Skilled Personal Injury Lawyer in Morgan County, Georgia

Personal Injury lawyer - lawyer using the computer

A team of knowledgeable personal injury lawyers is available to assist Morgan County, Putnam County, Jasper County and surrounding areas of Georgia

When you are injured as a result of another’s negligence, recklessness, or failure to follow statutory and administrative requirements, you can file suit against those responsible for your injuries to recover for your financial losses. Choosing the right lawyer to represent you requires some care on your part. If you need a personal injury lawyer in Morgan County, Georgia, consider Michael Fulcher Law.

Few personal injury lawyers have accumulated trial experience during an era of plea bargains and settlements. Many lawyers are hesitant to take a case to trial because in reality, they’ve never had to put together a case, whether as a plaintiff or defendant; they have never had to make evidentiary objections; they have never cross-examined a witness in front of a jury; and they have never composed an opening and closing argument.

This hesitancy to bring a case to court skews their strategies. These lawyers want to settle cases quickly, sometimes to the detriment of their clients. Settling too quickly sometimes means less money, especially if the full extent of liability and injury is not immediately apparent.

Michael Fulcher Law has a wide range of successful trial experience. Michael spent 8 years as a prosecutor and 2 years as a public defender, positions that kept him in the courtroom almost daily. While he was a prosecutor, he helped many Georgia residents pursue their injury claims by prosecuting those negligent drivers responsible for causing harm to others. Once he started Michael Fulcher Law, Michael continued to rack up hours of courtroom experience. He brings that trial expertise to all of his law practice. And this trial experience is especially powerful in the personal injury realm where too many lawyers are courtroom novices.

What Is a Personal injury Action?

The most common personal injury claims arise from automobile, motorcycle, and truck accidents. Other personal injury actions include bicycle accidents, pedestrian injuries, Uber and Lyft accidents, slip and fall, defective product liability, crime victims, and wrongful death. Additional personal injury actions involve workplace injuries and professional malpractice by doctors, dentists, veterinarians, and accountants.

At Michael Fulcher Law, we focus our practice on accidents—cars, trucks, motorcycles, bicycles, and involving pedestrians.

We understand that most accidents, especially those on the road, occur when a driver is acting irresponsibly:

  • Driving drunk or under the influence of drugs
  • Texting while driving
  • Speeding
  • Failing to follow right-of-way rules
  • Failing to stop, yield, or merge safely
  • Driving while exhausted

However, some vehicular accidents are the result of poorly maintained vehicles, like balding tires, spotty brakes, and broken lights. Or vehicular accidents can be caused by defective manufacture of a car or component, including tires. That’s why experienced personal injury lawyers review all the evidence to reveal causation.

What Should I Do If I Am Involved in an Accident?

When injured due to another’s negligence, recklessness, or failure to follow statutory or administrative regulations, you should take care of yourself first, then begin to document the circumstances of your accident. You might feel overwhelmed by the enormity of the consequences of any accident. Take a moment and then take action.

  1. Get medical care immediately. You want to document the extent of your injuries, and begin the treatment needed to fully heal. Your health and your future are precious to you. You should do everything possible to identify and treat the full extent of your injuries.
  2. Take pictures of your injuries and any accident scene. Nothing is more potent that seeing the bruises, cuts, and stitches caused by an accident. Take a photo of your wrecked car, the uneven sidewalk, the patch of ice or snow. Take a photo of the burned toaster oven, the exploded canister, the disfigured child’s toy. Everyone responds to photographs.
  3. Get the names and contact information from all witnesses at the scene, including any police officers, emergency services workers, and local businesses.
  4. Don’t talk to the other insurance company, only to your own. Remember that anything you say might affect your ability to be fully compensated for injuries.
  5. Find a good lawyer!

How a Personal Injury Attorney Can Help You?

