Understanding the Language in Your Personal Injury Class Action Lawsuit

If you've been seriously injured as a result of neglect by another person or a corporation or government entity and you're thinking about filing a claim, you've already figured out that you're in a specialized area, where the medical and legal terms are flying thick and fast. Some of the words you'll need to know will be specific to your injury and its consequences, but some legal terms show up in almost all personal injury claims. Here's a quick guide to the language you may hear from your lawyer and the expert witnesses.

Annuity

An annuity is a specialized investment which pays a guaranteed annual benefit. When a personal injury claim is resolved in favor of the plaintiff, the party responsible for payment may purchase an annuity as a means to assure that payment is made for the term of the settlement, often the lifetime of the plaintiff.

Class action

A lawsuit filed on behalf of a group, or "class" of people who have experienced similar injury, for example, on behalf of all women who were injured by using a certain contraceptive, or all users of a specific credit card which charged fees illegally. A class action may have the advantage of greater numbers, and in some situations it is the most useful way to proceed. Plaintiffs in a class action agree to accept the outcome, whatever it is. It's a "one size fits all" solution. Some drug and device attorneys prefer not to be part of class actions, and to work with individual clients, to insure that their clients' particular and unique needs are met in the settlement.

Contingent fee agreement

The usual arrangement for bringing a claim or a lawsuit against a large corporation. Your attorney does not require you to pay for his or her legal services up front, and agrees to be paid only if your claim is resolved successfully, either by negotiation or by trial.

Defendant

The person, corporation, or government entity against whom a claim is made, or who is being sued in a civil proceeding.

Life Planner

A serious injury from a drug or medical device can be a life-changing event. The rest of a person's life may be shaped by their impairments, medical expenses, and care needs. A skilled life planner is a person who can anticipate medical and other care needs, household accommodations, both in modifications of physical space and in staffing needs, impact on earning potential and life expectancy. The planner can assign monetary values to all of these, and draw up a plan for funding needs for the near term and the long term. Drug and device attorneys consult life planners and frequently use a life planner as an expert witness in developing a monetary settlement demand.

Negotiation

Many claims against pharmaceutical companies and device manufacturers do not go to trial. Instead they are resolved by negotiation, in which attorneys for the plaintiff and the company meet to see whether they can reach an agreement about the claim without the additional expense and delay involved in a trial. Your attorney should talk with you about the pros and cons of a negotiated settlement.

Plaintiff

That's you, the person who files the claim or institutes a lawsuit in court. Your attorney represents you, but you are the person whose name is on the claim. If the injured person is a minor, a parent or guardian is named as the plaintiff.

Settlement

A settlement is the voluntary resolution of a claim by attorneys for the plaintiff and the defendant with proceeding to a lawsuit. Most claims, and even most lawsuits, are settled before the court's final judgment. Many settlements are achieved just before a case goes to trial, because the defendant realizes that the plaintiff's attorney is serious, and that a trial may result in an extremely costly finding against it. Settlements achieved on the eve of trial, or after a trial has begun will often be entered into the trial record and approved by the presiding judge. This gives the settlement the force of law, so that the defendant's compliance can be enforced.

For more than three decades, San Diego personal injury lawyer David S. Casey Jr. has been committed to providing representation for those who have suffered serious injuries or death due to third party negligence. Throughout his career as an injury lawyer he has been honored to be named Lawyer of the Year in 2002 by the San Diego County Bar Association, and has received the Broderick Award for Civility, Integrity and Professionalism in 2004.

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Increasing Awarness of Asbestos Cancer Spurs Mesothelioma (Class Action) Lawsuits

Mesothelioma lawsuits seem to be becoming more and more prevalent as the disease and its causes become more well-known. You may have seen commercials for attorneys advertising their services in this specialized area. Due to the fact that decades can pass before the disease rears its ugly head, it has become apparent that the companies responsible for exposing their workers to asbestos so many years ago may no longer be in business. But there is something you can do.

