant future medical expenses and medical bills tied to ongoing medical treatment and therapy services. An injured person should work closely with an experienced North Carolina personal injury attorney to ensure their accident claim includes the full scope of their injuries and expenses among the damages.

Request a free case evaluation at ER Law Trial Lawyers if you have suffered an injury that fits any of the above categories in North Carolina. Our personal injury lawyers handle insurance claims seeking financial compensation for medical treatment and other damages among our services for accident victims. During your free initial consultation, we will review your unique situation to determine whether you have a viable personal injury claim, for which we could seek a fair and appropriate settlement on your behalf and file a personal injury lawsuit if necessary.

Auto Accidents

The speed and size of vehicles that travel on roads and highways means that a split-second mistake while driving can lead to tragic events. We have represented car wreck victims all across the state of North Carolina.

Cases involving motor vehicle accidents often require quick action to preserve evidence or seek investigative review, and representatives of an insurance company will often seek to minimize payouts by using tactics that cause an injured person to jeopardize their claim. Attorneys at our law firm handle communications with the insurance company as part of our legal services for auto accident victims.

While each auto accident case is unique, the different types of motor vehicle accidents often present additional factors and considerations:

Car Accident
Truck Accident
Motorcycle Accident
Bicycle Accident
Pedestrian Accident

Car Accidents

In North Carolina, car accidents often involve various factors such as distracted driving, excessive speed, alcohol impairment, and aggressive driving. The severity and type of injuries can vary greatly depending on the circumstances of the accident. Therefore, proving negligence and establishing liability can be complex, making the knowledge of an experienced personal injury attorney crucial to accident victims seeking recovery.

Truck Accidents

Truck accidents are often complicated cases. Due to the size and weight of commercial trucks, these accidents often lead to more serious injuries and damages than car accidents. Trucking accidents can be caused by driver fatigue, equipment failure, or improper loading.

In these cases, multiple parties may be liable, including the truck driver, the trucking company, or the manufacturer of faulty equipment, further complicating the legal process. Trucking companies and their insurance companies are often formidable opponents, and you will want to work with a lawyer familiar with these types of cases when pursuing your claim. Our attorneys are experienced in navigating the many complexities and difficulties of a truck accident case, and we will protect your interests.

Motorcycle Accidents

Motorcycle accidents are unique in that motorcyclists lack the protective enclosure of a car or truck, making them more susceptible to severe injuries. Other factors particular to the interaction of motorcyclists with other traffic play a role in the events surrounding motorcycle injuries.

Motorcycle crashes are often caused by other drivers failing to use reasonable care to see the motorcycle. In such cases, evidence proving that the other driver’s negligence caused the accident will be crucial for a successful claim by the injured party.

Bicycle Accidents

Bike accidents often involve collisions with motor vehicles. The vulnerability of cyclists can lead to serious injuries, even at low speeds. Drivers failing to yield right of way or not paying attention to their surroundings are common causes of bike accidents. As with motorcycle accidents, it is important to gather robust evidence to prove the motorist’s negligence.

Pedestrian Accidents

Pedestrian accidents often lead to severe injuries due to the lack of protection for pedestrians. These accidents can be caused by drivers not yielding to pedestrians at crosswalks, distracted driving, or impaired driving.

As with the other types of accidents, an experienced personal injury attorney can help navigate the complex legal process and work for you to seek fair compensation if you were injured in an accident while on foot in the vicinity of motor vehicle traffic.

Every Auto Accident Case Involves Unique Factors and Specific Damages

Time can make it harder to succeed with some auto accident claims, so call us today at ER Law Trial Lawyers for a no-cost evaluation of your case. Insurance companies are not waiting to start their investigation to defeat your claim. Time is of the essence when gathering evidence and securing witnesses to support your case. Let our experienced Greensboro personal injury attorneys identify your options to seek recourse under North Carolina personal injury law.

Workplace Accidents

Many places of employment are fraught with hazards that cause injury. Even the safest of employers can make a mistake. Injuries suffered on the job typically lead to workers’ compensation cases. What is important to note is that injured employees in North Carolina can have a second case for that same workplace injury when someone other than their employer causes injury. This is known as a third-party personal injury case.

Pursuing this second case is often critical for injured workers because workers’ compensation typically has limited benefits, and a third-party injury case can allow you to seek damages such as noneconomic damages (like pain and suffering) and additional lost wages that are not accounted for in a workers’ comp claim.

We have pursued these cases with success all across the state of North Carolina. Our experienced personal injury lawyers can evaluate your case to explore the possibility of pursuing two claims for the same workplace incident during a free case evaluation.

Premises Liability

Hidden defects on property and unexpected dangers for visitors can come in many forms: black ice, deteriorated flooring, clear liquid or cleaning residue causing slick surfaces, uneven walkways, falling objects, et cetera. The failure of a premises owner or manager to take reasonable action to keep their premises free of hidden defects can create liability.

When these hidden defects and dangerous conditions cause slips, trips, or falls, people can suffer injuries. Other risks of injury can be present on a property, such as construction projects or loose dogs. Premises liability can apply in both residential and commercial settings. At ER Law Trial Lawyers, we help injured people seek compensation for such injuries.

