It happens out of the blue—an accident that leaves you with a debilitating injury or takes the life of someone you love. When your injury or your loved one’s death was caused by another person or company’s negligence or wrongdoing, your frustration and anger can easily overwhelm you. Where is the justice? Your life has instantly changed and may never be the same again, and it wasn’t your fault. Your finances may be in a shambles as the medical bills pile up, and you haven’t been able to go back to work. Pain and the loss of ability to be productive and participate in the activities that made your life enjoyable have got you down. Why should you have to suffer for someone else’s wrongdoing?
You shouldn’t, of course. You deserve to be compensated for your losses. You deserve justice, and the way to get it is by establishing a relationship with a top Alabama personal injury law firm: Wettermark & Keith, LLC,
Our dedicated, experienced, and highly successful attorneys can help you pick up the pieces of your life after you’ve suffered a serious injury or lost a member of your family to a wrongful death at another person’s hands. You are entitled to justice, and we are available to help you get it.
The Advocacy You Need For Your Accident-Related Losses
The attorneys at Wettermark & Keith, LLC, understand how devastating an injury or wrongful death can be to you and your family. We know how unfair it is that you are suffering through no fault of your own, because of someone else’s wrongful or negligent act. We are firmly committed to obtaining justice for our injured and bereaved clients in Huntsville and throughout Alabama. We also understand that it’s not just about money; it’s about accountability and making the person whose wrongful behavior turned your life upside down face up to the harm that he or she has done.
A Record Of Success For Our Clients
At Wettermark & Keith, LLC, our first priority is our client’s needs. We give every client we sign our highly focused attention, and work up every case we take in to achieve the best possible outcome for that client. Our skill and legal knowledge, combined with our diligence and commitment to justice, have allowed us to obtain more than $250 million dollars for our clients since 2003. These damage awards have enabled our clients to receive the medical treatment they require and to be well-compensated for all of their economic and non-economic losses, including physical and mental suffering and damage to their ability to enjoy life following an injury or wrongful death in an accident caused by another’s negligence or wrongdoing.
We can often settle cases out of court; but we are always ready and willing to present a well prepared case to a jury, if it is required to get you the money you deserve.
Types Of Accidents And Injuries
The lawyers at Wettermark & Keith, LLC, have experience in obtaining substantial damage awards for victims of many accident types and many different injuries. We have won settlements and verdicts for a range of injuries including these and more:
Traumatic brain injuries
Spinal cord damage
Catastrophic burn injuries
Broken bones
Dislocations
Joint injuries
Herniated discs
Facial injuries
Scars
Crush injuries
Internal organ injuries
Nerve damage
Chronic pain
Amputations
Wrongful death
Types Of Accidents That We Handle
At Wettermark & Keith, LLC, we only handle injury and wrongful death accidents. Our practice is highly focused in this practice area, covering these and other causes of injury and death:
Car crashes
Truck accidents
Public transit accidents
Motorcycle accidents
Slip, trip, and fall accidents
Aircraft crashes
FELA railroad accidents
Boating accidents
Construction accidents
On-the-job accidents
Animal attacks
Nursing home abuse and neglect
Injuries suffered by children
Defective product injuries
Unsafe pharmaceuticals and dangerous medical devices
Workers’ compensation and associated third-party liability claims
You Win Money, Or You Pay Nothing
Call Wettermark & Keith, LLC, for a free case analysis. Remember, you won’t owe us anything unless you receive money for your losses. If you don’t win, you owe absolutely nothing. Don’t wait, because in Alabama, the law limits the time you have to file your claim. If you wait, you could forfeit your right to a recovery, so call today.
Instituting a Wrongful Death Claim in Alabama
Losing a loved one is sudden, unexpected and emotionally devastating. The emotional anguish you and your family are suffering may be compounded by financial stress if you depended on your loved one’s income to make ends meet. A premature death is always difficult for a family, but when someone else caused the death, in addition to your emotional and financial pain, you must deal with anger and the sense of unfairness that you must suffer for someone else’s negligence.
Defining Wrongful Death
Any death that comes too soon may seem “wrongful” to a grieving family and friends; but the term “wrongful death” has a particular meaning in law: the loss of a human life as a result of another’s negligent or deliberately wrongful act.
