New Mexico has one of the highest injury rates in the United States, with thousands of people hospitalized or even killed as a result of injuries each year. All-too-often those injuries are caused by the negligence or intentional wrongdoing of others.
If you are hurt or your loved one has died because of carelessness or bad acts, you have legal rights. A Santa Fe personal injury lawyer at Caruso Law Offices can work with you to understand those rights and recover the compensation you deserve.
Our personal injury attorneys in Santa Fe represent clients facing brain injuries, spinal cord injuries, and injuries related to motor vehicle accidents. We have recovered more than $30 million in settlement dollars since 2016 and have been honored as the Best of the Best Lawyers as well as invited into the Million Dollar Advocates Forum.
We take every case seriously, fight for every client, and are ready to help you. Give our Santa Fe personal injury attorney a call at (505) 883-5000 to learn more.
Why Choose Our Santa Fe Personal Injury Lawyer
We have a team dedicated to the sole purpose of navigating personal injury claims under New Mexico injury law to obtain the best possible outcome for our clients as our purpose. We provide our clients with many advantages in their claims including the following:
SKILL
We are skilled investigators, aggressive negotiators, and well-practiced court litigators in all areas of motor vehicle accidents. Our firm also has valuable resources such as on-call expert witnesses to effectively prove your case. We are the right personal injury lawyers in Santa Fe to fight for your compensation.
EXPERIENCE
Our Santa Fe car accident lawyers have over 20 years of experience in personal injury law, gaining deep insights and creative solutions to the most challenging cases over the decades of our practice.
Some attorneys in our firm previously worked for insurance companies so their experience on the other side benefits our clients.
RESULTS
Our track record of success for clients injured in motor-vehicle accidents includes many multi-million dollar resolutions for our clients, including recent notable wins for $7.8 million, $4.5 million, and a $12 million settlement.
We also happily take on clients with only a single medical bill and a lost paycheck with equal fervor. Every Santa Fe personal injury attorney at our firm believes in every injury victim’s right to compensation after an accident caused by someone else’s actions.
What Are Your Rights in a Personal Injury Case in Santa Fe?
New Mexico law makes clear you have the right to sue someone who injures you, even if you were partly at fault for the incident. This legal rule is called pure comparative fault, and New Mexico’s law is much friendlier to plaintiffs than the rules in many other states.
While elsewhere you might be prevented from suing if you shared any blame or were more than 50% or 51% responsible for the harm you experienced, New Mexico Code Section 41-31-A gives you the right to compensation “equal to the ratio of such defendant’s fault to the total fault,” even if you played a major role in causing the injury.
This means if a defendant was 40% responsible for causing you to suffer $100,000 in losses, you could still pursue a case and recover $40,000 in damages.
Potential Compensation You Can Recover in a Santa Fe Personal Injury Claim
When a New Mexico personal injury claim goes to court, the standard instructions the judge gives to the jury are to award damages that “will reasonably compensate the plaintiff for the injuries that the plaintiff has sustained as a result of the defendants ”wrongful conduct.”
The compensation you receive should cover:
- Past and future medical bills
- Lost wages
- Pain and suffering
- Emotional distress
The instructions also state that punitive damages may also be available if the defendant’s conduct was willful, reckless, wanton, or in bad faith. These are damages designed ” for the limited purposes of punishment.”
Unlike many states, New Mexico does not impose a cap on damages in most personal injury claims, with the exception of medical malpractice cases that are subject to certain limits set forth in New Mexico Code section 41-5-6 and cases against the government subject to limits defined in New Mexico Code Section 41-4-19.
How To Prove Negligence in a Santa Fe Personal Injury Case
To successfully recover compensation for injuries, you typically must show the defendant directly caused you harm as a result of negligence or intentional wrongdoing. To prove negligence, you’ll need to demonstrate:
- The defendant had a duty or obligation to exercise reasonable care
- They fell short in the duty
- You suffered direct harm as a result that you can be compensated for
There are some exceptions to this rule. For example, you may be able to hold an employer accountable when their staff members injure you, even if the company itself did nothing wrong — as long as you can prove they hurt you while performing job duties.
You can bring these types of cases under vicarious liability rules, which the New Mexico appeals court explained in Medina v. Graham’s Cowboys, Inc can make “a party who is without fault is responsible for paying compensatory damages caused by the fault of another.”
Our Santa Fe personal injury lawyer can help you to identify all of the parties who may be responsible for compensating you and can work to build a case against those individuals or businesses to maximize your chances of fully recovering your losses.
How Long Do I Have to File a Personal Injury Claim in Santa Fe?
You should pursue a personal injury claim if someone else hurts you, or if your loved one dies as a result of negligence or intentional wrongful acts.
You should take swift action to start your case, as New Mexico Code Section 37-1-8 establishes a three year statute of limitations for personal injury claims. This means if more than three years have passed, your case will be time-barred and unable to move forward.
If you are making your claim based on wrongful death, you still have three years in which to do so. However, New Mexico Code Section 41-2-2 establishes a rule that the date of death is when the clock starts running on the statute of limitations. If your loved one suffered a fatal accident, don’t hesitate to contact our Santa Fe wrongful death lawyer to discuss what happened.
If too much time passes, a defendant can get the case dismissed. There are very limited exceptions to this time deadline, so you don’t want it to pass by. This is one of many reasons why getting legal help right away after an injury is so important to protecting your rights.
Contact Our Santa Fe Personal Injury Attorney Today
Many personal injury cases settle outside of court. This means you don’t need to go before a judge or jury. Instead, you negotiate a fair offer of compensation with the defendants and agree to accept payment in exchange for giving up your right to future claims.
Caruso Law Offices has a team of skilled negotiators who will fight for a fair deal out-of-court to reduce your stress and help you get paid more quickly. We’ve recovered millions through settlements and have the skills to maximize your chances of this type of favorable outcome.
However, our Santa Fe personal injury attorneys have also been designated as honored among the Top 10 Trucking Trial Lawyers and Top 25 Motor Vehicle Trial Lawyers, so we’re ready to go to court if needed.
To find out more about how we can help you after a motor vehicle accident, brain injury, or spinal cord injury, give us a call today at (505) 883-5000 to schedule your free consultation.