Our North Dakota personal injury lawyers know an injured person may suffer emotional trauma as well as financial loss. If you have suffered harm due to someone else’s wrongful or careless conduct, you may be entitled to recover for your medical expenses, lost wages, loss of earning capacity, loss of business or employment opportunities, pain and suffering, physical impairment, disfigurement, emotional distress, mental anguish, and other economic and non-economic damages set forth under North Dakota law. State law also allows the recovery of burial expenses, loss of society and companionship, and loss of consortium in a wrongful death claim. The North Dakota wrongful death standard specifically sets forth who may bring a wrongful death case, beginning with the surviving spouse.
When an injured person files a lawsuit, he or she has the burden of proving the case, which is often based on the legal theory of negligence. The injured person must prove four elements in a negligence case: 1) the defendant owed the plaintiff a duty of care; 2) the defendant breached that duty; 3) the breach was the proximate cause of the plaintiff’s injuries; and 4) the plaintiff suffered damages as a result of those injuries. A North Dakota personal injury lawyer can help you determine whether these requirements have been met in your case.
Even if the plaintiff proves the defendant’s negligence, the plaintiff’s recovery may be reduced proportionally to his or her own comparative fault. In North Dakota, comparative fault will only bar the plaintiff’s recovery completely if the plaintiff’s comparative fault was greater than the fault of all other parties who contributed to the injury combined.
An injured person has a limited amount of time to file a lawsuit, known as a statute of limitations. The statute of limitations for some injuries can be as short as two years, as in malpractice and wrongful death claims. It is therefore important for an injured person to seek legal representation right away.
