If the conduct is regarded as being "reckless" the courts are likely to be extra hard on the reckless person. Suppose a normally careful driver, in a hurry to get home after a big party, was really speeding through the streets, and legally "drunk". The driver hits and seriously injures a pedestrian who "accidentally" happens to be crossing the street. In addition to the actual damages the pedestrian sustained, which could include lost wages, medical bills, rehabilitation, payment for any permanent injury as well as pain and suffering, the driver may be responsible for punitive damages in some states if the jury determines the conduct to have been reckless.

Suppose a normally careful driver, while talking on a cell phone, gets momentarily distracted, and piles into the car in front of him. Or a driver "accidentally" is blinded by the sun, and crashes into another car. Although the driver thought he was driving safely, the "accident" injures both a passenger in his own car and a passenger of the car in front.

If the driver was not exercising the standards of care required of a person driving a car, he would be said to be acting "negligently". In that case, the driver (and the driver’s insurance company, to the extent of the policy limits) will be responsible for the damages and injuries the accident caused. What if there is a "Guest Statute" in the few states with a "guest statute" a "guest" can not recover for "simple negligence". The passenger in the driver’s car may be limited to recovering medical bills only, or be wholly out of luck, unless the driver’s conduct was more than "simple negligence". Even in those states, a lawyer can help you assess whether the driver's conduct might be more than simple negligence, permitting recovery against the driver.

First, don’t be so sure that the accident is all your fault. Many accidents result from things people think are their fault but really aren’t. For example, suppose your car suddenly ran off the road on a curve when you were at or near the speed limit? You feel badly as you recognize, with the benefit of hindsight, that you should have slowed down further. Yet if you were driving a Chevrolet Corvair – the car Ralph Nader demonstrated was "Unsafe at Any Speed" – there was a design defect that was responsible for numerous accidents. A lawyer can often help you assess the facts and determine whether it was "all your fault" or someone else at least shares some of the responsibility.
Second, even if the accident was all your fault, it is possible that someone else is responsible for the extent and severity of the resulting injuries. For example, it may have been your fault that you got into an accident with your pickup truck, but because the gas tank was in an unsafe place and broke during impact, it may have turned a minor fender bender into a major catastrophe. Or perhaps your local emergency room sent you home without telling you the danger signs you should be aware of, or perhaps your HMO wouldn’t authorize the tests your doctor felt should have been performed? Again, an attorney can help you evaluate matters.
Third, if anyone else was injured, or any one else’s property was damaged in the accident, you may be fully or partly responsible for the injuries, at least to the extent that they will not be covered by your insurance company. A lawyer can help make sure your insurance company will stand by you, and may be able to help you protect your rights and assets.

If an "accident" is truly "an Act of God", while your own insurance might pay for some of the damage, you can’t try to go after God -- no one has ever been able to bring God into court. However, just because the accident may have been caused by an Act of God" that does not mean that there may not be someone else responsible for the damages that the Act of God created.
For example, in a widely publicized disaster, a group of foreign tourists were visiting Arizona. Their guide, disregarding the advice of natives to the area, led them through a narrow canyon during the rainy season. A rain storm 15 miles away created a flash flood that killed the tourists. While the storm and flash flood were acts of God, it may well be that the guide and his employer probably will be held legally responsible for not exercising due care by permitting the group to tour through the canyon at that time of year. Similarly, if a builder does a shoddy job so that during a typical storm – which of course is another "Act of God" -- the building blows down, the builder may be responsible for the damages resulting.

Other than tobacco companies, few manufacturers set off intentionally to create and sell an inherently dangerous product and conceal its dangers. Yet there are many products that do injure people, despite reputable manufacturer’s efforts to create good products, and all sorts of government regulations designed to make products safe and well labeled.

If you use a knife to slice a bagel, and cut your hand in the process, neither the manufacturer of the knife, nor the bagel bakery, will likely be held responsible. But if the knife snaps and injures you because of a defect in manufacture, the manufacturer and possibly the distributor and the store that sold it to you will be liable. Similarly if the bagel contains impurities that make you very ill, the bakery may be liable.

If the products do not meet the standards set by the government, or if required government clearance of a product (such as a new drug) was obtained by suppressing negative test results, there will clearly be liability on the part of the manufacturer. A product liability lawyer can assess the facts and circumstances, and also candidly evaluate what a likely recovery might be.

In the "wild animal" situation, in most states, no matter what it says on the back of the ticket or the signs on the door say, circus would be "strictly liable" for any injury from wild animals. Of course if you unlocked the lock on the tiger cage, fought off the trainer, and jumped into the tiger cage, that would be a different situation completely as it was your intentional act that put you in danger. And if the tiger ran out of the cage, and injured someone else, the other injured person could recover from both you and the circus because of the "accident".

In the baseball case, the public is presumed to know that foul balls are hit, baseballs are hard, and people who attend baseball games do "assume the risk" in most states. Of course, if the pitcher got mad at the third baseman, threw the ball at him to hurt him, and missed so the ball hit you, the pitcher’s intentional act – although directed to someone else – would enable you to recover actual and punitive damages against him. It’s a bit like the O.J. situation.

An accident or personal injury lawyer can help you.

Many accidents "don't just happen" on their own. They result from someone's carelessness or recklessness, or hazardous conditions, or defective products, or placing you in dangerous circumstances. Very often, accidents cause injury to people, damage property and businesses interests, and create expenses that innocent parties have to pay, for something that was not their fault.
When the person responsible for the "accident" refuses to take full and prompt responsibility for it, and pay you everything you are entitled "to make you whole", very often an accident lawyer's services are essential so that you can recover what the law allows you to recover.
In many cases, a lawyer’s involvement also tends to have the person or firm responsible for the accident take corrective action, so someone else will not be similarly injured in the future. For example if a bus company allowed its drivers to speed, or does not comply with standard safety standards, once a lawyer appears on the scene, the bus company may crack down on speeding, install appropriate safety equipment and properly maintain its busses, thus helping others from being injured in future bus accidents.

No. Where the injury is slight, the damages are very minor, and the circumstances that caused the injury are unlikely to recur, it usually makes sense "to pick yourself up, brush yourself off, and start all over again" - essentially forget about it.
For example, if it is a minor parking lot fender bender, your auto insurancecompany may take care of everything except the deductible, or the other driver's company may do so, and it may not be worth your while to try to get that back, even in Small Claims Court.
But what if the accident is not trivial. You may incur a real injury. You may have major property damage . You may incur large medical fees not covered by your health insurance, have a permanent scar, be unable to play your favorite sport, do your job, or incur other meaningful expenses (check out the article on "whiplash disorder" and injuries, a common occurence in auto accidents). If the matter is not minor, or the circumstances are likely to occur again -- perhaps to someone else, then you should consult with an accident lawyer, at least to have the lawyer assist you to consider your options. If you and the lawyer conclude "you have a case" the lawyer may help you recover for the injuries, expense and damage you sustained, and, at the same time, possibly prevent a similar "accident" from happening to and injuring others.