Attorneys In Alaska For Your Personal Injury Case

Your ability to collect damages has many restrictions.  First, Alaska, as a “comparative fault” State, allows judges and juries to reduce your award by any percentage it is decided you are responsible for.  So if a jury awards you $100,000 in damages, but finds you 30% at fault, you will collect only $70,000.

Second, damage caps in Alaska personal injury cases apply to non-economic damages in medical malpractice cases, where the cap is set at the greater of $400,000.00 or $8,000.00 for each year of life expected to remain.  However, in cases where the injured party suffers severe disfigurement or physical impairment, the cap is raised to $1,000,000.00.

A Personal Injury Lawyer in Anchorage must know these laws in order to properly prosecute your personal injury case.

In any of these cases, you can seek compensation for (1) reimbursement of medical treatment, (2) reimbursement of lost wages, (3) reimbursement for damage to or loss of use of property, (4) loss of consortium (loss of services, income, companionship of spouse or child), (5) emotional distress and/or pain and suffering, (6) injury to reputation, (7) and punitive damages (in limited circumstances only).

The best attorneys will posture your case for the maximum recovery in each such category.

Alaska Bar Rules 65 and 66 require attorneys admitted to practice in Alaska to sit for at least three hours of mandatory Ethics Continuing Legal Education and at least nine hours of Voluntary Continuing Legal Education Credits each year.  It is your right—and also your obligation—to make sure your attorney has completed these requirements.  If he or she has not, your case runs the risk of being thwarted due to a change the attorney was not aware of.

In summary, every personal injury attorney must, at a minimum, know the information above.  After speaking with a few attorneys, make sure you feel comfortable with how they present themselves to you and how you believe they will present to adversary attorneys, judges and juries before deciding who you want to hire.  Your claim depends on it.

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