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Experienced Mississippi Personal Injury Attorney Explains On-the-Job Injuries

Clients often come to me with questions about injuries they suffered at work. This is not a surprise given the number of physically punishing careers. But even people who work in offices or in low-intensity jobs can have work-related injuries such as carpal tunnel syndrome and slips and falls. There are a wide variety of factors that influence whether you will be compensated for a workplace injury in Mississippi and how much. One thing is critical to know—you will need to have experienced personal injury counsel help you attain your fair share of compensation from a workplace injury. Barrett Law has the experience to help you through this process.  Contact us now at (601) 790-1505.

What Type of Claim?

In Mississippi, you may be eligible for worker’s compensation if you are injured in the workplace, including traveling for work. However, if you are negligently harmed by a third party in the workplace—such as a client or coworker—or if your employer injures you negligently, you may pursue both a worker’s compensation claim and a lawsuit for negligence against the party that injured you. Deciding whether a worker’s compensation claim or lawsuit or both is appropriate will require the help of an attorney.

Documentation Is Critical

Report all work injuries immediately. The longer you wait to report the injury, the greater the chance that your employer or a third party will claim that some intervening act—such as a slip and fall at home—caused your injury. You want to be able to show that your injury was directly caused by either the workplace or some third party in the workplace. Your employer may have a policy about immediately reporting injuries; follow it and make sure to get a copy of whatever report you file.

Seek Medical Attention Immediately

You must attain medical treatment immediately. As in the case of reporting the accident, you want to establish a clear causal connection between the workplace or third party and your medical condition. Delaying medical care weakens that connection and can make it more difficult for a doctor to link whatever injury you are suffering from to the incident that actually caused it.

Attend Follow-Up Appointments and Keep Records of Those Appointments

If you fail to attend follow-up medical appointments, that failure could give rise to the notion that your injury is not as severe as you portrayed. Failing to attend those appointments can also lead to the belief that your injuries were made worse by your failure to attend to them responsibly.  Once you commence a course of care, stick with it until it a medical professional directs you to stop.

Can I Be Compensated for My Workplace Injury?

Under Mississippi worker’s compensation, your medical costs, lost wages, and ongoing treatment will be paid to you if your worker’s compensation claim is granted. This may make you whole in relation to the expenses associated with your injury. But if your employer or a third party harmed you negligently, you may be due money for pain and suffering, future loss of compensation, permanent disability, punitive damages, and other claims. To receive payment for these losses, you will likely need to file a negligence lawsuit against the party who injured you. You should seek the advice of experienced counsel to determine which path forward is appropriate based on your facts.

What Should You Do If You Were Injured?

If you suffer a workplace injury, focus on yourself and on healing. Let experienced counsel take care of preserving medical records, dealing with worker’s compensation, attaining expert diagnoses, and dealing with insurance companies. These are important tasks that 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 a workplace injury.

Barrett Law has the experience to take on defense attorneys and insurance companies that are focused on denying your compensation for the injury you experienced.  Contact us now at (601) 790-1505.

 

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Experienced Mississippi Personal Injury Attorney Explains What Makes a Strong Personal Injury Case?

As a personal injury attorney, injured people often meet with me to ask whether they have a strong case or not. As a result, I thought it would be useful to describe what makes a strong personal injury case in Mississippi. One thing is critical to state up front—you will need to have experienced personal injury counsel help you attain any settlement. Barrett Law has the experience to help you through this process.  Contact us now at (601) 790-1505. Below are the characteristics of a strong personal injury case.

What is Negligence?

Believe it or not, but accidents do happen. There is a difference between something accidentally or unavoidably occurring and negligence. You cannot recover damages based simply on an unfortunate, unavoidable occurrence, but you may be able to recover a tremendous settlement once negligence is established. But how is negligence different from an accident? Negligence means that a person did not act as a reasonable person would under the circumstances.

Take a car accident. Imagine that you are hit from behind by a person who consumed three beers before getting behind the wheel and who was watching a movie on his phone while he drove. That is clearly negligent behavior because it is far below the standard of behavior that society would expect from a reasonable person. However, if a different person hits you from behind because you stopped short, and their car was in good condition and their tires were brand new, and they were sober and attentive, you may be able to recover from their insurance carrier, but you will have a difficult time demonstrating that their behavior was negligent, as it was reasonable under the circumstances.

