7 Tips for Winning Your Personal Injury Case: So the worst has happened: you’ve suffered an injury that wasn’t your fault and you want to claim the compensation that you’re due. This isn’t a rare scenario: according to CDC statistics, just under 40 million people suffer accidental or unintentional injuries each year.
If you’re interested in filing a personal injury case, you need to know the basics of personal injury law. These can help you win your claim and get compensation to cover medical bills and more.
Read on and learn more about what you need to do to file a successful personal injury claim. Let’s get started!
1. Understanding the Statute of Limitations
You can’t keep your personal injury claim on ice forever. States have a statute of limitations: this is a period of time where you can still make a personal injury claim, starting on the date of your injury. In some states, this is as low as one year and the longest personal injury statute of limitations is six years.
Research the statute of limitations for personal injury claims in your state, and make sure that you file before it’s up. In general, it’s best to start your claim as soon as possible.
2. Collate Evidence
Evidence is vital, whether or not your case actually goes to court. You should take pictures of your accident site if possible, as well as your injury, and any medical treatments that you’ve had to undergo to treat your injury.
If there were witnesses to your accident, you can ask them whether they would be willing to make a statement for you. If there was a surveillance camera in operation near the accident site, you can ask for footage of the accident.
Collect all of your evidence and keep it secure. If it’s paper evidence, make copies and keep them secure too. If the evidence is digital, you should upload it to secure cloud storage.
3. Seek Medical Treatment
Many of us don’t go to a doctor when we’re in pain. We often leave it and see if it gets better of its own accord. If you want to maximize your chances of winning a personal injury suit, you need to see a medical professional.
If you claim that you are in pain and suffered an injury, but haven’t met a doctor yet, the defendant or their lawyer may claim that you weren’t injured or that the pain you had was not that much serious.
Going to a medical professional provides evidence that you suffered an injury.
4. Watch What You Say
Saying the wrong thing about your case can derail your case. If you talk about your injury on social media and play down its severity, these posts could come back to haunt you, as a lawyer may be able to access these posts and argue that your injury wasn’t severe.
It’s best to avoid speaking about your case online if at all possible. It’s far easier to not say anything than it is to moderate your language, and less stressful too.
You should also watch what you say to your insurance company. If you have been involved in an auto accident, and want to make a claim to cover your repair costs, the insurance company will do everything they can to avoid paying out. It’s best to avoid speaking to your insurance company in this instance: ask a lawyer to speak to them for you.
5. Hire a Lawyer
You should hire a personal injury lawyer as soon as you know that you want to make a claim. Personal injury lawyers typically work on contingency, which means that you won’t need to pay anything unless you win.
A lawyer can help you every step of the way. They can help you collect and store evidence using personal injury case management software, they can make sure that you don’t say anything you shouldn’t, and, should your case go to court, they can represent you.
While you don’t need to hire a lawyer to file a claim, and, even if your case goes to court, you don’t necessarily need a lawyer. However, you almost certainly don’t understand the details of personal injury law to the same degree as your lawyer, and you may not know the right strategies to use to win your case.
6. Don’t Feel the Need to Take Their First Offer
In many personal injury cases, the defendant will make an offer in an attempt to avoid going to court. The problem is these first offers are typically very small, or, at the very least, less than you could get if you went to court.
A defendant will normally only make an offer if they don’t think they could win in court. This means that if the initial offer isn’t enough, you shouldn’t feel the need to take it. Stick to your guns and press for more compensation.
7. Be Prepared to Go to Court
The vast majority of personal injury cases are settled pretrial: only four or five percent of such cases go to court. However, you should still be prepared to go to court. if necessary as this may be the only way for you to claim your compensation.
Going to court is nothing to be scared of You’ll have your lawyer by your side at all times and will be able to rely on their expert advice to see you to victory.
Winning Your Personal Injury Case
Making a personal injury claim can be a scary experience, especially if this is your first brush with the legal system. However if you follow these tips, you can keep stress and worry to a minimum while maximizing your chances of winning your personal injury case.
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Different Kinds of Personal Injury Cases. These embody nursing dwelling abuse or neglect; aviation and boating accidents; animal and canine bites; mind, start, burn and spinal wire accidents; different catastrophic accidents and accidents; meals poisoning; asbestos publicity and mesothelioma; authorized malpractice.
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