Slip-and-Fall Accidents

In North Carolina, slip-and-fall cases are a common type of premises liability accident. These incidents often occur due to hazardous conditions such as wet floors, uneven surfaces, or poor lighting. To establish liability, it must be shown that the property owner knew or should have known about the dangerous condition and failed to take appropriate action to rectify it.

Injury at a Store

Injuries at a store involve incidents where a customer is injured due to unsafe conditions within a retail establishment. These can include slip and fall accidents, but also injuries caused by falling merchandise, overcrowded aisles, or inadequate security.

Similar to general slip and fall cases, a plaintiff in a store injury case must prove that the store owner knew or should have known about the hazardous condition and neglected to address it.

Construction Accidents

Construction accidents can also fall under premises liability law. These typically involve construction workers, but they can also include bystanders injured near a construction site. The complexity of these cases arises from the involvement of multiple parties, including construction companies, contractors, and equipment manufacturers. Experienced legal representation is crucial to navigate the intricate web of responsibility in these cases.

Dog Bites

Dog bite incidents in North Carolina may hold the dog owner liable if they knew or should have known about their dog’s dangerous tendencies. However, the state’s contributory negligence rule means that if the victim provoked the dog or was trespassing, they may be barred from recovery. An experienced NC personal injury lawyer can help assess the unique factors in each case and build a robust claim.

The Nature of Your Visit to a Property Affects Your Ability to Seek Compensation

North Carolina has a complicated set of rules to determine whether such an incident can give rise to a legal claim for compensation. Contact us for a no-cost consultation to determine whether your injury was caused by the negligence of a property owner.

Wrongful Death

Negligence cases can involve catastrophic injuries and death. If your family member dies in a car wreck, fall, or construction incident, the laws of North Carolina limit the time you have to pursue your case on behalf of the estate of the deceased. In addition, there are specific laws regarding what damages the estate can recover.

We have pursued numerous wrongful death cases in North Carolina and have the experience to assist you with such a case. It is important to seek legal justice for the loved one you have lost, and this can be represented practically through compensation for surviving family members. Losing a loved one affects family dynamics and finances in a variety of ways, and our experienced personal injury attorneys at ER Law can review your options and take on the significant burden of pursuing a wrongful death claim during this difficult time.

Medical Malpractice

Medical providers, like others, make mistakes. Although they may not intend to do so, these mistakes can have serious and grave consequences for the victims. These mistakes lead not only to physical suffering, health implications, and potentially reduced capability or enjoyment of life, but also serious financial strain in the future.

To make matters worse, North Carolina laws strongly favor medical providers over injured victims. Contact us for an honest evaluation of your possible medical malpractice claim.

Misdiagnosis / Failure or Delay To Diagnose

A medical mistake can include the failure to correctly identify your medical issue in a timely manner. Sometimes, this type of failure leads to serious or deadly effects. Request a complimentary case review if you believe you have suffered harm because your medical provider failed to properly diagnose your condition or delayed your diagnosis.

Surgical Errors

Surgical errors can cause long-term suffering and loss. Despite detailed rules and guidelines for medical professionals, mistakes still occur. When you suffer an injury while undergoing medical treatment, you will need the perspectives of seasoned and knowledgeable medical professionals to review the case and provide an opinion or opinions about what went wrong. Not every mistake is malpractice. Our experienced North Carolina personal injury attorneys can assess your case and coordinate with medical professionals as applicable to determine whether your surgical error might constitute malpractice under North Carolina law.

Birth Injury

Childbirth is a complicated process that often involves coordination and treatment with medical professionals. It starts with prenatal care and continues through delivery and the initial care for the newborn child. Mistakes can occur anywhere along this process.

Birthing injuries can occur to both the mother and the child. These injuries can have long lasting effects throughout one’s life. ER Law will evaluate your case and guide you through the steps to pursue a birth injury malpractice case.

Defective Medical Devices and Drugs

Manufacturers of harmful medical devices or prescription drugs can be held accountable for their mistakes. A device may fail to do what it was designed to do. Some products are easily misused, and others fail to warn of side effects. These types of cases are often consolidated in one Federal Court nationwide. A knowledgeable personal injury lawyer at our law firm can advise you regarding your rights and options to seek a personal injury claim against a manufacturer of a harmful drug or device.

Nursing Home Negligence

Families entrust nursing homes, assisted living services, and rehabilitation facilities with the care of their loved ones. The trusted workers at these organizations should not harm our loved ones or make our loved ones worse off. Because these facilities are under pressure to make profit for their corporate entities, they unfortunately often neglect, exploit, and fail to care for their residents.

Some common signs of nursing home neglect or abuse include:

Bruising or physical injuries
Poor hygiene
Bedsores
Unexpected changes in your loved one’s behavior
Complaints of neglect or abuse from the nursing home resident
Failure of caregivers to alert you to an injury your loved one has suffered

Neglect of Basic Needs at a Nursing Home

If your loved one is malnourished, dehydrated or suffers injury from repeated falls, the facility is likely failing to do its job. Similarly, living in an unsafe or unsanitary environment is unacceptable. Our firm can help if your loved one suffered one of these or another condition in a facility that should have provided basic human needs.