What is Comparative Negligence?

Conversely, were you at all at fault?  If you have been drinking, were unable to avoid the injury because you were distracted, or were in some other way partially to blame, your potential financial recovery will be reduced by the degree to which you were at fault. This is the legal theory of comparative negligence, meaning that each party’s own negligence is weighed against them when fault is distributed.

Are Your Injuries Serious?

While you can recover compensation for any injury, the incredible amount of time, effort, and expense that goes into a personal injury case is really only justified by a serious or long-term injury. See a medical professional and determine both the immediate and possible long-term effects of your injury. If they are not significant, count yourself as lucky. But minor or short-lived injuries are rarely worth litigating.

Can the Person Who Injured You Compensate You?

As the old saying goes, you cannot get blood from a turnip.  That means that no matter how negligent the person was who injured you and how blameless you were, you cannot recover from someone who is unable to pay. This is why I advise all clients to have uninsured motorist coverage on their car, which allows you to be compensated even if the person who injures you in a car accident does not have insurance. But if a person has no assets, little or no money, and no homeowner’s insurance, there is little point in trying to sue them.

What Should You Do If You Were Injured?

If you were injured by a third party, contact an experienced personal injury attorney so that you can focus on yourself and on healing. Let experienced counsel take care of preserving medical records, dealing with worker’s compensation, attaining expert diagnoses, and dealing with insurance companies. These are important tasks that 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.

Barrett Law has the experience to take on defense attorneys and insurance companies that are focussed on denying your compensation for the injury you experienced.  Contact us now at (601) 790-1505.

 

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Experienced Mississippi Personal Injury Attorney Explains Liability in Trucking Accidents

If you are injured in a commercial trucking accident, one of the first questions that will have to be answered is who is legally responsible for your injuries? While a trucker may be driving the truck with a major corporation’s logo on the side, he may be a sub-contractor of a trucking company that is itself just a contractor to the corporation. In fact, even that is a simplistic scenario, as there are often many corporate layers between the owner of the goods being hauled and the person behind the wheel who just injured you and your family. So if you have been injured, who pays?

Contractors versus Employees

The issue of who is legally responsible, or liable, for your injuries is a tricky one, but it could have a dramatic impact on your ability to be made whole. For example, if the truck was owned by the corporation and the driver worked directly for the corporation, the legal theory of “respondeat superior” would likely dictate that the corporation itself was responsible for its employee’s actions, so long as those actions occurred within the scope and duty of employment. That said, large corporations insulate themselves from that sort of liability and risk by contracting out services such as distribution, so their subcontractor may assume all of the liability for your injuries. If that was the case, while the major corporation may not be liable, the corporate trucking subcontractor would be liable for the driver’s actions, also due to the theory of respondeat superior.  Even that scenario might not apply, however, as the trucking company also likely contracts its truck distribution routes to individual contractors.

Each of these contracts insulates the contracting party from the actual driving activity occurring and the risk it incurs. In the end, you may only have a claim against the individual truck driver; however, it is unlikely that he or she has the insurance or resources of the corporation whose product is in his or her truck, therefore, your claim and the likelihood of being made whole is significantly diminished if the “buck” stops with the individual driver if he or she is an “independent contractor.”  This could be the end of your story, leaving you with serious injuries, an inability to work, and little or no hope of receiving from an individual who may have limited resources.

Unraveling Corporate Structures

With the help of an experienced trucking personal injury attorney, you can pierce those contractual layers insulating each level of the contract. This is not something you can do on your own or with inexperienced counsel; you will need an attorney with a long track record of taking on the complex corporate hierarchy created to prevent liability from flowing up to the corporate entity.

What factors would have to be present for the law to allow a trucking accident victim to sue the larger corporate entity instead of only the independent contractor driver? The courts will require that you prove that the “independent contractor” was not really independent or that the contract trucking company worked entirely at the direction of the contracting corporation or was under their exclusive control. This shifts the nature of the contractee/contractor relationship to one of employer/employee. Factors considered include: The amount of control the business held over the driver and his actions; Whether this is the driver’s main occupation; Whether the type of work typically requires supervision; The level of skill required; Who owns the truck; The length of the relationship between the parties; How the company pays the truck driver.