A wrongful death lawsuit is aimed at holding the responsible party liable for a loss of life that could have been prevented. It might be a drunk or distracted driver, a property owner who created or allowed a hazard to exist, a childcare worker who left a child to die in an overheated vehicle, the manufacturer of a dangerous drug or product, or a doctor who ignored the signs of a life-threatening disease—or any individual, company, or other entity whose act or failure to act appropriately led to the person’s death is accidents such as these:
Motor vehicle accidents
Bicycle or pedestrian accidents
Boating accidents
Aviation accidents
Transportation accidents (bus, taxi, rail, etc.)
Defective products, medical devices, or pharmaceuticals
Nursing home neglect or abuse
Slip, trip, and fall and other premises accidents
Construction and workplace accidents
Achieving Closure by Demanding Accountability
For many bereaved families, to work through the grieving process after a wrongful death, you need closure, and that means holding the person who caused the wrongful death accountable for his or her negligence, as well as finding relief from financial pressures you’re experiencing. It is a difficult time for you, and you may not feel up to taking on a legal action to obtain compensation from the person responsible for your loss. Having a compassionate attorney working for you can lift some of the burden you’re dealing with by taking on the legal tasks for you, so you can focus your energy on the grieving process and adjusting to a changed life situation in the absence of your loved one.
At the law firm of Wettermark & Keith in Huntsville, Alabama, our attorneys understand the difficulties many families face following a wrongful death, and we’re ready to step in and provide the assistance you need. If your loved one died as a result of another’s negligence, our attorneys are often able to file a wrongful death lawsuit in your behalf in to obtain compensation from the responsible party. Potential damages in an Alabama wrongful death action include:
Medical expenses
Funeral and burial costs
Lost earnings, benefits, expected Social Security, pensions, etc.
Loss of emotional guidance and support
Our dedicated personal injury and wrongful death attorneys have decades of experience representing families whose lives have been torn apart by a wrongful death. We want to make the legal process as stress-free as possible as we pursue a settlement that will help you and your family pick up the pieces and move forward after a devastating loss.
At Wettermark & Keith, we offer a free case consultation. We review the facts that are available to determine if another party can be held legally liable for the death because of a negligent or wrongful act. We have a team of experts on call, who can help sort through the evidence to prove your case. Depending on the cause of death, these might include accident reconstructionists, medical specialists, engineers, safety experts and others. We will also call upon financial experts and accountants who can calculate the total financial losses your family has suffered and will continue to suffer without the contributions of the deceased, and grief counselors and psychologists to help assess the mental anguish and psychological repercussions of the death upon each surviving family member.
We know that no amount of money can truly compensate for the loss of a human life; but we can help your family regain financial stability and the sense that there is some justice in the world.
Time Limits on Filing an Alabama Wrongful Death Action
Alabama law has time limits, called statutes of limitations, that restrict the amount of time in which you can file a wrongful death action, so although this is understandably a difficult time for you, it is important to bring a lawyer on board early on, so don’t delay.
The impact occurs suddenly, leaving you stunned and shaken. It takes a few minutes to get your bearings, and you realize that you’ve been hit by another car. What you do in the next minutes, hours, and days can make a real difference in your ability to recover money to compensate you for your injuries and the damage to your life that comes along with them. Because no one plans to be injured in a car accident, you may be unprepared and uncertain of what you need to do. So we’re here to offer you some guidelines on how you can protect your right to the recovery that is your legal due.
At the Scene
Before we begin, we need to emphasize that if you are seriously injured there may be nothing you can do but lie still and wait for help to arrive in the form of an ambulance to take you to the hospital. That’s the most important thing for you to do—get the medical attention you need right away.
If you are ambulatory or able to sit up, try to get the names and contact information of other drivers, passengers, and witnesses. Get the driver’s license, registration, plate number, insurance information, and make and model of every car in the accident.
If possible, take photos of the cars, showing body damage. Photograph geographic markers or street signs to identify where the accident occurred.
Call 911 and get a police officer to the scene. Get the offer’s name and badge number and ask for instructions on how to obtain a copy of the police report.
See your doctor, or get to an emergency room or urgent care clinic as soon as possible after the accident.
Call an experienced Huntsville car accident attorney and schedule an appointment. An unbeatable choice in Huntsville is the law firm of Wettermark & Keith, LLC, with a 95 percent success rate in recovering money for clients and a record of winning $250 million in victim compensation since 2003.
What to Avoid
Here are some things you should not do.
