An accident involving the negligence of another always comes at the worst time. More often than not it can either turn a good day into a bad one or just make a bad one worse. There’s really no such thing as a “good” accident and what makes it extra painful to deal with is the fact that you have to go through the effort of getting justifiable compensation for a negative event that wasn’t even your fault.
This is where a personal injury attorney like Dallas Attorney Family Law comes in. They’ll take a look at your case, and with their years-long acquired knowledge, they’ll have the know-how and the confidence to successfully negotiate an award amount that is suitable to the scope of your accident. However, just like the timing of your accident, timing is everything when you file and you don’t want to drag your feet when it comes to getting a personal injury case going. After all if you wait too long you might now have one at all; that or the case you manage to start won’t have a decent compensation award. Below are different facets that determine how long you have to file a case:
General rule: An argument that an opposing lawyer or insurance adjuster will always try to capitalize on is the idea that if someone waits too long to file or get treated for their injury, then surely the injury wasn’t serious enough to the client and therefore a lesser sum should be awarded. How can one justify a larger sum when apparently the client has all the time in the world to file or treat at their leisure?
Type of case: Different cases have different statutes of limitations. These are the limits of time after an accident or act of negligence (reasonably) you have until you can no longer file a case against it. There are cases like that of basic car crash that have less time and there are cases like a medical malpractice case where you can have up to 10 years to file. These limits can also vary state to state.
Scale of injury: Some injuries take years to develop and won’t be discovered until then. The courts take this into account and allow for extra time to file for a case involving the applicable injury.
Age of victim: Also as a general rule, minors are given additional time to file outside the general limit given to adults.
