Dogs are a significant part of so many people’s lives here in Mississippi.  We use them for hunting, protection, or just to share the couch; dogs genuinely serve as “man’s best friend.”  But we all know about dogs that are mistreated or somehow turned out mean. Other dogs are friendly, but lash out when intimidated or threatened. Regardless of the reason, dog bites are an unfortunate fact of life.  While some bites are minor, others can be deadly or require extensive plastic surgery to repair. Because of their smaller stature and inexperience, children are frequently dog bite victims, causing scars that may last a lifetime. Because this is a frequent inquiry, I have written the following blog post to describe what you should do if a dog bites you or a loved one.

If you or a loved one was injured as a result of a dog bite, you will need to have experienced personal injury counsel to help you attain your fair share of compensation for your injury, medical treatment, and recovery. Barrett Law has the experience to help you—contact us now at (800) 707-9577.

Can I Receive Compensation for Injuries Related to a Dog Bite?

In Mississippi, dog owners must protect the public from their dogs.  When a dog bites, it is the owner’s fault, not the dog’s. So if a dog bites you, you can receive compensation for injuries resulting from the bite. Obviously, it is not worth a lawsuit if a dog simply nips you or causes a scratch, but you deserve compensation for a more severe bite requiring medical care. The only exception to a dog owner’s duty to protect the public from their dog is if you somehow were taunting or violently provoking the dog to the point that it was really your fault that the dog bit you in “self-defense.”

What Should I Do If a Dog Bites Me?

If a dog bites you, call the police. You are not necessarily calling the police because you want the dog’s owner to be arrested. Rather, you want the police, an unbiased third-party, to document the scene and your injuries.  A police report carries a tremendous amount of weight in legal matters, as law enforcement officers are trained in observing, photographing and documenting incident scenes in an impartial, emotionless manner.

Once the police have finished documenting your dog bite and the scene, you should seek medical treatment immediately. Dog bites are usually jagged, messy lacerations and often require plastic surgery to avoid irregular scarring. Even if your bite is not severe, for reasons similar to the police report, you want an unbiased medical professional to photograph and describe the severity of your injury.  This description will carry much more weight as legal evidence than any story you make, as you are biased towards your self-interest and will be remembering the incident through the lens of trauma.

Finally, if the attack was traumatic, seek counseling.  You do not want to spend the rest of your life jumping in fear every time you see a dog.  A counselor can help you work through and unwind the trauma so that it does not haunt you for years to come. Counseling is particularly crucial for children, who may blame themselves for the attack.

What Should You Do If A Dog Bite Has Injured You or a Loved One?

If a dog bit you or a loved one, you should seek medical attention immediately and contact an experienced personal injury attorney to begin the process of attaining your fair share of compensation. As I have described above, these cases seem straightforward but can lead to a dead-end if they are left to an inexperienced lawyer. Let experienced counsel take care of preserving medical records, deposing witnesses, and dealing with the defendant’s attorneys. These are essential tasks that only a personal injury attorney can handle for you.

Call Barrett Law now, an experienced Mississippi personal injury law firm, to represent you if you have been bitten by a dog. Contact us now at (800) 707-9577.

Anyone who drives Mississippi’s highways and highways knows that we have to share our roads with large vehicles—long haul trucks and buses. Often, these large vehicles are squeezing onto roads carved into valleys or hillsides a century ago, and as a result, large trucks and buses are often involved in severe accidents with automobiles. Because of the tremendous weight difference between these large vehicles and smaller cars, the automobile and its passengers are almost always the losers in a collision, sometimes catastrophically. I am an attorney who focuses on attaining the most compensation for individuals injured in this sort of accident and can assist you if you or a loved one was injured in a large truck or bus accident. People often ask me what they can do if they are injured in this type of crash, and I wrote the following blog post to provide a general overview.

If you or a loved one was injured or killed as a result of an accident, you will need to have experienced counsel help you attain your fair share of compensation for your injury and recovery. Barrett Law has the experience to help you—contact us now at (800) 707-9577.

Focus On Your Physical Health

If you are involved in a large truck or bus accident, attain medical attention immediately.  This is true even if you believe that you are not injured.  First, you are likely in shock and are in no condition to judge your physical health.  Second, most soft tissue injuries such as whiplash take more than 24 hours to develop, so feeling alright at the crash site may not be a reliable indicator of your actual health.  Third, many severe medical conditions such as neck and spine injuries take even longer to develop and you want a medical professional to provide an unbiased assessment of your physical health.

Even if you are not seriously injured after a crash with a large truck or bus, you should seek medical treatment so that you have a baseline record of your physical condition at the time of the incident. If you fail to attain immediate medical attention, the defendant will attribute any subsequent pain or injury to events unrelated to the accident.  If successful, this argument will result in you not recovering any compensation for these injuries.

Call the Police

After an accident, law enforcement plays a critical role in providing an unbiased, third-party record of what transpired at the scene.  They can document the scene and take pictures before any vehicle is moved or altered.  This is critical because trucking and bus companies frequently dispatch crews to an accident scene immediately to move vehicles and remove incriminating evidence.  The police report will provide a trustworthy document that can be relied on later in court.

