When you are seriously injured falling on a defective municipal/city sidewalk in New Haven, Connecticut you have so many questions.  Do you speak to the insurance company of the city?  How do you investigate the accident?  Who will interview the witnesses?  How are all of your bills going to be paid?  Don't delay in getting the answers you need.  Call us today.

One of the many reasons why clients settle a case prior to the jury deliberated and rendering a verdict is due to the uncertainty of what a jury might decide. Before a jury determines what facts have been proven that the various parties and then applying the law to those facts they must be first "charged" by the trial court judge. Jury charges instruct the jurors on how to apply the law of the State of Connecticut to the facts they have found to exist. One of the charges a judge might give would address the issue of the defective sidewalk and be:

Municipal Sidewalk (Road, Bridge) Defect - § 13a-149.  There is a statute that provides that a person who was injured by means of a defective sidewalk may recover damages from the party bound to keep it in repair. In making a claim under this statute, the plaintiff must prove all of the following elements by a fair preponderance of the evidence: 1. that (he/she) gave the required statutory notice of injury; 2. that the sidewalk where the injury occurred was one that the (city/town/borough) and not some other person or entity had a duty to maintain or repair; 3, that there was a defect in the sidewalk; 4. that the city had notice of the defect; 5. that the city failed to exercise reasonable care to remedy said defect; and  6. that the defect was the sole proximate cause of the plaintiff's injuries; that is, no other cause was a substantial factor in causing (his/her) injuries.  In order to be entitled to compensation from the defendant, the plaintiff must prove each and every one of these elements.  If (he/she) has failed to prove any one of them, then (he/she) has failed to prove (his/her) claim.

Do not retain an attorney, say anything to anyone from the insurance company or sign any type of documents until you read a copy of our FREE book "The Crash Course on Personal Injury Cases in Connecticut". Learn what you need to do and how an injury case is developed and put together. Learn how cases are evaluated and what insurance adjusters look for before making offers of money or the injured party. Call us at (888) 244-5480, visit us at www.hcwlaw.com and tell us about your case. We'll call you and answer your questions. Get the answers you need today!