Don’t apologize. It may be second nature for you to apologize for any mishap without giving a thought to whether or not you did anything to apologize for. It just seems like the polite thing to do. But hold on. You didn’t cause the accident, so don’t apologize. If you apologize to anyone at the scene of a car accident, even just out of instinctive politeness, it could come back to bite you. An apology could be interpreted as your confessing to having caused the accident.
Don’t give anyone anything that could later be used against you. Say as little as possible to anyone. Especially avoid commenting on whether or not you’ve been injured. During an accident, your body releases a surge of adrenaline, which can keep you from feeling pain. This is just temporary. It often takes a while until the adrenaline wears off before realize that you’re hurting.
Don’t be in a hurry to assure the other driver that you’re okay. If you say, “I’m fine,” another meaningless automatic response, that can be taken as a statement that you are uninjured, which may not be accurate.
You’ll know better in a day or two, but don’t wait to see a doctor; get checked out as soon as possible, preferably the day of the accident. Give a detailed description of the accident type and any pain, bruising, swelling, or other symptoms you’re experiencing, even if they seem small or insignificant. Some injuries that appear to be minor at first can become worse over time.
Sometimes an insurance company representative will arrive at the scene of the accident. Don’t give a statement, and don’t sign anything.
Free Car Accident Consultation
The Huntsville, Alabama, personal injury lawyers at Wettermark & Keith, LLC, will meet with you at no charge to discuss the details of your accident and advise you on the best way to proceed. We investigate the accident and, when necessary, call upon experts, such as accident reconstructionists and engineers, to help prove your claim. We handle all negotiations and exchange of information with the insurance company, and fight vigorously for your right to a fair recovery that will adequately compensate you for all your damages: damages to your finances and to your quality of life. You risk nothing, because you never pay us anything until your recovery check has been received.
Common Car Accident Injuries
Injuries incurred in a car accident can wreak havoc with your life. Car accident injuries can cause a range of problems from relatively minor temporary impairments to catastrophic, permanent, life-changing impairments. and even death.
At the Huntsville, Alabama, personal injury law firm of Wettermark & Keith, LLC , we handle many kinds of accidents, fighting the insurance companies for adequate compensation for short, medium, and long term medical treatment, pain, disability, and disruption of life resulting from someone else’s negligent, careless, or deliberately wrongful act, or in some cases, failure to act in a reasonable manner.
Here we identify some of the most common types of auto accident injuries that we see in our practice.
Back, Neck, and Spinal Cord Injuries
Back and neck injuries are extremely common in motor vehicle accidents. They include soft tissue injuries such as sprains and strains, spinal cord damage, nerve damage, and fractures. The injuries may affect any of the tissues in and around the spine, including:
The spinal cord
Vertebrae
Intervertebral discs
Nerves
Tendons
Muscles
Ligaments
Spinal cord damage is a catastrophic injury that generally causes paralysis below the damaged part of the spine. Injury to the lumbar or thoracic spine typically causes paraplegia, paralysis of the lower body. Damage to the cervical spine or neck area often results in tetraplegia, which is paralysis of all four limbs and often of the diaphragm, necessitating use of a respirator.
Traumatic Brain Injuries (TBIs)
Injuries to the brain run the gamut from mild concussions to death. Below is a partial list of some of the brain injuries that can occur in a car accident:
Diffuse axonal injuries are the most serious type of brain injury, damaging the axon of the neuron; this causes the victim to lapse into a coma, and frequently results in a permanent vegetative state or death. Survivors will have permanent brain damage.
Intracranial hematomas are areas of pooled blood from a bleeding brain. The accumulated blood creates pressure on the surrounding area, which can be fatal. Depending on the location of the bleed, these may be called subdural hematoma (between your brain and the outer membrane covering your brain in the space between the dura and arachnoid mater; epidural hematoma (between the outer surface of the dura mater and the skull), and intraparenchymal hematoma, also called intracerebral hematoma, when blood pools within the brain.
A concussion is a type of head injury that occurs as the result of an impact that temporarily disrupts your normal brain function. Repeated concussions can cause permanent brain damage.
A brain contusion is a bruise on your brain, often causing swelling and pressure. Mild contusions usually heal by themselves. Symptoms vary depending on the part of the brain injured.
Broken Bones
Bones can easily be fractured by the impact of a car accident. Fractures can be painful and may keep you from work and activities for week or months while they heal. Serious displaced fractures usually require surgery if they are to heal properly. Fractures of the hip, pelvis, and vertebrae are extremely serious and often life-threatening. Broken ribs sometimes puncture a lung, another organ, or a blood vessel. Serious complications include infection, nerve damage, and blood clots.
