Personal injury is injury received to your body and mind, as a result of a car accident or other form of negligence as a result of another persons actions.
A personal injury attorney utilizes theories, concepts, laws and techniques that are encompassed in a "Tort" action of "Negligence." Negligence does not define a person as acting in a specific way, or by naming specific forbidden acts. Instead negligence may be any conduct (by a so-called defendant - the person who harmed you) that creates an unreasonable risk of harm to others. It is actionable in "tort" when that risk comes to fruition in actual harm to another.
A personal injury claim, which is based on a "negligence cause of action", may encompass such things as: Pain and suffering, Lost wages for time off of work, and Reimbursement for medical and dental and mental harm.
Though liability insurance for automobiles may be compulsory, the policy limit - the sum available to pay for injuries - can be insufficient, and is likely too low to cover serious injury. Therefore a personal injury attorney is trained to make sure that your own insurance and the insurance of the (potential defendant) will be utilized to their fullest potential to ensure your physical and economic recovery are taken care of.
In general, there is a duty owed by all people, which is called the "standard of care", which is that, a person exercise their behavior as would a "reasonable prudent person would in a same or similar circumstance". This is a duty that the law imposes we all owe to each other as we live our daily lives and perform our daily activities, such as driving an automobile. When a person acts "unreasonable" and causes harm to another, that "harmed person" (called a plaintiff) may have a cause of action in what was mentioned before, called "negligence".
We've all seen those news articles and movies where "the jury" awards a humongous multi-million dollar recovery for harm to a plaintiff. These are rare. Sometime this is as a result of what's called "punitive damages". Which are damages designed to "punish" the defendant. These damages awards are only given if the defendant's actions are proven to be of a "malicious" (almost intended-like). Most negligence actions are not of a malicious nature. They concern a person not being conscious of their behavior and surroundings, when he/she should have, which resulted in causing harm to another, based on those actions they performed.
There are certain "legal elements" that a plaintiff (a harmed individual) must prove to satisfy the law's requirements that the other person (the defendant) did in fact act negligently and was the "actual cause" of your harm. That is why its so important to contact an attorney right away, to insure that your "legal needs" are being met and "secured" by your attorney.
That is why I urge you to contact me immediately so that we can work together to get you back on your feet.
What you can do to help your situation is to take notes regarding exactly what happened. You may be in litigation for quite some time, and it will be hard to remember all of the details of the accident months or even years later. Note the details of the accident, including the weather at the time of the incident, and write down exactly what injuries resulted. It is also important to take notes on any developments that occur with regard to insurance companies, doctors and witnesses. Make note of all of the contact information of people you've talked to regarding the incident.