If it can be shown that the driver or trucking company was not truly an independent contractor of the corporation, but was, in fact, working as its employee, then the corporation itself may be able to be sued. Being able to sue the corporation itself is an important first step towards receiving the compensation you are due.

What Should You Do If You Are Injured in a Trucking Accident?

Determining whether the truck driver who caused your injuries was an independent contractor or an employee of the contractor can mean the difference between being fully compensated for your injuries and receiving nothing. The determination of who may be liable is only one determination that your counsel will have to make. If you are injured, do not hesitate, call experienced counsel immediately.

Call Barrett Law now, an experienced Mississippi personal injury law firm, to represent you if you are injured in a trucking accident.

Barrett Law has the experience to take on insurance companies and defense counsel that are focused on denying your compensation for the harm you experienced.  Contact us now at (601) 790-1505.

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Experienced Mississippi Personal Injury Attorney Provides Overview of Claims Against Nursing Homes

As baby boomers age, they have faced the difficult task of placing their parents in an assisted living or nursing home. We trust these companies to care for our loved ones when we cannot. As a result, having a loved one injured or killed as a result of their nursing home failure is an extreme breach of trust. If that occurs, you need immediate, expert legal advice to negotiate the complex decisions that lay before you. If you find yourself in that situation, call Barrett Law immediately at (601) 790-1505.

Claims Against Nursing Homes

Negligence

Most claims against nursing homes revolve around negligence. In laymen’s terms, negligence is the failure to act reasonably when you know or should know what “reasonable” behavior requires. For a profession such as nursing or an industry such as the nursing home industry, it means failing to follow accepted industry standards resulting in a failure to provide reasonable care to residents. An example of simple negligence would be erroneously distributing medications due to a failure to have a medication distribution protocol in place. If that mis-distribution results in harm, there may be a viable negligence claim.

Negligent Hiring

Another form of negligence is negligent hiring. “Negligent hire” means that a nursing home had a duty to meet some industry standard in the hiring process and failed to do so. Most commonly, it results from a nursing home failing to adequately perform background checks, performing background checks but failing to screen out unqualified or unsuitable applicants, or keeping an employee on staff that has shown themselves to be unsuitable or unsafe. Frequently, even employees that pass background checks and are subsequently hired demonstrate illegal drug dependence or violent behavior. If their drug use was known or reasonably foreseeable, the nursing home may be liable if they fail to take appropriate remedial action. In any of these incidences, the nursing home’s decision to retain the employee may be the grounds for a negligent hire claim if injuries or a death arises from that employee’s conduct.

Negligent Supervision

Negligent hire means employing inappropriate staff. But even appropriate staff must have adequate supervision to ensure that their care remains adequate. With the opioid crisis in our nation, many people have become addicted to pain pills and come to work under their influence. If a nursing home operator fails to discipline an employee who comes to work under the influence of these drugs or alcohol, they are liable for “negligent supervision” for any subsequent mistakes that employee makes. Like in negligent hire scenarios, this liability exists even if the employer reasonably should have known that the employee was coming to work under the influence, they do not have to have been put on notice.

Don’t Assume That All Bad Medical Outcomes are Negligence

A patient’s failure to respond to medical care is not necessarily negligence or malpractice. When someone is injured or killed, there is often a strong impulse to assign blame. But not every injury or death results in a successful personal injury case, as sometimes there are bad outcomes even when medical professionals meet their professional obligations. Speaking to an attorney about the facts of your case is vital to attaining an understanding of whether the tragic event a loved one suffered is provable malpractice or simply an unfortunate result of legitimate medical care.

A nursing home injury or death claim calls for an experienced personal injury attorney.

Call Barrett Law now, an experienced Mississippi personal injury law firm, to represent you if a loved one has been injured or killed as a result of their nursing home care.

Barrett Law has the experience to take on insurance companies and defense counsel that are focused on denying your compensation for the harm your loved one experienced.  Contact us now at (601) 790-1505.

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Experienced Mississippi Personal Injury Attorney Explains How Traumatic Brain Injuries Can Result from “Slip and Fall” Accidents

Clients often call us about “slip and fall” accidents, where they lose their balance and injure themselves as a result. Unfortunately, there is often no basis for a legal claim against the landowner where the client fell, as the client simply lost their balance. The reported injuries are often fairly minor. But sometimes a landowner knowingly maintained truly dangerous premises and the injuries are extreme. These latter cases make up the most serious slip and fall claims, especially when a traumatic brain injury or TBI results. A TBI can require a lifetime of care to deal with and can cost a person their savings, marriage, livelihood, and freedom.

