Louisiana has laws related to personal injuries just like any other state. You will want to learn about these laws, because they will affect your personal injury claim. If you are looking into filing a claim against someone because they caused you harm in Louisiana, the first thing you should do is learn the basics of the laws.
You may be eligible to file a claim, but you won’t know for sure without understanding how long you have to file a claim, who is permitted to file certain types of claims, who could be liable for an accident, etc.
Read on to learn some of the important injury laws in Louisiana that could affect your case.
Louisiana Injury Laws to Know
Filing a personal injury claim can be a challenge, but it will be a whole lot easier if you know Louisiana’s personal injury laws or if you work with a personal injury lawyer in Baton Rouge.
Negligence Law
The law of negligence is similar in most states. It simply states that a person who causes another person harm because of negligence or wrongful actions can be held civilly liable for the harm they caused. If a person is liable for an accident, they can be made to pay for the injured person’s damages.
You can sue the individual person, but often an insurance company is involved in claims or lawsuits.
Comparative Fault
Comparative fault is a law that outlines who is liable when more than one person was responsible for an accident.
For instance, if you are in a car accident that involved two other drivers, the fault of each party will be compared. Suppose you are found 10 percent at fault, one driver is found 40 percent at fault, and another driver is found 50 percent at fault. You can go after the other two drivers for the percentage of fault that was assigned to them.
Statute of Limitations
An extremely important law when it comes to personal injury claims is known as the statute of limitations. This law gives injury victims a mandatory time limit for filing their claims. In Louisiana, you are given a short time period of only one year to file your claim. That is not a lot of time, so you’d better get cracking.
Dog Bite Laws
Dogs sometimes bite, and there is a law that outlines who is liable for a dog bite in Louisiana. Louisiana is known as a strict liability state, meaning the owner is responsible for all dog bites inflicted by their pet. This is true so long as the bitten victim wasn’t antagonizing the dog and wasn’t unlawfully on the dog owner’s property.
Who Can File for Wrongful Death?
Wrongful death laws outline who can file a wrongful death claim when a family member dies as well as what types of compensation the family can receive. In general, the family members of the deceased can file, such as spouse, children, grandchildren, parents, and siblings.
If none of these family members are living, then the next of kin or those who could inherit from the deceased person’s estate could receive financial compensation for the wrongful death.
The family can receive payment for funeral expenses, lost income, loss of consortium, grief, and other losses.
