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Dedicated and Trustworthy: You Can Rely On the Yuma Personal Injury Lawyers at Karnas Law Firm

Personal Injury Law

Overcoming a personal injury is an experience that can be extremely difficult to endure — physically, mentally, and emotionally. No matter how a personal injury was sustained, it’s a terrible situation that you have to suffer because of someone else’s negligence. It is comforting to know, however, that in the case of a personal injury accident you can recover compensation for the harm you have sustained and that there is somewhere you can turn for help and have a free consultation.

At The Karnas Law Firm, our personal injury attorneys pride ourselves on the dedicated and trustworthy personal injury attorney and legal services we offer to members of the Yuma community. We love this community, which is why we offer a free consultation for all cases. Since we opened our doors in 1983 our personal injury attorneys and law firms have recovered more than $50 million in settlements for our clients. Day after day we continue to work to increase that number and help more people in our Yuma neighborhood return to life as they know it.

The most common personal injury cases we represent at include:

Yuma Area Vehicle Collisions

Arizona lawyers dealing with a car accident with the airbags deployed

Motor vehicle collisions, car accidents, truck accidents, and motorcycle accidents are among the leading causes of serious injuries in Arizona. At The Karnas Law Firm, we handle all types of highway accident and injury claims. Whether it was because of a car accident, motorcycle accidents, trucking, bicycling or pedestrian accident, if you’ve been injured by a negligent driver, our Yuma personal injury attorneys are prepared to fight on your behalf for the compensation you deserve. Our injury attorneys know how to hold insurance companies accountable.

Many accidents stem from driver negligence, which includes distraction, failure to use mirrors, illegal lane changes, speeding, and tailgating. Other motor vehicle collisions stem from intoxication and drug use, which impairs a motorist’s ability to drive safely. Our law firm can fully investigate any collision to uncover how it happened and identify the at fault party.

Personal Injury LawMedical Negligence and Malpractice Personal Injury Cases

Doctors and medical professionals have a responsibility to abide by best practices and to use the utmost care when working with patients. If they fail to use the utmost care, and you or a loved one suffer as a result of medical costs, you can retrieve damages. If you or your loved one was harmed due to medical malpractice negligence, our Yuma medical malpractice attorneys are standing by, ready to help with a free consultation.

Medical negligence cases come in many shapes and sizes. Some of the most common medical errors involve diagnostic errors, failure to use care when providing treatment, surgical errors, medication mistakes, and early discharge from a hospital. Other negligence cases cause deadly infections due to improper sterilization inside a hospital or nursing home. Trying to build a case is difficult, because many doctors and hospitals will not readily hand over information.

Dangerous Products (Product Liability) Claims

power strip sparking and can cause serious injury or wrongful death

Product designers, manufacturers, and distributors are legally responsible to properly design and adequately test any products being put on the market. If these products cause injury, or wrongful death, the victim and their family may seek compensation. Our personal injury law firm has extensive experience handling product liability and wrongful death claims in Arizona.

Some dangerous products which cause injuries: defective clothing, furniture, medication, food, appliances, toys, and motor vehicle parts. Our firm pays close attention to the most recent manufacturer recalls, and we encourage anyone hurt by a product to preserve it for our inspection.

Dangerous Conditions on Property (Premises Liability)

Private property owners, including businesses, have a responsibility to protect those who visit their property from injury. Under Arizona law, a property owner or property occupier (business) can be held legally liable for an accident caused by their negligence.

Common accidents due to property defects include slip and falls, trip and falls, electrocution, swimming pool accidents, and crimes caused by negligent security. This is a complicated area of law, and the duty of care will depend on many factors, such as why you were on the property. A business customer is owed more care than someone who was trespassing on the property.

Large numbers of injured people (Mass Tort) Claims

Personal Injury Law

Our Yuma injury attorneys have successfully directed mass tort litigation throughout the United States. Our attorneys’ experience in this area equips us with the legal skills to tackle any type of personal injury litigation you may face. Mass tort claims are especially complicated. These cases involve dozens of people hurt due to accidents. For example, a bus or train accident could leave up to 100 people hurt. Defective products can injure thousands of people around the country. We have the specialized skill to handle mass tort claims in Yuma and throughout Arizona. 

Types of Personal Injuries

pedestrian accidents: man getting his wrist bandaged after a pedestrian accident

Personal injuries often extend beyond physical and emotional distress. Family members may undergo untold pain suffering from your injuries and the associated losses. You may also lose the joy of life and fall into depression.

At Karnas Law Firm, our AZ personal injury attorney can help accident and personal injury victims who have suffered life-altering injuries such as:

  • Back injuries

  • Neck and shoulder injuries

  • Spinal cord injuries

  • Traumatic brain injuries

  • Nerve damage

  • Head injuries

  • Fractured or broken bones

  • Amputation

  • Paralysis

Personal Injury LawOur AZ personal injury attorney can give legal services to get our clients enough compensation for economic, non-economic, and possibly punitive damages. Schedule a free consultation with our injury attorneys to find out how!

