When you or a loved one suffer an injury through no fault of your own, call a local New Mexico personal injury attorney, you can trust to advise you of your legal rights as an accident victim. The Fine Law Firm is proud to call New Mexico home for over forty years and is both locally and nationally recognized for excellence.
At The Fine Law Firm, our personal injury attorneys will:
- Protect your legal interests and right to compensation;
- Help you achieve your personal best outcome for your personal injury claim; and
- Fight for you from start to finish, whether that be settlement negotiations or trial.
We strive to offer our clients the professionalism, expertise, and leadership they deserve. Call today and schedule your free consultation with one of our Clovis personal injury attorneys. Our firm has a proven record of success, and we want to help you get your life back on track.
Why Choose Us?
- We have a 99 percent case success rate. Our attorneys have collected millions of dollars in settlements and jury verdicts for past personal injury clients.
- Our law firm is locally respected and nationally recognized. You can feel confident with the level of skill, experience and knowledge our lawyers will bring to your personal injury case.
- Our personal injury lawyers in Clovis offer legal services at a reasonable rate. We work on a contingency fee basis, meaning you pay no fees unless you win.
What a Clovis Personal Injury Attorney Can Do for You
One of the best ways to succeed in a personal injury claim is to retain an experienced attorney like those at The Fine Law Firm. Our Clovis personal injury attorneys will guide you through the personal injury process and ensure your claim is correctly filed and aggressively pursued.
The personal injury attorneys at The Fine Law Firm will work to build and get you compensation for your claim through:
- Gathering needed evidence;
- Interviewing witnesses;
- Identifying all liable parties and potential sources of compensation;
- Dealing with the insurance companies;
- Representing your interests in negotiations; and
- Taking your case to trial if needed.
Most personal injury cases resolve during negotiations. However, our attorneys are trial-ready at all times. Contact The Fine Law Firm today to learn more about our client services and the personal injury process.
What Is a Personal Injury?
Personal injury law deals with the legal rights of victims injured by someone else’s wrongful conduct. The premise behind personal injury law is holding people and companies financially accountable for their wrongful actions. Personal injury law is wholly separate from criminal law, which aims to punish offenders through the justice system.
Negligence is the core concept of personal injury law. Negligence is the failure to exercise reasonable care and hurting someone as a result. The hurt caused may be physical, emotional, or both. If one person’s negligence causes harm or losses to a victim, the victim can file a personal injury lawsuit in pursuit of financial reimbursement for these losses.
Establishing negligence during a personal injury claim requires proof that the at-fault party (defendant) owed a duty of care to the victim (plaintiff), but violated this duty. The defendant’s negligent act or omission must be the actual or proximate cause of the plaintiff’s injury. Finally, the plaintiff must have suffered compensable losses due to the breach of duty.
Common Causes of Personal Injuries
Not all accidents in Clovis give injured victims the option of filing personal injury claims. The accident must have been caused by the negligent, reckless, wanton or wrongful act of another party. Certain types of accidents lead to personal injury lawsuits in New Mexico more often than others.
Common personal injury claims include:
- Car accidents: motor vehicle accidents are often caused by driver errors and negligence, such as speeding, distracted driving, drunk driving and reckless driving.
- Truck accidents: collisions involving large trucks may be caused by truck driver mistakes or trucking company negligence, such as inadequate truck maintenance.
- Medical malpractice: the failure of a health care provider to adhere to the proper medical industry standards of care, resulting in patient injury or death.
- Premises liability: injuries caused by the failure of a negligent property owner to safely control and maintain his or her premises. Common examples are slip and fall claims and dog bite injuries.
- Product liability: injuries or deaths caused by a defective or dangerous consumer product, or an item with a design, manufacturing or marketing defect.
- Workplace accidents: injuries suffered at work or while performing job-related tasks, often due to employer negligence or an unsafe workplace.
- Nursing home abuse: a staff member or caretaker intentionally harming an elderly nursing home resident through physical, emotional, sexual or financial abuse or exploitation.
It is important to hire a personal injury attorney who specifically offers representation in your type of case. This will help ensure that your lawyer understands the laws, issues and nuances associated with your specific claim to give your case better odds of success.
Common Injuries in Clovis
Accidents in Clovis have the potential to cause many different types of severe and life-changing injuries to victims. Some victims may never fully recover from the harm they suffer. Even a minor injury can be inconvenient and cost thousands of dollars in medical bills alone. Injuries of all types may entitle a victim to financial compensation if the harm was caused by someone else’s negligence or fault.
Some of the most common injuries arising in personal injury claims are:
- Head injuries and traumatic brain injuries (TBI)
- Back and spine injuries, including paralysis
- Broken bones and fractures
- Internal injuries
- Severe burns
- Soft-tissue injuries, such as sprains and strains
- Whiplash and other neck injuries
- Animal bites
- Emotional distress or post-traumatic stress disorder
- Fatal injuries (wrongful death)
No matter what type of injury you suffered in an avoidable accident in Clovis, consult with an attorney at The Fine Law Firm to discuss a potential claim. We will listen to your injury story and let you know if your case has merit. As your attorneys, we can connect you to top doctors in the city and explain your legal rights as an accident victim or the loved one of a victim.
