Personal Injury Lawsuits

Suffering a serious accident not only causes physical pain, but it can have financial and emotional effects as well. Minor accidents don’t cause much concern, but when the incident keeps you from working and enjoying daily activities, you can experience extreme hardship. Medical bills can pile up, too, which causes even more distress. To help relieve stress and burdens, you can file a personal injury lawsuit. It’s best to talk to an experienced lawyer first. Your legal counsel will help you file on time and correctly.

Be Aware of the Statute of Limitations

Like criminal matters and other civil lawsuits, there is a statute of limitations on when you can file a personal injury lawsuit. The timeline varies from state to state to state. In some places, you must file a suit within one year of the incident. Other states allow up to six years for you to file. Whatever the time frame is, you cannot generally exceed it. Make sure you understand the guidelines where you live so you don’t miss out on the opportunity to file.

Extensions

There are situations where you can go beyond the statute of limitations. This is called the discovery period. This provision lets you extend your filing if you didn’t originally know about the injury or that you didn’t know that the defendant’s negligent or deliberate actions caused the injury. For example, you may have been exposed to a hazardous chemical at work a decade ago, but the symptoms didn’t show up until now. If a doctor’s evaluation shows that you have a serious health condition that this chemical caused, you may still be able to file a lawsuit. The new statute of limitations would start from the day you found out about your condition.

Factors in Winning Your Case

Not every personal injury lawsuit gives claimants the result they want. The court will look at the severity of the injury and how much it impacts your daily life. If you are unable, or if the injury significantly diminishes your quality of life, you have a much better chance of winning. Also, if you can prove the other party acted with maliciousness against you and caused your injuries on purpose, you will likely walk away with a fair settlement that you can feel good about.

Don’t put off speaking to a lawyer, like a personal injury lawyer in Philadelphia, PA, if you’ve been hurt in an accident. The sooner you file, the better chance you will have of getting the results you want.

Thank you to the experts at The Wieand Law Firm for their input into personal injury law.