Steps to File a Personal Injury Claim in Yuma, Arizona

A serious injury can change your entire life in a matter of seconds. The immediate aftermath of an accident is often stressful, confusing, and even chaotic. By taking a few simple steps, you can put yourself in the very best position to protect your health, protect your safety, and secure the full financial compensation you deserve. Here are key things to do after any type of accident in Yuma: 

    1. Get Medical Attention: Medical needs always come first. The health of you and your family members are of the utmost importance. Get medical attention from a Yuma, AZ doctor as soon as possible after a serious accident. All injuries should be evaluated. You cannot bring a personal injury claim in Arizona unless you have medical records. 

    2. Report the Accident: Every serious accident should be reported to the appropriate authorities. Where you should report an accident in Yuma is very situation-dependent. A motor vehicle accident should be reported to law enforcement. A slip and fall accident should be reported to the property owner. If you are not sure where to report your injuries, an experienced Yuma, AZ personal injury lawyer can help.  

    3. Document the Incident and Your Injuries: Most accident & injury claims in Arizona are based on fault. Your accident must be thoroughly documented. The more information that you have regarding how and why the accident occurred, the better. Take pictures, get contact details for witnesses, and write your own statement of the accident. 

    4. Seek Professional Legal Help: You do not have to navigate the personal injury claims process alone. Personal injury law is deeply complex. An experienced Yuma, AZ personal injury attorney will protect your rights and your interests through every single step of the claims process.

What to Know About Personal Injury Claims and Liability in Arizona

In Arizona, personal injury liability is generally based on a fault-based legal standard. To recover damages for an injury, you must be able to prove that the other party was at fault for the accident or incident that caused your injury through their negligence (failure to take due care). Notably, Arizona follows a comparative fault standard (A.R.S. § 12-2505). The amount of damages you are able to recover may be reduced based on your own level of fault in the accident. For example, a person found liable for 25 percent of their own accident is responsible for 25 percent of their own damages. 

In order to prove fault in a personal injury case in Arizona, you will typically need to demonstrate that the other party was negligent with our injury lawyers. Negligence is the failure to act with the level of care that a reasonable person would exercise in a similar situation. It is important to emphasize that what constitutes negligence is situation-dependent and can vary from case to case. For example, if you’re injured in a car accident, you’ll need to show that the other driver owed you a duty to drive safely, that they failed to do so, and that this failure caused your injuries.

Evidence in a Yuma Personal Injury Claim

Accident victims face certain challenges. One is convincing an insurance company that you are not to blame for the accident. In short, you will need evidence to help reconstruct what happened and allow people like insurance adjusters to “visualize” the event.

What evidence do we use in Yuma personal injury cases? Although each case is unique, we typically rely on:

·         Physical evidence. Certain physical evidence is critical for personal injury cases. For example, if you are injured by a defective kitchen appliance, then it’s critical that we inspect the appliance. That is a powerful piece of evidence. Other physical evidence might include debris from a car crash or an implement left inside you after surgery.

·         Witnesses. Eyewitnesses can tell us what they saw. Witnesses are not unimpeachable. For example, they might not have had a great view to see the accident, or they know the defendant and have an incentive to tell a story that favors them. Still, the more witnesses we have, the better. Try to talk with witnesses after an accident and get a method of contacting them.

·         Photographs and videos. Nothing helps paint a picture of an accident like a photograph or video. After a car wreck, photographs can show us the condition of each car and where they ended up. Surveillance video in a store can show us how long spilled liquids were on the floor and whether it caused a person to slip and fall. Our law firm can contact nearby businesses to find if they had surveillance video, which sometimes captures car and truck accidents.

·         Defense statements and admissions. Any statement from the defendant might be relevant in a case. For example, a driver might admit that they ran a red light. We could use that statement in a case.

·         Toxicology reports. If a driver was intoxicated, we might use the results of urine or breath tests to introduce in your case. That is another reason to call the police after a motor vehicle accident.

·         Cell phone records. The defendant might have been on the phone, which caused a distracted driving accident. We might subpoena these cell phone records or ask the defendant to hand them over. They can show when he or she was either talking on the phone or sending a text message.

You will also need to fully document your injuries, which we can do with medical records, like x-rays or doctor reports. Call Karnas Law Firm. Our Yuma personal injury lawyer has more tips forevidence collection.

Common Yuma Personal Injury Cases

Despite the cause of your personal injury, there is a multitude of reasons for you to reach out to a trusted attorney so you can obtain the settlement you deserve. Many accident victims who experience personal injuries often find they have difficulty with:

  • Medical Bills

  • Future Loss of Wages

To assist you in earning the settlement you deserve, the personal injury attorneys at Karnas Law Firm have the resources and experience needed to pursue fair compensation on behalf of classes against large corporations that have caused significant damage due to negligence. Our own injury lawyers assemble a team of legal professionals and experts in the appropriate fields, then conduct a thorough investigation to go after these companies and their large legal departments to hold them accountable. We use top technology resources, processing large amounts of information to find the necessary evidence.

