Personal injury and wrongful death are part of an entire area of litigation where injured persons or the heirs of a decedent may be compensated if the injury or death resulted from the careless or wrongful conduct of another.
These are called tort actions. Tort law has been around for centuries and evolved from English Common Law, upon which our legal system is based.
Tort law basically stands for the proposition that a person should pay money damages if that person is careless or intentionally hurts another.
Typically, the wrongdoer (the person who caused the injury or death) does not go to jail. If the wrongdoer is found to be negligent or liable for the injury or death under the law, they would just have to pay monetary compensation for the harm that they had caused. It is really a matter of common sense based upon the notion of fairness, and is consistent with many religious teachings.
If you need the help of experienced California personal injury lawyers or wrongful death attorneys, Los Angeles based Viau & Kwasniewski can help you.
GET HELP WITH PERSONAL INJURY
OR WRONGFUL DEATH LITIGATION
Protecting Our Constitutional Right
The Seventh Amendment of the Constitution of the United States, written by our founding fathers, gives each of us the right to have personal injury and wrongful death matters resolved by a jury trial.
Today, there are many powerful interests that want to take that Constitutional right away from each of us.
Powerful corporations and insurance companies do not want to be held accountable, as required by our laws of common sense fairness, when they or – in the case of insurance companies – their policyholders hurt someone.
This is especially pertinent in the insurance industry. As experienced personal injury lawyers and wrongful death attorneys with over 40 years of combined litigation experience, the principal partners, Gary Kwasniewski and Jeanette L. Viau, have witnessed this first hand.
Liability Insurance Policies
Many insurance companies sell liability insurance policies, which are promises to pay, when their policyholders are negligent or produce defective products that hurt others.
Insurance companies often do not want to pay a fair amount. Often, the only way to make insurance companies pay a fair amount is by a jury trial.
As an individual in a personal injury or wrongful death case, the only way to gain equal footing against powerful insurance companies is to have legal representation by personal injury lawyers and wrongful death attorneys who have extensive experience in these types of cases.
Viau & Kwasniewski have worked on, and understand, both sides of personal injury and wrongful death litigation; they now only represent individuals who have been injured and can bring this level of expertise to your personal injury or wrongful death case.
Who Should Pay in Personal Injury & Wrongful Death Cases
Powerful interests are trying to change our laws of common sense fairness so that they do not have to pay. If they do not pay for the injuries and death caused by negligence and/or wrongful conduct, who ends up footing the bill for their policyholders’ negligence? You do; the taxpayer.
These powerful interests say that there has been an explosion of personal injury tort litigation, but the truth is that personal injury lawsuits have decreased over the last decade. They say that these lawsuits are harming our industries and our economy. This does not bear out. An example we like to refer to is Caterpillar Inc.
Product Liability Lawsuits & Caterpillar Inc.
Caterpillar Inc. is the largest heavy earthmoving equipment manufacturer in the world.
Where other U.S. manufacturers have lost significant market share to foreign competitors, Caterpillar has remained steady and profitable. Yet, Caterpillar gets sued often under product liability theories when there is an accident involving its equipment.
When there is an accident involving a Caterpillar bulldozer, scraper, or grader, the injuries are often catastrophic and sometimes result in a death. Product liability lawsuits, including personal injury and wrongful death, have not brought Caterpillar down nor have they prevented Caterpillar from being profitable. Caterpillar is still the industry leader.
As trial lawyers, Viau & Kwasniewski have represented individuals in personal injury and wrongful death cases against powerful corporations and insurance companies. We are here to put you on an equal footing when we represent you in the California courts.
CONTACT VKLAWYERS – PERSONAL INJURY LAWYERS
& WRONGFUL DEATH ATTORNEYS
Your Constitutional Rights
You have a constitutional right to a jury trial in personal injury or wrongful death cases. The right to be compensated for personal injury and wrongful death losses has and can be balanced out fairly by our current litigation system and laws. As we have seen, Caterpillar is a good example of this.
To destroy your right to a jury trial in these types of cases would be to tip the balance of power further in the favor of corporations, insurance companies, and their politicians, and take away your fundamental right under the Constitution.
The ongoing efforts by powerful special interests to destroy our Constitutional right to a jury trial in personal injury and wrongful death matters is a threat to our individual liberties, and our right as individuals to be treated equal to powerful corporate and insurance company interests.
The legal system has many safeguards to prevent abuses from these types of lawsuits.
The current assertions by insurance companies and large corporations that the legal tort system is broken, and frivolous lawsuits are out of control, are unfounded. Most respected judges, state and federal, will agree that there is no “litigation crisis.”
How does one look a person in the eye who lost a leg from a negligent driver, or was maimed by a defective product, and say that such a person should not be fully compensated?
How does one say to a young family who lost their working father/ mother/husband/wife because of a negligent semi-truck driver, or negligent conduct that caused a fatal construction accident, that they should not be fully compensated by the wrongdoer and the wrongdoer’s insurance company?
Our tort laws have evolved over centuries based on common sense fairness and our moral traditions. Those laws say that such a position cannot be justified.
Thankfully, we still have the right…you still have the right to pursue full compensation in most areas of personal injury and wrongful death law.
Personal Injury Litigation & Wrongful Death Litigation
Practice Areas
Viau & Kwasniewski are Los Angeles based personal injury lawyers and wrongful death attorneys who handle personal injury and wrongful death litigation in California for the following:
Auto Accidents
Construction Accidents
Truck Accidents
Toxic Exposure Injuries
Serious/Catastrophic Injuries
Spinal Cord Injuries
Brain Injuries
Shooting/Premises Liability Injuries
Products Liability
Defective Products
Wrongful Death
Ask for a free, no-risk initial consultation. We work on a Contingency Fee basis in most cases, which means we are paid only if we obtain a recovery on your behalf.
For more information on how our Los Angeles personal injury lawyers and wrongful death attorneys can help you contact Viau & Kwasniewski or call (213) 842-8164 or complete our online Contact Us Form.