Who Is Liable?
Determining the liable party or parties is something that an experienced personal injury attorney can do for you at the beginning of your case. Liability refers to legal and financial responsibility for a victim’s losses. As the filing party, it is up to you or your attorney to prove liability based on a preponderance of the evidence. This is the burden of proof that rests with all plaintiffs in personal injury law. Meeting this burden requires enough evidence to convince a jury that the defendant caused your injury with at least a 51 percent certainty (also known as the “more likely than not” standard).
The defendant or liable party in your case may be any of the following:
- A motor vehicle driver
- A truck driver or delivery driver
- A company, establishment or business
- Your employer
- A contractor
- A product manufacturer or distributor
- A property owner or landlord
- A doctor or health care provider
The correct defendant(s) will depend on the circumstances of your accident and what caused your injury. Our attorneys can conduct a comprehensive investigation of your case to identify the appropriate defendants to name. We are capable of going up against any party, big or small, and aren’t afraid of going to trial when necessary. We can help you find and preserve key evidence to support your claim, as well as file the paperwork to initiate a lawsuit in Clovis.
Personal Injury Compensation in Clovis
Personal injuries are often severe and costly. Victims are left wondering how to pay for property damages, medical expenses, and household expenses. Personal injury law’s purpose is to return the victim to the position they were in before the accident.
While it is nearly impossible to return a victim to their pre-injury status, compensation for their injuries and losses does help manage expenses and recovery. Compensation in personal injury claims generally includes the following:
- Medical bills and rehabilitation;
- Lost wages;
- Loss of future income;
- Property damage;
- Medical equipment;
- Pain and suffering;
- Emotional distress;
- Scarring and disfigurement;
- Long-term disability; and
- Loss of enjoyment of life.
Courts can award a rare type of damages called punitive damages. Punitive damages are to punish a negligent party for extremely immoral or reckless behavior. Speak with an experienced personal injury attorney, like those at The Fine Law Firm, to get an explanation of specific types of damages and a damage assessment of your injury claim.
What Is the Average Personal Injury Settlement in New Mexico?
While it is normal to want to know how much your personal injury case could be worth, the only way to do this is by consulting with an attorney. There is no such thing as an average personal injury settlement in New Mexico. Each case is entirely unique, with financial recoveries ranging from $10,000 or less to six and seven figures. An attorney can accurately gauge the potential value of your case based on its specific factors, such as the severity of your injuries. Then, your attorney can pursue maximum financial compensation on your behalf using aggressive negotiation tactics and legal strategies.
How Much Does it Cost to Hire a Personal Injury Lawyer?
At The Fine Law Firm, our personal injury lawyers in Clovis operate on a contingency fee basis. This means you won’t have to pay your lawyer any legal fees out of your own pocket, win or lose. If you don’t win your case, we won’t charge you a dime – guaranteed. We charge our clients $0 upfront.
If we do secure financial compensation for your personal injury claim, we will deduct our fees directly from the settlement or judgment award collected. We do this using a payment percentage that you will know ahead of time. This percentage ranges based on the case and how much work it will take to resolve.
Our law firm is always honest and transparent about how we charge for our services. To find out how much it might cost to hire us for your personal injury case, request a free consultation. This initial evaluation comes with no obligation to hire our law firm. Our legal fees ensure that you don’t take on any financial risks when filing a personal injury claim.
New Mexico Statute of Limitations for Personal Injury Claims
One law that you need to know to file a personal injury claim in New Mexico is the statute of limitations. This is a statutory deadline on the right to file a civil claim. If you miss your statute of limitations, you will most likely lose the ability to pursue financial compensation for your injuries and losses. There are only a few exceptions to this rule, making it imperative to contact an attorney as soon as possible about a potential personal injury case.
The general statute of limitations on a personal injury claim in New Mexico is three years from the date of the accident. If you do not discover your injuries immediately – such as in a car accident case with delayed injury symptoms – you have three years from the date of discovery to file. If your family is filing a wrongful death claim after the loss of a loved one, you will have three years from the date of death rather than the date of the fatal accident, if these two dates differ.
Statutes of limitations can change from case to case. If the injured victim is a minor under the age of 18, for example, he or she has one year after turning 18 to file a personal injury claim. A claim that is filed against a government entity, on the other hand, has a shorter statute of limitations. These claims generally must be filed no later than two years from the date of the injury. To avoid filing after your statute of limitations has expired, consult with a lawyer in Clovis right away.
Contact Our Clovis Personal Injury Lawyers
If you or someone you love has been injured in a preventable accident in Clovis, we can help you seek the financial compensation and justice that you deserve. The Fine Law Firm never charges upfront fees, and we only get paid when we recover compensation for you. There is a time limit to file a personal injury claim in New Mexico, so call us today! You can request a free case consultation at (505) 889-3463 or by contacting us online anytime.