Although we all think we know what to do in the wake of an accident—from television and film—we really do need the services of skilled and competent personal injury lawyers to guide us through the aftermath, recovery, and resolution of any accident. Personal injury lawyers focus on tort law, the civil law that governs how we interact with each other in a complex society. Their goal in taking your case is to secure financial compensation for your injuries and loss with an added incentive that the amount should be enough to serve as a deterrent to others.

After asking, you pertinent questions about what happened, who you have spoken with, and the extent of property and bodily injuries, a personal injury lawyer will explain your options. You should begin the process of interviewing a personal injury lawyer as soon as possible to ensure that you are preserving all your rights and options. For example, there are statutes of limitations that require that you file a notice of claim or actual lawsuit within a prescribed period of time.

A knowledgeable personal injury lawyer will explain that Georgia is a modified comparative negligence state. This means that under Georgia law, if a jury determines that you were less than half responsible for the injuries, it can award a judgment in your favor minus the proportion of your own fault. Let’s say you were 30 percent responsible for your own injury. A $100,000 claim will be reduced by $30,000, reflecting the percentage of your own fault.

A personal injury lawyer is also a counselor and will provide advice about how to proceed. You might be instructed to see a doctor, physical therapist, or psychologist to further document your injuries. This attorney might take over the onerous task of dealing with the other party’s insurance company. As a counselor, a personal injury lawyer will help you sort out your volatile emotions from the reality of what to anticipate in the upcoming months or even years. Like all decisions, you want to make any concerning your accident to be data-based, and free from blinding emotion. Your personal injury lawyer can be your guide.

Your personal injury lawyer represents you in court and in negotiations with any of the parties, and of course, the insurance companies. Most claims settle even before a suit is filed. So you want a personal injury lawyer who is comfortable negotiating with insurance companies, yet also has the underlying experience as a trial attorney to bring a suit to full trial, if necessary.

A personal injury lawyer might conduct its own investigation into the accident to ensure that all the relevant evidence is collected and all theories of causation and liability are examined. These kinds of investigations can pinpoint the proportions of liability among various players, including your role in any accident.

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When you need a lawyer after being charged with a DUI or criminal offense or as you explore your options for filing a personal injury claim, look no further than Michael Fulcher Law’s impressive background, and ultra-attentive client service. To learn more about how we can help you achieve the best legal solution possible for your circumstances, call our criminal defense law firm at (706) 438-1555 or contact us online, and schedule your free consultation today.

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Your Morgan County, GA Personal Injury Law Firm is Here to Help

  • Car Accidents: Our personal injury lawyers will help you get the maximum compensation to pay medical bills, replace lost wages, and support your family while you are recovering. Insurance companies often make low-ball offers before injured people have a chance to confer with an attorney. We will negotiate on your behalf to increase the size of any recovery. If we cannot come to an agreement, we will go to trial!
  • Truck Accidents: The capacity to harm is much greater when a truck is involved and there might be more than one insurance company representing the trucking company, the driver, and even the owner of the freight. This complexity requires astute personal injury lawyers to ensure that all evidence is secured and shared, so that liability is fully understood.
  • Motorcycle Accidents: The possibility of permanent injuries increases when a motorcycle is involved in an accident with a car or truck. Georgia has a mandatory helmet law that covers the driver and any passengers on motorcycles. Failure to wear a DOT approved helmet can seriously impact a determination of liability in any ensuing personal injury case. If the motorcycle driver or passenger sustained head and facial injuries, a failure to wear a DOT approved helmet can decrease the amount of any compensatory award.
  • Bicycle Accidents: Only children under the age of 16 are required to wear a helmet when riding on a bicycle in Georgia. Anyone over the age of 16 does not have to wear one, although it is considered a best practice. Parents can be held responsible for injuries occurring to their children if the children were not wearing helmets.
  • Pedestrian Accidents: Drivers must slow down or stop for pedestrians, even those who are jaywalking. In Georgia, pedestrians have the right of way. The driver of a car is responsible for yielding to pedestrians when leaving a parking lot, garage, driveway, or roadway. Who is at fault for the accident is always the focus of any personal injury claim.