Take Photographs

If possible, take as many photographs as you can immediately after the accident.  Luckily, with the advent of smartphones, we all have cameras with us everywhere we go.  Take as many pictures as possible, as they will serve as critical evidence later.

Do Not Admit Fault

While you were involved in an accident, you are not an omniscient being with the power to observe what happened from a neutral viewpoint. Furthermore, you are in shock and are in no position to be making legal admissions.  Taking all of that together, never admit any fault after an accident.  You have no duty to disclose anything at any time.  Let the attorneys and courts determine fault once they have all relevant evidence available.

What Should You Do If You or a Loved One Has Been Injured in a Bus or Large Truck Accident?

If you or a loved one was injured in a large truck or bus accident, you should seek medical attention immediately and contact an experienced personal injury attorney. Inexperienced counsel may lead you down a dead end where you receive no compensation. Instead, let experienced counsel take care of preserving medical records, attaining expert opinions, reviewing evidence, and dealing with the defendant’s attorneys. These are essential tasks that only a personal injury attorney can handle for you.

Call Barrett Law now, an experienced Mississippi personal injury law firm, to represent you if you have suffered large bus or large truck injury. Contact us now at (800) 707-9577.

One of the most significant mistakes you can make after any kind of accident is to fail to seek medical treatment from a physician. While many people would say it is obvious to attain medical attention after a catastrophic accident involving severe injury or dismemberment, they are equivocal when it comes to a fender-bender or slip and fall on the ice. I cannot underscore enough how important it is to attain medical help even after a seemingly insignificant accident.  Failing to do so can prevent you from attaining financial compensation for later-developing medical issues and from getting reimbursed for your medical costs.  I will go over the reason for attaining prompt medical care in detail below and have written the following blog post to help people understand why I am so emphatic about attaining medical attention immediately after an accident.

If you or a loved one was injured or killed as a result of an accident, you will need to have experienced counsel help you attain your fair share of compensation for your injury and recovery. Barrett Law has the experience to help you—contact us now at (800) 707-9577.

Seek Medical Attention Immediately After an Accident

Even if you are not taken away from an accident scene in an ambulance, you should seek medical attention immediately afterward.  There are several reasons for this.  The first is that many people “feel fine” after an accident and believe they do not need medical attention. In fact, their bodies are pulsing with adrenaline and endorphins after the accident, which masks any feelings of pain or discomfort. Accordingly, you are in no position to accurately gauge whether you are injured or not.  In fact, you are in a state of shock that blinds you to the pain you may be feeling, or may be about to feel, and cannot gauge pain or injury. As a result, you should see a physician immediately to determine accurately whether you have been injured. An EMT’s decision not to take you to the hospital in an ambulance immediately after an accident is an assessment of whether you are in acute, immediate need of medical attention. That decision has absolutely no bearing on whether you will need serious long term medical attention for a condition that may develop later. Those later-developing conditions may be far more complex and far more expensive than any broken bone needing immediate attention.

A second important reason to immediately seek help is if you are not injured at the time of the accident.  Many serious, life-altering injuries take many months to develop and aggravate. Getting a baseline analysis from a physician can help you show later, that a problem developed as a result of your accident.  If you fail to do this, the defendant’s insurer will likely claim that you caused your injuries in some subsequent activity unrelated to the accident.  If they succeed in this argument, you will receive no compensation for your injuries.

What Should You Do If You or a Loved One Has Been Injured in an Accident?

If you or a loved one was injured in an accident of any kind, you should seek medical attention immediately and contact an experienced personal injury attorney.  Let experienced counsel take care of preserving medical records, attaining expert opinions, and dealing with the defendant’s attorneys. These are essential tasks that only a personal injury attorney can handle for you.

Call Barrett Law now, an experienced Mississippi personal injury law firm, to represent you if you have suffered an injury. Contact us now at (800) 707-9577.  Our seasoned Mississippi Personal Injury Attorney is ready to help you now!

People always think that their injuries are the worst I have ever seen. Luckily, many people who are initially in tremendous pain and are seriously inconvenienced by their injuries go on to heal and live completely healthy lives.  Those are not “catastrophic injuries” a term reserved for the most extreme, debilitating, and expensive types of accidents.  I have written the following blog post to help people understand the common types of catastrophic injuries, and the sort of compensation injured parties receive.

If you or a loved one has been seriously injured, you will need to have experienced counsel help you attain your fair share of compensation. Barrett Law has the experience to help you.  Contact us now at (800) 707-9577.

What Makes a Catastrophic Injury “Catastrophic”?

Accidents result in many types of serious injuries—broken bones, tissue damage, head injuries—that all have a significant impact on the injured person’s life. What separates one of these severe injuries from a “catastrophic injury”?  While there is no bright line dividing serious injuries from catastrophic ones, generally, catastrophic injuries are so severe that they result in long-term disability or debilitation for the injured party.  They also have a significant impact on an injured party’s life, including the lives of loved ones. Catastrophic injuries usually involve physical deformity, the loss of some physical capacity, or the loss of mental capacity. A partial list of catastrophic injuries includes brain injuries, traumatic brain injuries, paralysis, and spinal cord injuries, and loss of a limb or limbs. Many of these injuries require personal care for much of the day, every day, a massive expense.  Others may not need personal care, but permanently diminish the injured party’s ability to earn an income and enjoy life.