Traumatic Brain Injuries

Our brain floats inside our liquid-filled skull. The liquid serves as a shock absorber so that our brain does not slam against the inside of our skull every time our brain moves. While concussions are caused by the slight to moderate impact of the brain hitting the inside of the skull, a TBI is caused by the brain either severely impacting the skull or being injured by a foreign object penetrating the skull.

Symptoms of a TBI include loss of consciousness, convulsions, seizures, vomiting, headaches, slurred speech, confusion, difficulty waking up from sleep, difficulty focusing, and others. Anyone who experiences a fall that results in these symptoms becoming present within a few days should contact medical help immediately.

But can a simple slip and fall result in those serious symptoms? Yes. Believe it or not, your head weighs about the same amount as a bowling ball. It’s suspended five to six feet above the ground by your body.  Tremendous force can be generated by your body whipping that weight to the ground. Your head moves at a high speed when you trip over a crack in the sidewalk and hit your head on a curb or slip on a soapy grocery store floor and hit it on a produce bin. Significant force is exerted on your skull when it impacts a foreign object. A TBI results from an extreme force being exerted on your brain by the skull wall or a foreign object penetrating the skull.

Do You Have a Viable Slip and Fall TBI Claim?

Slipping and falling does not create a negligence claim. Negligence is based upon an owner of the premises failing to meet a standard of reasonable care towards visitors on their property.  The premises must be reasonably safe, but they do not need to be absolutely safe.  So if a grocery store leaves soapy water on the freshly mopped floor and fails to notify shoppers of the soapy spot, it may be negligence. But just because you slip in a grocery store may not be negligence if the store would not have reasonably known that the slick spot existed. The key is that the owner of the premises where you fell must have known of a hazard or should have known of it; they cannot ignore hazards if they know of them or know they regularly occur.

Once negligence is established, compensation for a successful TBI claim can be significant. In part, that is because of the tremendous losses resulting from a TBI. Your damages will likely include medical expenses, pain and suffering, loss of future earning capacity, loss of companionship, rehabilitation costs, and future medical expenses. Obviously, the amount you receive will depend on the severity of your injury, the degree of the other party’s negligence, and whether or not they are covered by insurance. If you are injured as a result of an uninsured, poor person’s negligence, you may be due compensation but sadly may get none.

A slip and fall injury or TBI claim requires an experienced personal injury attorney. Do not make any decisions or sign any documents until you speak with an attorney.

Call Barrett Law now, an experienced Mississippi personal injury law firm, to represent you if a loved one has experienced a slip and fall injury.

Barrett Law has the experience to take on insurance companies and defense counsel that are focused on denying your compensation for the harm you experienced.  Contact us now at (601) 790-1505.

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Experienced Mississippi Personal Injury Attorney Explains: Whiplash Is Real

We have a long history of representing the people of Mississippi who have been injured in car accidents. The most common injury they experience is whiplash, an injury often caused by the neck extending violently, often as the result of a rear-end collision. There is no one tell-tale whiplash symptom, but our clients routinely complain of the sudden onset of neck stiffness, dizziness, neck pain, headaches, decreased range of motion in the neck, numbness, blurred vision, disrupted sleep, and memory problems to name just a few.

Whiplash’s Causes

You have ligament the runs down the surface of your spine that gives your neck stability. Your head weighs about the same amount as a bowling ball. When you are in a car accident, your head violently extends forward or backward, causing that weight’s momentum to stretch or tear that ligament. That stretching or tearing is whiplash. The damage can be compounded if the head’s momentum also pulls against other muscles in the back and neck, spraining or tearing them as well. In extremely serious cases, the whipping of the spine can also result in damage or cracking of vertebrae in the neck and back.

Whiplash Treatment

Most forms of whiplash are treatable. If you follow your doctor’s directions, you should be able to recover from whiplash received in a car accident. Most treatments involve icing, heat, over the counter and prescription pain killers, and exercises aimed at restoring flexibility to your neck ligaments. While a popular prop in television shows, doctors usually urge patients to avoid immobilizing the neck with devices like a foam neck ring are to be avoided. When you completely immobilized the neck, the ligaments can tighten, and flexibility may not be restored.