If your bills seem to be stacking up or your life is worse off than it was before your accident, there’s no time to delay in the legal process of finding a personal injury attorney in the Yuma area who can help.

Personal Injury Law

Pain and Suffering

Bodily injuries cost victims thousands of dollars. But they also severely reduce a person’s quality of life. After an accident, many of our clients cannot leave the house. They might feel so much pain they can’t play with their children or visit friends. And many are struggling with depression or post-traumatic stress disorder.

This pain and suffering warrants the maximum compensation allowed in Arizona. Let us review how much is fair to request.

Who Can File a Personal Injury Lawsuit?

Generally, you are eligible for compensation if you have lost wages or been injured because of someone else’s negligence. Your case’s strength will depend on your attorney’s ability to gather evidence and to prove this negligence and link it to your injuries and losses for fair compensation.

If you believe you have a personal injury case, contact Tucson Personal Injury Attorneys for a first free consultation and evaluation. We will help you understand your legal options in personal injury matters and how to pursue them.

Will Your Case Settle, or Will You Need to Go to Trial?

At Karnas Law Firm, we have enjoyed success negotiating with defendants on all sorts of personal injury cases. We rarely need to litigate a claim all the way to trial.

Nonetheless, there are some roadblocks which impede our ability to settle a case:

·         Arguments over fault. A person is not legally required to pay compensation unless they are at least partially at fault for your injuries. Disagreements over fault are sometimes intense. The other side might be 100% committed to the idea that you are entirely to blame for your accident. We probably see things differently. Negotiation involves coming to an agreement on how to apportion fault between the parties. When it’s impossible to reach consensus, we might need to go to trial and present evidence to a jury, who will decide this critical issue.

·         Disagreements over your injuries. This is another source of disagreement. You might feel intense bodily pain due to your accident. The defendant thinks you are exaggerating, so they refuse to afford meaningful money for pain and suffering. Ultimately, we might need to present the issue to a jury.

·         Bad faith behavior. Arizona requires that an insurance provider handle claims in good faith. That means promptly investigating a claim and settling a claim when it’s obvious they should. Some insurers refuse to act in good faith. Instead, their shady tactics are designed to cheat accident victims from compensation. We can hold their feet to the fire and possibly sue the insurer for bad faith.

Karnas Law Firm knows how to negotiate future medical expenses and other expenses. We back up our claims with quality evidence of fault and determine liability, as well as your bodily injuries.

What Can Our Personal Injury Attorneys Do for You? (Why Choose Our Yuma Attorneys)

Personal injury claims are complicated. Accident victims do not have to figure out everything alone. An injury can leave you tired and in pain for a long time. As you focus on your recovery, our Tucson Personal Injury Attorneys will handle every aspect of your case to ensure the best results.  The Karnas Law Firm goes above and beyond to help ensure that our serious injured clients get justice, accountability, and the maximum compensation they deserve from their insurance company. With our Yuma personal injury lawyers, you can expect us to:

  • Investigate your case thoroughly.

  • Collect necessary medical records and professional testimonies

  • Compile documents that reflect your past and future expenses

  • Negotiate with the insurance company

  • Craft a compelling case for trial

  • Coordinate your compensation benefits to make sure all bills are paid

Personal Injury Law

You deserve personalized, attentive legal representation from a Yuma, AZ personal injury lawyer who will put time and resources into getting you the very best outcome. Our personal injury law firm understands that you would appreciate being informed about the legal action in your case. Along the way, we will notify you of the important developments of your case. You can always afford to hire a top Yuma personal injury attorney. As we handle personal injury cases on a contingency fee basis, our clients never pay any upfront/out-of-pocket cases. Everyone gets a free consultation. Our attorneys from our personal injury law firm only get paid when you recover full compensation from an insurance company.

Speak With Our Yuma Personal Injury Lawyers Today

To start making your way back to the life you had before your accident with the settlement you deserve, call the expert team of personal injury lawyers at Karnas Law Firm today. With more than 25 years of experience helping individuals and families in car accidents in the Yuma area earn over $50 million in settlements, there’s no better choice than this dedicated team of injury attorneys handling Arizona personal injury cases.

Our Arizona lawyers have been recipients of many awards including being recognized as the American Trial Lawyers Association Top 100 Trial Lawyers in America for three years running. This is the world’s largest trial bar for legal representation, comprised of some of the most accomplished litigators in the nation, and provides professional support, backing and networking to advance the work of these attorneys.

At the Karnas Law Firm, our law group cares about our community and client satisfaction, which is why we’ve initiated several charitable programs to give back to the community and help the children in Arizona and California. Call our Arizona lawyer at 520-441-3053 or use our online contact form at any time of day or night to set up your free initial consultation to our law group to receive legal action for your Arizona personal injury case.

Karnas Law Firm, PLLC
565 S. 4th Ave
Yuma, AZ 85364
928.723.0088

CONTACT KARNAS LAW, PLLC

Get In Touch With Our Team - (520) 571-9700