Facial and Injuries
Facial injuries include broken jaw, broken teeth, broken nose, broken cheekbone, bruises, and lacerations that cause scarring. Eye injuries and blindness sometimes occur. A mandibular fracture (broken jaw) can make eating and speaking a problem.
Internal Bleeding
Blood vessel damage may cause internal bleeding, which can result in other health problems including, dizziness, excessive fatigue, thirst, anemia, and paleness.
An abdominal aorta aneurysm is a rupture of the largest artery in the abdominal region. A rupture of the abdominal aorta is nearly always a fatal injury.
Internal Organ Injury
It is not uncommon for one or more of the internal organs to be damaged in a car accident impact, resulting in bleeding or loss of function of the organ.
Pneumothorax is a serious injury usually caused by a fractured rib puncturing the lung, causing it to collapse and allowing air to leak into the chest cavity.
A ruptured spleen is a painful injurythat often causes serious internal bleeding, requiring surgery. In cases of severe damage, it may be necessary to remove the spleen entirely.
Kidney damage from the impact of a car accident can be relatively minor bruising or may cause the kidney’s complete destruction.
Liver injuries are the most common type of abdominal injury. Depending on the severity of the injury, it may require surgery to repair.
Burn Injuries
Burn injuries often occur in car accidents where leaking fluids burst into flame. Burns are excruciatingly painful and often life threatening, especially when complicated by infection, which is common. Disfigurement may result in social isolation and psychological damage. Serious burns cause deforming scars and contractures that may make it difficult for the victim to engage in social or business activities.
Amputations
Amputation accidents— loss of arms, hands, legs, feet, fingers or other body parts—may occur in serious accidents. Loss of a body part can affect your ability to perform certain kinds of work and often make it impossible to participate in many sports and other activities you enjoy. Amputation injuries typically require surgery, prostheses, and painful rehabilitative therapy, and many amputees experience phantom limb pain, a hard-to treat condition causing pain that feels as if it is coming from the missing limb.
Chronic Pain
Occasionally car accident victims are left with unrelenting chronic pain that goes on for years. Sometimes the cause can be determined and treated, but a condition known as complex regional pain syndrome (CRPS) can develop from even a minor car accident injury. This is a kind of pain that is disproportionate to the severity of the injury. It usually starts at the injury site and spreads from there, making sleep nearly impossible and limiting the ability to work or enjoy life.
Psychological Damage
Traffic accidents not only cause physical damage; many accident victims suffer from serious psychological problems, including post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), anxiety disorders, depression, and phobias.
Getting Help
At the law offices of Wettermark & Keith, LLC , we have many years of experience helping auto accident victims. We understand how car accidents damage lives and diminish your quality of life while emptying your pocketbook. If your injuries were caused by someone else’s negligence, justice demands that you receive enough monetary compensation for what you’ve lost. We have a 95 percent rate of success in getting our clients the money they need and deserve. When a car accident has affected your life for the worse, call us. We have recovered over $250 million for our clients since 2003. Come in for a free, no-obligation consultation to discover how we can help. Call today!
The website only holds general information and is not legally bound to be answerable in any terms of the information it provides. It cannot be considered as a substitute for legal advice or laws.
It happens out of the blue—an accident that leaves you with a debilitating injury or takes the life of someone you love. When your injury or your loved one’s death was caused by another person or company’s negligence or wrongdoing, your frustration and anger can easily overwhelm you. Where is the justice? Your life has instantly changed and may never be the same again, and it wasn’t your fault. Your finances may be in a shambles as the medical bills pile up, and you haven’t been able to go back to work. Pain and the loss of ability to be productive and participate in the activities that made your life enjoyable have got you down. Why should you have to suffer for someone else’s wrongdoing?
Instituting a Wrongful Death Claim in Alabama
The impact occurs suddenly, leaving you stunned and shaken. It takes a few minutes to get your bearings, and you realize that you’ve been hit by another car. What you do in the next minutes, hours, and days can make a real difference in your ability to recover money to compensate you for your injuries and the damage to your life that comes along with them. Because no one plans to be injured in a car accident, you may be unprepared and uncertain of what you need to do. So we’re here to offer you some guidelines on how you can protect your right to the recovery that is your legal due.