Usually, by carefully following the advice of a medical professional, your whiplash injury should resolve within a few months. Unfortunately, this is not always the case, however, and other accident victims are forced to live with pain for longer, sometimes even permanently.

Financial Compensation for Whiplash Injuries

Whiplash is a serious injury that, while usually only temporary, can cause pain, discomfort, and work absences. To have a valid claim, you will need to seek medical attention immediately after your car accident. Waiting too long may result in an insurance company denying your claim, alleging that your injuries were caused by some subsequent event.  You can receive compensation for loss of work, out of pocket medical expenses, and any sick time you used as a result of your injury. You may also receive some compensation for your pain and suffering, although that is usually quite limited in a whiplash case. Regardless of how serious your injury and how significant your financial losses, your best bet is to contact an experience Mississippi personal injury lawyer to review your case.

What Should You Do if You or a Loved One is Injured In a Car Accident?

If you or a loved one has been injured in a car accident, either an insurance claim or lawsuit may be your best tool for receiving the compensation you deserve. Receiving that compensation will require consultation with an experienced personal injury attorney.  Getting your whiplash injury assessed competently and quickly is vital, and hiring counsel lacking specific experience with Mississippi‘s laws will lead to frustration and a settlement that is a fraction of what you deserve—if you receive anything at all.

Call Barrett Law now, an experienced Mississippi personal injury law firm, to represent you if you or a loved one has been injured.

Contact us now at (601) 790-1505, to get experienced counsel on your side.

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Experienced Mississippi Personal Injury Attorney Explains: “Negligent Hire” Claims Against Trucking Companies When an Accident Occurs

We represent parties injured in trucking accidents. Commercial trucking is a highly regulated industry, but, like in any industry, accidents are more likely when companies cut corners. Because there are so many truckers logging so many miles, accidents caused by those regulatory shortcuts become a statistical certainty. If you or a loved one has been injured as a result of trucking accident call Barrett Law now, an experienced Mississippi personal injury law firm, to represent you at (601) 790-1505.

This blog post provides a useful overview of the possible claims to be made in the event of a trucking accident.

Negligent Hiring

Not everyone can be a commercial truck driver. Federal regulations aim at allowing only those qualified and safe behind the wheel. To satisfy these federal regulations, a driver must be physically fit and must have passed a DOT physical at hiring and every two years thereafter. A commercial driver also must have a commercial driver’s license, or CDL, which requires that the driver must have passed a specialized test. A driver must also pass drug and alcohol tests. Finally, the company should perform a thorough background check to assure that the driver has a record of safe driving.

There is a commercial driver shortage in the United States and companies are having an increasingly difficult time finding qualified drivers. As a result, some cut corners and put drivers behind the wheel that do not meet the above qualifications. Those regulations exist for a reason, however, and sometimes these unsafe drivers cause accidents.  When they do, a claim of “negligent hire” arises.

Many trucking accidents are caused by drivers who are distracted, fall asleep or are under the influence of drugs. These are conditions that may have been detected in a physical, a drug test, or through a review of their driving record. If a company has put this driver on the road either because they failed to perform these necessary reviews or performed and then ignored them, then a claim of negligent hire is appropriate.

Obviously, neither the truck driver nor the trucking company is going to admit that they cut a corner after an accident resulting in injury. That is why contacting an experienced trucking accident attorney is vital. Once your attorney files a claim, he or she can either request “production” of the documents that should certify whether the federal requirements regarding trucker licensure have been met upon hire and renewed as required. He or she can also “subpoena” records, which is another word for using the power of the court to demand production. Either way, a legitimate trucking company should have a full complement of certification documents for every driver. Those records, if they exist, will be vital to a successful negligent hire claim.

What Should You Do if You or a Loved One is Injured In a Trucking Accident?

If you or a loved one has been injured or killed as a result of a trucking accident, a negligent hire claim may be your tool for receiving the care and compensation you deserve. Receiving that compensation will require consultation with an experienced trucking accident attorney. Hiring counsel lacking specific experience with Mississippi‘s laws will lead to frustration and a settlement that is a fraction of what you deserve—if you receive anything at all.

