Charlotte North Carolina Legal Blog

There are words in the English language that are easy to identify but challenging to define, and "negligence" is one of them. A North Carolina resident may feel confident that they can pick out acts of negligence when they see them but may not be able to say exactly what it means to engage in negligent conduct. This post will discuss negligence in the context of personal injury lawsuits and should not be used as legal advice.

Negligence generally occurs when someone fails to meet the duty of care they owe to another person. While certain relationships have special duties, for example the relationship that a doctor has to their patient, in many circumstances a person owes others a duty of care to act reasonably given the circumstances present. This can mean following traffic laws while driving or maintaining their property so that visitors are not harmed by existing dangers.

While companies and organizations do care about the personal safety of their workers, some can show their true colors after a worker receives a major injury on the job. While it is necessary for North Carolina companies to have workers’ compensation to financially aid their employees after an accident, that does not mean they will not try to find ways to hold back on what the workers rightfully deserve.

Even after you win your initial case and the court determines how much coverage you will receive; some companies will still not settle with the results and may try new methods to prevent you from getting maximum coverage. You can see a drastic example of this through the actions of a rogue insurance company in Greensboro.

What could be a more routine action for people than going shopping? Usually the only damage people in Charlotte suffer from this is to their wallets. Still, many people suffer personal injury as a result of the experience, either from unsafe conditions at the store itself or unsafe products bought there. When another party's negligence is the cause of an injury, it may be possible to recover compensation from that party for any damages suffered.

A few weeks ago, we told you about a major furniture retailer that recalled a glass ceiling lamp after getting reports of injuries suffered after the lamps detached from ceilings and fell. Nearly 20 incidents of falling glass lamps have occurred, and minor injuries have been reported. Hopefully any more defective lamps will be replaced before they cause serious injury or death.

Working in a warehouse or utilizing dangerous equipment may have you avoiding obstacles and hazards during your work day. Your risk of injury to your hands and knees is high when you use a strenuous, repetitive motion daily, or your job requires you to operate heavy machinery. You worry that you may face a serious accident on the job.

Luckily, you know that your employer holds workers’ compensation insurance, and you will have the opportunity to receive reimbursement for your expenses due to your medical care or loss of work. Many workers do not know, however, that they only have a specific amount of time to file for workers’ compensation to receive benefits.