Filing A Personal Injury Claim: 3 Facts You Need To Know

10 February 2015
 Categories: Law, Blog


If you are seriously injured as the result of an accident, you may be able to collect compensation for your injuries by filing a personal injury claim. However, you should know that not all accidents will result in a viable injury claim. Taking the time to review the three facts outlined below can help you to determine whether or not your accident claim has what it takes to stand up in court.

Fact #1: Not All Accidents Result In Legal Liability

All people make mistakes, it is simply a fact of life. In some cases, a tragic accident truly will be nothing more than an accident. However, in other cases, these accidents could have easily been prevented if a single person or company had acted in a careful manner. It is these cases that will qualify for compensation under current personal injury laws.

In order to collect compensation after an accident, you must prove that someone else is legally liable for causing your accident. Under the laws that govern personal injury cases, legal liability is only assigned to individuals who act in a negligent or incompetent manner, and whose negligent actions are to blame for causing an accident.

When determining whether or not legal liability is present in your case, take the time to ask yourself who is to blame for causing your accident and what actions did they take or not take that caused your accident.

Fact #2: You Must Lose Money To Collect Money In A Personal Injury Case

Personal injury laws require you to site damages when filing a personal injury lawsuit. These damages should include expenses such as medical bills, lost wages, and property damages. If no damages were suffered as a result of your accident, you will not be able to collect compensation for your injuries even if the other party is ruled legally liable for causing the accident.

In order to determine what damages exist in your case, simply ask yourself what expenses you have incurred that would not have been present if you had never been in an accident.

Fact #3: All Personal Injury Cases Come With A Time Limit

All personal injury cases will have a statute of limitations attached to them that determines exactly how long you have from the date of your accident to file a claim. The length of this court mandated time limit will be vary from state to state and case to case. In some cases, you will have as little as one year to settle or file your claim, while other cases may be allowed as long as three years to file.

If you allow the statute of limitations on your case to expire, you will no longer have the legal right to file a claim. Contacting a reputable injury lawyer in your local area will allow you to identify how long you have to file your claim and help you to ensure this deadline does not pass you by.


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