Call Barrett Law now, an experienced Mississippi personal injury law firm, to represent you if you or a loved one has been injured.  Let our seasoned Mississippi Personal Injury Attorney make a difference for you!  Contact us now at (601) 790-1505 to get experienced counsel on your family’s side.

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Experienced Mississippi Personal Injury Attorney Explains: Can I Be Compensated for Medical Malpractice Resulting in Birth Injuries or Birth Defects?

Sadly, clients sometimes contact us because what should be a joyous occasion, the birth of a child, has taken a tragic turn. They are usually contacting us because they believe their medical providers’ actions resulted in an injury or birth defect in their new child. If they are correct, they are due significant compensation for the injury their child suffered and the extra expense raising their child will entail.

Our firm has significant experience representing parties in medical malpractice cases and can provide expert counsel if your child suffered a preventable birth defect or birth injury at the hands of medical providers. What does “preventable injury” mean though? A “preventable injury” is one occurring when a medical provider such as a nurse or doctor treats a mother or child during the childbirth process, fails to meet the accepted standard of care, and that failure results in an injury or birth defect.

What are Birth Injuries?

A birth injury is an injury caused during labor and delivery. Common causes for birth injuries are labor itself, complications of labor, c-sections, medical mistakes during labor involving a c-section or the use of forceps, failure to monitor fetal health and signs of distress. If your child was injured during birth, that does not mean that you have a claim for compensation for that injury. The question will be whether the medical professionals who handled the birth met the professional standards of care given the situation presented to them. Basically, proving negligence does not hinge on the appearance of an injury, but on the failure to meet the requisite standard of care.

What are Birth Defects?

As was said above, birth injuries occur during the labor and delivery of the child. In contrast, birth defects occur while a child is developing for nine months in the womb. Not only are the time periods very different, but so are the standards for negligence. That is because injuries to the child during the birthing process are relatively easier to establish than those that develop while the child in the womb. The latter is usually assumed to be congenital and to have little to do with the medical care the mother receives. However, if a mother is given incorrect medication or medication to which the mother has a known allergy, there can be a successful claim for compensation for the birth defects arising from that negligence.

What Make a Strong Case?

There a multitude of complex factors that must be scrutinized before bringing a medical malpractice claim based on a birth injury or birth defect. At the core of any strong case, however, is a clear showing of negligence. A clear showing of negligence means that a medical professional such as a doctor or nurse did not meet the accepted standard of medical care when they provided treatment and that that failure caused you or your child harm.

What Should You Do if You Believe Your Child Was Injured During Birth?

If your child was born with either birth defects or a birth injury, you may be due compensation. While no amount of compensation can truly make you whole, you will need financial compensation to help meet your child’s ongoing medical and developmental needs. Receiving the compensation you deserve will require consultation with an experienced personal injury attorney. Hiring inexperienced counsel lacking Mississippi medical malpractice experience will lead to frustration and a settlement that is a fraction of what you deserve, if you receive anything at all.

Call Barrett Law now, an experienced Mississippi personal injury law firm, to represent you if your child was born with birth defencts or a birth injury.

Contact us now at (601) 790-1505, to get experienced counsel on your side.

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Experienced Mississippi Personal Injury Attorney Explains: What are the Types of Product Liability?

Clients often contact us because they have been injured by a product they purchased. Tragically, some of those clients contact us because a family member has been killed by a product. In those horrible situations arise, you have the right to be compensated financially for the injury or death, the suffering, and other economic damages resulting from the injury or death. Where the manufacturer’s conduct is particularly egregious, punitive damages may also be assessed against them to punish them for particularly wonton disregard of consumers’ safety.

Understanding Product Liability

If you are injured by a product, the first step in attaining compensation is to perform an investigation to determine the cause of the injury. While many times a defect in the product caused the injury or death, there are also many instances where the product was not defective and the injury was caused by user error or subsequent changes to the product’s design by a third party. In instances where the product caused the injury or death, the investigation will categorize the cause as either due to (1) design defect, (2) manufacturing defect, or (3) a manufacturer’s failure to warn the consumer.

What are Design Defects?

If an investigation determines that the product contained a “design defect,” it means that the way the product was designed resulted in it being inherently dangerous. “Inherently dangerous” can be determined many different ways, but it usually must show that the product was used as it was intended, harmed the user, and an aspect of the design caused the harm. While you will need experienced counsel to explain why something was “inherently dangerous,” it can be summarized as something that was manufactured correctly and had an adequate explanation regarding its use, but that caused harm because of its design. If that harm was caused by a failure to safely design a product to be used safely as advertised, you may be entitled to compensation.

