Personal Injury

Personal injury cases involve accidents where someone was injured due to the negligence or recklessness of another individual or entity. Negligence occurs if a person or entity does not act reasonably careful under the circumstances or violates a law designed to protect the injured person¹. Attorney Antoine and his Delaware legal team are dedicated to holding negligent parties accountable for their actions and maximizing money damages for Delaware injury victims.An injured person can recover money damages in two ways: 1) by negotiating a settlement with the negligent party or 2) by obtaining a judgment against the negligent party after a jury, bench trial or arbitration. 

Jason R. Antoine and his team handle most types of personal injury or accident cases including but not limited to:

• Motor Vehicle Accidents
  • Car Accidents
  • Truck Accidents
  • Motorcycle Accidents
  • Bicycle Accidents involving a Motor Vehicle
• Dog Bites
• Slip and Fall cases (Premise Liability Cases)
• Product Liability Cases
• Pedestrian Accidents
• Nursing Home Neglect

Types of Recoverable Damages in Delaware Personal Injury Cases

If you were injured at the hands of a negligent party, unfortunately a lawyer or law office cannot heal your injury. All the law can do is to compensate you for all of your harms and losses and make you whole with money. In a Delaware personal injury case, the injured victim is entitled to recover money for

• Pain and suffering [past, present and future]
• Medical expenses [past, present and future]
• Lost Wages [past, present and future]
• Disfigurement
• Loss of enjoyment of life
• Mental Anguish

Please note that if the injury victim is married, the spouse of the injured can make a claim for loss of consortium. Loss of consortium claims typically deal with the loss of sex, intimacy, compassion or household support in situations where the injury victim was seriously injured or killed.  

All of the above are referred to by lawyers as compensatory damages. Compensatory damages put a price or value on what it would cost to make you whole again. In the legal system we basically trade money for your pain to make you whole.

How Do I Get the Money in a Delaware Injury Case?

After a personal injury accident, you, the injured victim, will usually obtain medical treatment from the emergency room or a doctor’s office. You will then continue treatment until you reach maximum medical improvement².

Typically, once treatment is complete, your lawyer will send a demand letter and supporting documents to the at-fault party’s insurance company, asking for a specific dollar amount based on your harms and losses. After that, your attorney and the insurance company usually go back and forth to negotiate the value of the case. If both sides agree on a number, the case is settled when you sign a release agreeing not to sue the at-fault party in court.

In a personal injury case, you, as the client, have the final say over whether to settle. If the insurance company does not offer fair value, the case may go into litigation. That means your attorney will file a complaint in court and sue the at-fault party. In court, the injured person is called the plaintiff, and the liable party is called the defendant.

During litigation, the case can still settle. Cases can go all the way to trial before a jury or judge. Personal injury cases typically go to a jury trial. A jury of twelve citizens will decide whether the defendant is liable for the injuries. Once liability is established by the jury, the jury assigns a dollar amount on the verdict sheet for all of your harms and losses.

How Much Time Do I Have to File an Injury Lawsuit?

The amount of time you have to file a lawsuit is controlled by the state’s statute of limitations. A statute of limitations is a written law limiting the time you have to file a complaint in court. Once you are outside of the statute’s time limitation, your claim for money damages is barred forever. The Delaware personal injury statute of limitations for many injury claims can be found at 10 Del.C. §8119. On most personal injury claims with exceptions, the Plaintiff or injured party will have two (2) years from the date of the accident or incident to file the complaint in a Delaware Court. After the expiration of two (2) years, the claim is lost forever. The following types of cases have a two-year statute of limitations:

• Auto Accidents 
• Trucking Accidents
• Bicycle Accidents
• Slip and Fall cases
• Trip and Fall cases
• Nursing home negligence
• Negligent Security

Wrongful death cases are governed by 10 Del.C. §8107 and are subject to a two-year statute of limitations. Medical malpractice cases are governed by 10 Del.C. §6856 and have a two-year statute unless the injury could not have been discovered in the first two years, then it is a three-year statute. Underinsured and uninsured motorist insurance claims fall in breach of contract territory and have a three (3) year statute of limitations from the date of breach or the date of denial of benefits. 

How Do Delaware Lawyers Get Paid in a Personal Injury Case?

In most personal injury cases, lawyers work on a contingency fee basis. This means the attorney is paid a percentage of the recovery—rather than charging upfront fees.

In Delaware, contingency fees typically range from 33⅓% to 40% of any settlement or verdict. If there is no recovery, you generally do not owe any attorney’s fee.

It’s important to understand that case costs are separate from attorney’s fees. These expenses are usually advanced by the lawyer and then reimbursed from the settlement or award. Common costs may include:

• Filing fees 
• Medical records and reports 
• Expert witness fees (such as doctors) 
• Deposition and court reporter costs 
• Postage and administrative expenses 

Most Delaware injury attorneys front these costs and assume the financial risk, so clients are not required to pay out-of-pocket while the case is ongoing.

Contact Jason R. Antoine — Delaware Personal Injury Lawyer

Contact Jason R. Antoine Attorney at Law at (302) 482-4802 if you or someone you love has been involved in an accident or suffered personal injuries at the hands of a negligent party. Phone consultations and in-person consultations are free of charge on all personal injury matters. Jason Antoine is a local attorney born and raised in Wilmington, Delaware and has dedicated himself to recovering top dollar for his clients. 

• Car Accidents
• Truck Accidents
• Motorcycle Accidents
• Uber and Lyft Accidents
• Pedestrian Accidents
• Dog Bites
• Negligent Security
  • Slip and Falls
• Traumatic Brain Injury
• Wrongful Death

_{¹ Negligence Per se – when the tortfeasor violates a statute that was designed to protect the Plaintiff against the class of harms that the Plaintiff fell victim thereof, then the tortfeasor will be negligent by default.}

_{² This means in essence that the injury victim has healed as much as they can under the circumstance.}