Call or Email for a Free Consultation Now! To fully preserve your right to full compensation, call (706) 438-1555 or contact us online for a free consultation with Michael Fulcher Law now. You do not want to do anything to compromise your rights or ability to fully recover from your injuries. Michael Fulcher Law represents clients in Morgan County, Putnam County, Jasper County, Greene County, Walton County, Newton and surrounding areas.

Frequently Asked Questions

Most personal injury claims are based on a theory of negligence. To determine who is at fault, the law requires that the plaintiff prove that there was a duty of care owed by the defendant to the plaintiff, that the duty was breached, that the breach was the cause of the injury, and that actual injury occurred. Unlike a criminal case where the prosecution must prove its case beyond a reasonable doubt, in a civil tort action like negligence, the plaintiff must only prove its case with a preponderance of the evidence.

A personal injury claim is when a person or property is injured, and another person was at fault. It is a civil action, called a tort, a civil wrong.

Traditionally, a personal injury lawyer is retained by clients with a contingency fee arrangement. This contract for services states that the personal injury lawyer will pay the costs of suit for the client, and take a percentage of any settlement or jury award, after costs are reimbursed. If there is no recovery, you do not have to pay the lawyer for any expenses or hours spent.

Georgia will reduce the award of damages by the proportion of fault attributed to the plaintiff. That is what modified comparative negligence means. Originally, if the plaintiff was at all at fault in causing an accident, and injuries, that contributory negligence was a bar to recovery, a complete defense to any tort action. However, this theory of liability was considered too harsh, and unrealistic. States like Georgia developed a theory of modified comparative negligence to allocate blame between the parties, and reduce awards accordingly.

Depending on the facts, and the kind of accident, a plaintiff can sue for medical expenses, prior, and future; lost wages; lost earning capacity; disability; scarring, and disfigurement; property damage; emotional distress; pain, and suffering;, and loss of enjoyment of life.

Punitive damages are only allowed in personal injury cases when there is clear, and convincing evidence that the defendant’s actions exhibited willful misconduct, malice, fraud, wantonness, oppression, or conscious indifference to the consequences.

No, Georgia is not a no-fault state. Before an insurance company has to pay out on a policy, including damages to your car, medical expenses, and compensatory damages for lasting injuries, it will determine who was at fault. This is why you should never speak with the insurance companies representing the other parties to an accident. You should only have your attorney speak with these other insurance companies.

Most claims for damages, including wrongful death, resulting from negligent operation of a car, truck, or motorcycle must be filed in the proper court within 2 years of the incident. Georgia is very strict, and will not waive the statute of limitations. However, the spouse of a victim of personal injury has 4 years in which to file a loss of consortium suit, alleging that the resulting injury caused serious harm to your marriage, including the ability to engage in sex, loss of companionship, and loss of care.

Although an accident can feel overwhelming, there is a lot you can do to help your lawyer.

  • Keep receipts, and estimates for all repairs to your vehicle or other property. These will be used to help prove, and calculate your losses.
  • If an insurance carrier claims that the loss isn’t covered, ask the representative to point to the exact language in the policy upon which they are relying to deny your claim.
  • Keep all correspondence, including emails, that you have with an insurance company.
  • If you have phone calls related to your accident, keep a log with the day, and time of the call, and the name, and contact information of the person with whom you spoke. You should also summarize the content of that conversation.
  • Take pictures of any damage, including any physical injury. Pictures can help substantiate the severity of injuries.

AMAZING WORK

“Mr. Fulcher has been tremendously helpful with my case. Since hiring him he has consistently returned my calls as quickly as he can. We discussed an ideal outcome, and I set about doing exactly as he said. Following his advice we were able to get a very favorable outcome. He is always quick to answer any questions, and has stayed very engaged with me throughout this ordeal. Michael provides excellent counsel, and I would recommend him to anyone!”

— TOM

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