Just suffering a catastrophic injury does automatically qualify you for a settlement, however.  The person who caused your injury must have been negligent towards you, and that negligence must have been the cause of your injury.  Imagine a car that changes lanes correctly on a busy highway at night.  As it changes lanes, it hits the front wheel of your motorcycle, which had a broken headlight.  You fall off your motorcycle and, because you were not wearing a helmet, sustained a traumatic brain injury.  While you have suffered a catastrophic injury, you will likely not recover any compensation because it will be difficult to show that the motorist that hit you was negligent.  On the other hand, imagine that the car driver was drunk at the time of the accident and that your motorcycle headlight was operational—that driver likely violated his duty to act reasonably towards you.  As a result, it is likely that you could recover compensation from the second driver, as he was negligent towards you.

If you or a loved one suffered a catastrophic injury, and the person who caused your injury was negligent, you are likely due your fair share of compensation for all medical costs, lost wages, future medical costs, mobility devices such as a wheelchair or scooter, ongoing personal attendant, counseling and psychiatric care, compensation for diminishment in the enjoyment of life, compensation for loss of ability to have an intimate relationship.

What Should You Do If You or a Loved One Has Been Injured?

If you or a loved suffered a catastrophic injury because of another party’s negligence, you should be compensated for medical costs, counseling, and other expenses.  Let experienced counsel take care of preserving medical records, taking pictures of the accident site, attaining expert opinions, and dealing with the defendant’s attorneys. These are essential tasks that only a personal injury attorney can handle for you.

Call Barrett Law now, an experienced Mississippi personal injury law firm, to represent you if you have suffered an injury. Contact us now at (800) 707-9577.  The seasoned Mississippi Personal Injury Attorney is ready to assist you now!

Workplace injuries are universal, regardless of whether you work on a fishing boat, an oil rig, or in a cubicle.  As a result, all Mississippi employers must carry worker’s compensation insurance. Worker’s compensation insurance is a decent safety net if you suffer a minor or short-term workplace injury, but you should also know that you have other options for attaining your fair share of compensation if you experience more extensive injuries and deserve compensation for pain and suffering, loss of consortium, and other losses not covered by worker’s compensation. I am frequently asked about the pros and cons of various methods of attaining compensation for a work-related injury and created the following blog post to outline my general thoughts on each one.

If you have sustained a workplace injury, you must find experienced counsel to help you attain your fair share of compensation for your loss of income and injury. Barrett Law has the experience to help you if you have been injured.  Contact us now at (800) 707-9577.

Workers’ Compensation – Workers’ compensation is a form of no-fault insurance most employers are required to carry by law. No-fault means that the worker does not have to prove whose fault caused the injury; in fact, worker’s compensation applies even when the employee caused his or her injury. Workers’ compensation provides benefits such as paid medical treatment, extra wages, and vocational rehabilitation to employees who suffer job-related injuries.  Although benefits are usually readily available, employees must meet certain deadlines for notifying their employers of injuries. If these deadlines are not met, the employer can deny the claim. As a result, having experienced workers’ compensation counsel help you through the process can be a significant advantage.

Product Liability Lawsuits – If a product in the workplace injured you, you may have a product liability claim.  To prove a product was liable for your injury, you will need to show that it was negligently designed, negligently manufactured, or was negligently marketed for the use that caused the harm.  This sort of case requires the help of skilled personal injury counsel, which is an area that I specialize in.

Social Security Disability (SSD) – If you are injured so severely at work that you permanently cannot return to any work, a Social Security Disability benefits case may be the best path forward. SSD benefits provide vital benefits for those workers who cannot work due to injuries; you should know, however, that the majority of initial SSD applications are denied. To receive SSD benefits on your first attempt, you will need the help of an experienced attorney. If you have applied already and have been denied, having counsel help you on your second application can mean the difference between success and failure.

Third Party Personal Injury Lawsuits – It usually tricky to for an employee to sue an employer for work-related injuries related to work, but employees may still have options to pursue compensation outside of the workers’ compensation system. This is most commonly true when a third party enters the workplace an injures an employee through negligence.  These types of claims are common when worksites have workers from multiple companies on-site, especially relating to auto accidents, oil and gas accidents, and accidents caused by negligent landowners. These cases can offer much broader compensation options than a traditional worker’s compensation claim.

What Should You Do If You or a Loved One Has Been Injured in at Work?

If you or a loved one was injured in a workplace accident, you are due compensation for any time you have been out of work, the costs of your treatment and rehabilitation, your pain and suffering, and other damages. But finding the right type of claim that can make you most whole requires careful analysis and thoughtful legal advice.  Call me today to begin the conversation.

Call Barrett Law now, an experienced Mississippi personal injury law firm, to represent you if you have suffered an injury in the workplace. Contact us now at (800) 707-9577.