Medical and Personal Hygiene Neglect

Our elderly are often vulnerable to things that we would not consider to be a risk to our own health or safety. Nursing homes and assisted living facilities are supposed to provide medical care for our loved ones and ensure their hygiene. When these facilities fail to provide these services properly, our loved ones can suffer significant harm. These failures on behalf of nursing home staff can lead to medical issues such as infections or bedsores. Contact us today if your loved one contracted infections, suffered bed sores, or suffered other hygiene concerns at their nursing home or assisted living facility.

Proving Fault in Your North Carolina Personal Injury Case

In North Carolina, proving fault in personal injury cases requires you and your personal injury lawyer to demonstrate that the defendant was negligent and that this negligence caused the plaintiff’s injuries. To establish negligence, four elements must be shown: duty, breach, causation, and damages.

Duty refers to the defendant’s responsibility to act or not act in a certain way.
Breach is when the defendant fails to fulfill this duty, which establishes negligence.
Causation connects the defendant’s breach with the plaintiff’s injury.
Damages refer to the specified harms and losses suffered by the plaintiff due to the negligence.

Demonstrating that the defendant had a duty of care and that this defendant breached that duty of care constitutes negligence, which essentially means that they failed to use reasonable care. This must then be combined with causation of the accident that led to the injuries and the list of damages you have suffered due to the incident in question.

Various forms of evidence can be utilized to prove these elements. These may include photographs from the accident scene, police reports, medical records, or even video footage from surveillance cameras. Expert witnesses may also be called upon, especially in complex cases where the link between the defendant’s actions and the plaintiff’s injuries may not be immediately obvious.

Note that North Carolina follows a strict rule of contributory negligence. This means if the plaintiff is found to be even slightly at fault (i.e., 1% or more), they may be barred from recovering any damages. Therefore, it’s crucial for the plaintiff to clearly establish the defendant’s full responsibility for the incident.

Assessing the Scope of Damages in Your North Carolina Personal Injury Claim

The majority of damages in North Carolina personal injury claims are compensatory damages, which serve to compensate an injury victim for losses and can be categorized into two types: Economic damages and noneconomic damages. The types of damages you may be able to claim will depend upon the details of your injury case.

Economic Damages

Economic damages refer to losses an injured person has suffered which can be directly quantified in financial terms. These may include the following:

Medical bills
Lost wages
Reduced earning capacity
Property damage, such as vehicle repairs or replacement
Projected future medical expenses

Noneconomic Damages

Noneconomic damages can include losses you experience that may not be easily quantifiable due to their more subjective nature. Your personal injury attorney at ER Law Trial Lawyers can nevertheless accurately determine the appropriate financial value to claim for these losses. Noneconomic damages in a North Carolina injury claim may include:

Pain and suffering
Emotional distress
Loss of enjoyment
Reduced quality of life

Additional Damages to Punish

In addition, sometimes punitive damages are also awarded to punish and deter particularly egregious types of dangerous or intentional behavior. Such behaviors may often be associated with risk of serious injury. While relatively rare as compared to economic and noneconomic damages, your personal injury lawyer can assess whether such damages may be applicable in your case.

Determining The Value of Your North Carolina Injury Case

The sum of your damages will constitute the estimated value of your personal injury case. In the majority of personal injury cases, your North Carolina personal injury lawyer at ER Law will handle insurance company communications and seek appropriate compensation through settlement negotiations with insurance adjusters. If an appropriate and favorable settlement cannot be reached with the insurance adjuster, our experienced personal injury trial attorneys can pursue litigation through a personal injury lawsuit on your behalf to seek the compensation you need.

The injury lawyers at our law firm begin the conversation with injured clients during a free case review. If you are an accident victim who has suffered damages due to someone else’s negligence, we invite you to contact us to request a free initial consultation.

Schedule a Free Consultation with ER Law Trial Lawyers in Greensboro, North Carolina

Safeguard your interests and move forward with confidence by working with an experienced personal injury attorney from the beginning of your case. Gain the peace of mind that comes with knowing you are in capable hands, ready to advocate fiercely on your behalf. We are ready to listen, understand your needs, and identify solutions for your future.

A personal injury lawyer at ER Law Trial Lawyers can help you understand the full scope of your damages while evaluating the details surrounding the incident that caused your injury and devising your case strategy. Call us today at (336) 904-9000 or fill out our online form to request a free consultation to discuss your case.

The majority of personal injury cases are resolved through personal injury settlements, but we are prepared to take your case to trial through a personal injury lawsuit if a reasonable settlement cannot be reached.

For your convenience, we are accessible to discuss your case by phone, over Zoom, or in person at either our Reidsville or Greensboro, North Carolina office. We proudly serve North Carolina residents in both Guilford County and Rockingham County.

Protecting Your Rights