Mesothelioma, commonly known as Asbestos Cancer, is a rare form of cancer that is most frequently known to occur when the affected person has come in contact with asbestos and inhaled its particles. It does, however, emerge in some individuals without ever having made contact with asbestos and occurs more in men than women, but can affect both genders. The name Mesothelioma is derived from mesothelium, which is the membrane that covers and protects most of the internal organs of the body. When cancer cells are active in the mesothelium, that membrane begins to deteriorate and the cancer can continue spreading to other parts of the body.

During the 1940s, millions of Americans were exposed to asbestos, but at that time, the dangers were not known. The symptoms of Mesothelioma many times do not appear for up to 30 to 50 years after exposure. Depending on your age, you may have relatives who have unfortunately, contracted this disease while working with asbestos or simply from being exposed to it in other ways.

If you or someone you know or are related to have been diagnosed with Mesothelioma, there are steps you can take to receive compensation. Although a monetary settlement will not cure the disease, its benefits may help to make the sick individual live more comfortably and possibly ease their suffering somewhat.

Although there are individual cases, many Mesothelioma lawsuits are filed as class action suits due to the fact that so many people were affected at the same time at the same place. Even if the responsible company is no longer in business, the attorneys can still obtain monetary settlements through other means as there have been billions of dollars set aside for disbursements regarding Mesothelioma lawsuits.

If you or someone you love has contracted Mesothelioma, do an online search for lawyers in your area who handle these types of cases. A settlement made to you through a Mesothelioma lawsuit can offer a degree of support in more ways than one. The compensation received can assist in alleviating some of the burden of medical treatment costs, especially for those who are uninsured, and also possibly give an individual a chance to live in a more comfortable atmosphere, overall.

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Class Action Lawsuits - What Are Class Action Lawsuits?

Class action lawsuits have been going on for decades. These are civil suits that are against large companies that have in some way offended the rights of many people. Civil law regulates disputes in which harm may have come to others. You may have seen commercials that are looking for people that have used particular drugs or who have been around asbestos. People can come into a great deal of money from these types of lawsuits.

Typically, class-action lawsuits are different from criminal trials because it is not discussing whether or not someone has broken the law, but whether one or more people have been harmed in some way by a corporation. If a group of people have experienced similar circumstances, and the common issues they have shared are the most critical focal points of the lawsuit, then the group can participate together in this legal action.

A very common example in which many consumers have been hurt in a similar manner is through a defective product. There have been recalls that have affected people in this way. Drawstrings on window blinds is an example of a defective product that has actually killed several children. The parents of the children could be gathered together to form a class-action lawsuit against the manufacturer of this product.

Other examples are people that work for asbestos removal companies that been exposed to asbestos for decades. The fibers from this material lodged in their lungs has created mesothelioma cancer within their systems. These people can band together in order to seek monetary reward for damages done to their bodies because of their job.

There was a particular case in which a fertility doctor had taken the eggs of hundreds of women that he had helped through his fertilization procedures. He was selling the eggs on the black market for millions of dollars without telling the women what he had done. This created a multimillion dollar lawsuit in which hundreds of women received hundreds of thousands of dollars for their losses. Some of these women had children somewhere in the world that they would never meet because this doctor had sold their eggs.

In this particular case, it was not only about a physical illegality, but also an emotional one to. The trauma that these women went through in order to have children was a large enough ordeal. The amount of money that they spend caused them financial hardship to conceive children. But then to find out that they had been used for incubators for eggs to be sold on the black market, was too much of an emotional scar to bear.

In the end, the court determines how badly each party was injured and what reparations can be made in order to rectify the injustice. These types of lawsuits can also be used in regard to security claims, contracts, and employers that falsify information. Some of the largest lawsuits involve millions of people that receive small amounts of compensation for their participation.

Any person may unknowingly be eligible to participate in a class action lawsuit. There are many websites available online that can help you assess your situation and see if you are entitled to some sort of compensation for any wrongdoing that has happened to you.

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