Law Have Mercy!
Law Have Mercy! isn’t just about the law anymore—it’s about life, business, health, and everything that sparks curiosity. Join Personal Injury Attorney Chaz Roberts as he dives into candid conversations that mix legal insights with lifestyle tips, entrepreneurial wisdom, and personal growth. From breaking down complex legal issues in simple terms to exploring the challenges and triumphs of health, business, and beyond, Chaz brings his unique perspective and passion to every episode.
Whether you're here to learn, laugh, or find inspiration, Law Have Mercy! has something for everyone. Just remember: the opinions of our guests are their own, and nothing on this podcast is legal advice or creates an attorney-client relationship—it’s all about entertainment, exploration, and empowerment. Let’s make it fun!
Law Have Mercy!
Quick Tips: “How do I know if I have a case?” The easy 3 step checklist to correctly answer this million-dollar question FOR GOOD!
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Have you ever wondered exactly what it takes to make an injured person’s unfortunate incident— a car wreck, for example— eligible to be pursued legally as a personal injury case? Or, perhaps as a loyal follower of the podcast, you sort-of understand some of the characteristics that qualify an incident as a potential personal injury claim, but you still feel some confusion around the entire thing. If you agreed with either of these previous statements, you're not alone….but you ARE in for a treat!
In this short Quick Tip episode of the Law Have Mercy! podcast, host Chaz Roberts, your friendly neighborhood personal injury lawyer, expertly lays down the definitive 3-step check to finally help you CLEARLY understand the critical elements which make or break a personal injury case….ONCE AND FOR ALL! Not only is he sharing this exclusive, super helpful tidbit which he & his team at Chaz Roberts Law use daily to educate their personal injury clients— but he is doing it in just SIX minutes!
Tune in as Chaz expertly and efficiently guides us through an easy-to-follow overview of the basic, crucial concepts for grasping the 3-step check. He’ll delve into the nuances of fault and liability, discuss damages - both property and personal, and explain the pivotal role of insurance. He’ll also share an insider's perspective on the peculiarities of Louisiana's comparative fault system and how, even if you're partly at fault, you may still be entitled to recover compensation for a portion of the damages. I also share my professional advice on why and how to take the third element - insurance - into your own hands with uninsured motorist coverage.
Whether you're curious about personal injury law, seeking information to decide whether you or a loved one may be eligible for a personal injury claim, or just want to arm yourself with some legal knowledge, this one's for you! Give it a listen and don’t forget to let us know what you thought with a like, comment, rating, or follow! Thanks for listening!
NOTE: It is very important to remember that, if you think you might have a viable personal injury case on your hands, you should ALWAYS seek the counsel of reputable personal injury attorney to help guide you through that process. If this is you, please feel free to connect with Chaz & his team on social @ChazRobertsLaw or via phone at 337.504.3202, so they can refer you to a reputable personal injury attorney who is licensed to practice law in your state.
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This show is co-produced by Carter Simoneaux of AcadianaCasts Network, Chaz H. Roberts of Chaz Roberts Law and Kayli Guidry Bonin of Beau The Agency, and Laith Alferahin.
Hey, this is Chaz Roberts. I'm a personal injury lawyer. It's my passion to bring the law to the people, and that's the purpose of this podcast. You're listening to Law have Mercy. Um, dude, you want to spice up? You are listening to Law have Mercy.
Speaker 1:Hey, this is Chaz, back again with a short, and we're going to be talking about the three elements of a personal injury case. All right, and the reason this is important is you need all three elements in order to have a viable case that a lawyer such as myself would take, and this is also going to tell you what is a good case, right? So there's three elements. Number one is fault and liability. Okay, so in order to have a personal injury case, someone else has to be at fault. Someone else has to be liable, right? So you can't put a car in a ditch by yourself and say I want to have a personal injury case. Now, if you're the passenger of somebody that puts a car in a ditch, then you can blame them and you can pursue them because you were not at fault. Side track passengers often have the best cases because they can never be at fault. So ways that someone else could be at fault. Someone rear ends you at a stoplight, someone side swipes you, kind of merges into your lane, side swipes you, someone backs into you, someone runs a red light. These are all ways that someone could be at fault. In Louisiana it's kind of crazy because there's something called comparative fault. You could even be half at fault and you still have a claim against someone else and you can recover half your damages. Okay so we do have comparative fault. Even if somebody is, even if you're 98% at fault, you can still recover 2% of your damages from someone else. So the only thing that would prevent you from having a case under element one is if you are 100% at fault, all right.
Speaker 1:Number two you have to have some type of damages. All right, what are damages? Well, your property. Maybe your car was beat up in the wreck. Maybe your car was damaged. Maybe you need a rental car to get to and from work. Maybe your car was totaled. That's property damage. Those are identifiable damages. There's something else on your bodily injury, right. Maybe you have a personal injury damages. Personal injury damages could be your medical treatment, which is your medical bills needed to treat you for your injuries. It could be your pain and suffering. It could be lost wages, which is your time away from work, the money that you would have made had you not been hurt. It could be emotional distress. These are all personal injury damages, so you have to have some type of damage, all right.
Speaker 1:So somebody, let's say let's go back to the first element Somebody else is at fault. They back into you and at a parking lot, there's no noticeable damage to the vehicle and you walk away. Fine, you don't have any neck or back issues or any other problems. Well, you don't have any damages. So somebody else was at fault and met criteria one. Criteria two there was no damage. So you really don't have a viable case.
Speaker 1:And number three insurance. All right, you really have to have a pocket to pay for the damage, all right. So oftentimes we look at what type of insurance is available given a specific wreck, right? So how much insurance is available and the fact that there is insurance is very important. All right, let's.
Speaker 1:Let's Run a scenario. Number one is met Bad rec, rear end, clear collision Check. Number two severe neck and back pain. You need surgery. Okay, you met two very easily.
Speaker 1:Number three there's no insurance.
Speaker 1:Well, you don't have a case, there's no pocket to pay for the damages and the liability.
Speaker 1:So that's not a viable case.
Speaker 1:You have to have some type of insurance. Obviously, the more insurance available gives you, the more possibilities To recover, alright, so oftentimes what we see here is that people only have a minimum policy, which is $15,000 in Louisiana. Well, you can have a terrible wreck, like a wrongful death or some type of major surgery type type situation, and the person only has $15,000 of insurance. Well, you met all three, but your insurance was really lacking. There wasn't enough, and so it's not a great case. It's still a case. It's just not a very good case, right, because there's not a pocket to pay for it.
Speaker 1:This is another reason why I recommend everyone get uninsured motorist coverage, because you are taking element three into your own hands. Right, you are protecting yourself and making sure you check that third box so that if one or two does happen to you which you can't control, you have box three checked. So these three elements are very important Fault liability. Number two, damages. Three, insurance. That's the basic criteria we look at in every single case to see if there's a viable claim. I hope this helped, hope this explained everything to you. If you have any questions, give me a call. Thanks for listening, thank you for watching, and nothing we talked about creates an attorney-client relationship or could be construed as legal advice. Hope you enjoy the show.