What are Manufacturing Defects?

A manufacturing defect was designed correctly by the manufacturer but was somehow produced or constructed with a flaw. These products were not produced or constructed in the manner which they were designed. Instead, they are often normally “safe” products that have cheaper or inferior materials used, resulting in a danger product. If the difference between the design of a product and its manufacturing causes you injury, you may be entitled to compensation.

What is a Failure to Warn

A product’s manufacturer, distributor, or point of sale has a duty to warn the consumer regarding a product’s possible dangers. If you were injured because you used a product reasonably and were subsequently harmed when the product injured you in an unforeseeable manner, you may have a failure to warn claim.  Because it is so difficult to foresee all possible harms that a product may cause, consumers are acquainted with long disclaimers contained in products’ directions that often see far-fetched or even ludicrous.

What Should You Do if You or a Loved One is Injured by a Product?

If you or a loved one has been injured or killed as a result of a product, quickly receiving the compensation you deserve will require consultation with an experienced personal injury attorney. Hiring inexperienced counsel lacking Mississippi personal injury law experience will lead to frustration and a settlement that is a fraction of what you deserve if you receive anything at all.

Call Barrett Law now, an experienced Mississippi personal injury law firm, to represent you if you or a loved one has been injured.

Contact us now at (601) 790-1505, to get experienced counsel on your side.

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Experienced Mississippi Personal Injury Attorney Explains: What To Do if a Loved One is the Victim of Elder Financial Abuse?

Caring for elderly relatives poses a tremendous financial and emotional challenge for loved ones. The fact that other family members and workers that we employ to take care of the elderly would use that position to steal money, property, and assets compounds this responsibility. Unfortunately, elder financial abuse is a frequent problem but is also one that can be prevented by putting in place a series of effective precautions. If you have an elderly family member that has been the victim of financial abuse, contacting an experienced Mississippi personal injury attorney is vital to making your loved one and you whole.

Defining Elder Financial Abuse

Elder financial abuse can take many forms but includes forging signatures on checks, draining bank accounts, stealing assets, and taking control of property. The quintessential victim is over 80 and lives alone. Because many people at this age are suffering from some form of mental diminishment, they are often either not aware of the theft, unwittingly participate in it, or are not believed when they discovering it happening. The culprits can either be nursing staff employed to care for the elderly or the elderly person’s own family.

While we categorize elder financial abuse as theft and treat it like any other crime driven by greed or desperation, there are nuances to it as well. A family member caring for an elderly family member may be missing work to provide that care, may incur significant expenses associated with that care, and may feel that they are “owed” money. These family member caregivers often take money or assets from the elderly family member in their case as a form of payment.  This is also illegal, however, and is just another form of elder financial abuse.

What are the Signs that Elder Financial Abuse is Occurring?

Being alert to the signs that elder financial abuse is occurring is important to preventing it. Read and review bank statements and be concerned if banks stop sending them. Also be on the lookout for an increase in credit card offers. Your elderly family members are unlikely to be using credit cards frequently, yet the companies send these offers as a result of increased use. Is your loved one’s checkbook accessible and balanced? Are the signatures on the checks clearly his or hers? Keep an accounting of high value assets such as jewelry and firearms that are easy to sell for cash, and if they disappear or “go missing” be concerned.

If you suspect that someone is financially victimizing an elderly loved one, contact legal counsel immediately. A lawsuit or claim against a health care provider may be necessary to protect your interests. It is possible to protect your loved one and recover the funds for property that was taken, but not without expert help and advice.

What Should You Do a Loved One is the Victim of Elder Financial Abuse?

If a loved one has been the victim of elder financial abuse, quickly receiving the compensation to care for them and that they are due will require consultation with an experienced personal injury attorney. Trying to “go after” the culprit on your own will lead to frustration and a settlement that is a fraction of what you deserve if you receive anything at all.

Call Barrett Law now, an experienced Mississippi personal injury law firm, to represent you if a loved one has been the victim of elder financial abuse.

Contact us now at (601) 790-1505, to get experienced counsel on your side.

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