PERSONAL INJURY
What is Personal Injury?
Personal injury is an area of civil law, which allows a person to recover monetary damages when they are injured. Simply being injured is not enough to collect damages, as there generally needs to be negligence involved that caused the injury. However, some states do allow for some compensation through no fault insurance, even if it was purely an accident or you were the cause. Read below for more information on what type(s) of recovery you may be entitled to for your injury.
BODIILY INJURY/LIABILITY CLAIM
To recover compensation under a bodily injury/ liability claim, you can’t be at-fault for the incident that caused the injury. This means the other party had to do something negligent to cause the incident. For example, they ran the red light, hit a pedestrian in a crosswalk, their unprovoked animal bit someone, they didn’t fix their broken stairs causing someone to fall down, etc. If you’ve been injured by someone else’s negligence, you may have a liability claim against that person.
If the incident that caused your injury involved a motor vehicle, you will need to satisfy the Minnesota tort threshold. What’s that? Since Minnesota is a no fault state (see next column), the law requires that lawsuits for motor vehicle accidents be serious. To show that they are serious, a person must satisfy the threshold by accumulating at least $4,000 in related medical bills to treat their injuries. That $4,000 does not include diagnostic x-rays, as they are not considered treatment.
If you do not meet that $4,000 threshold, we cannot bring a legal claim on your behalf unless you satisfy one of the following: suffered permanent disfigurement (think scars), suffered a permanent injury, death, or were disabled for 60 days or more.
If your injuries do not arise from a motor vehicle accident, you do not need to meet the tort threshold.
If you have suffered injury as the result of someone else’s negligence, you may be entitled to compensation for all related medical bills, wage loss, and pain and suffering. Depending on the cause of the incident, punitive damages may also be a possibility.
The best way to determine if you have a viable claim is to contact our office for a free consultation.
NO FAULT CLAIM
If you live in Minnesota, you’ve likely heard that we are a “no fault state” but do you know what that actually means?
In Minnesota every person who owns and operates a vehicle is required to carry a minimum amount of auto insurance. The minimum insurance in Minnesota is liability insurance of $30,000. With that liability insurance comes no fault insurance. The no fault insurance coverage that is built into each liability policy has a minimum of $20,000 for economic damages (wage loss, replacement services, primary homemaker services), and $20,000 for medical expenses.
If you are involved in an accident (it does not matter who is at fault) and you are injured, you would be entitled to your no fault/personal injury protection benefits through your own auto insurance policy. This means, that when you seek medical treatment after an auto accident, you should provide your auto insurance information to your medical providers for billing purposes. You will also want to inform your auto insurance carrier that you were injured in an accident to ensure they open a claim and pay the bills. If you feel uncomfortable getting the claim set up, you could always get an attorney right away and have them handle that task.
Your no-fault insurance will not only pay your medical bills related to the accident, but they will also provide some economic reimbursement for lost wages, mileage, replacement services, and primary homemaker losses that are directly caused by your injuries from the accident. Medical documentation is generally needed to recover economic benefits. They are also limited to a capped amount each week and only a percentage of your lost wages.
No fault can be confusing to navigate and the insurance company may sometimes terminate your coverage despite their still being benefits available and your medical treatment incomplete. In situations like that, an attorney can assist with filing for arbitration and challenging the termination of benefits.
To learn more about no fault benefits following a motor vehicle accident, please schedule a free consultation.
HOW CAN MEEHLIEB LAW HELP ME WITH MY CLAIM?
Attorney Arianna Meehleib is well versed in the entire process and lifespan of a personal injury claim. She has handled countless cases from intake through resolution. Ms. Meehleib understands the elements of a viable case and how to properly present the claim to the insurance companies.
When you hire Meehleib Law, you can expect empathy, compassion, and transparency throughout your entire case. Ms. Meehleib will guide you through each step of the process while doing all she can to achieve the best possible outcome on every file she handles.