Three Tips for Filing a Personal Injury Claim
When it comes to a personal injury claim, you may start out feeling overwhelmed with the process. You probably feel like you just want to get what you are entitled to but may have to fight tooth and nail to get it.
Personal injury case filings rose by 97% in 2020 compared to the previous year.
If you find yourself needing to file this, here are three tips to smooth out the personal injury claim process.
Table of Contents
1. Document Everything
In a court of law, your case tends to be stronger when you have more evidence to support your side of the story. One way you can build evidence in your favor is to have as many documents supporting your case as possible.
This can be things such as filing a police report, medical records from a doctor or hospital visits, bills from physical therapy, or copies of prescription medication from the result of your injury.
If you are missing work because of this injury, then past pay stubs for how much you made before you got hurt could also give the court a better idea of what you are entitled to.
2. Pay Attention to Statute of Limitations
The next thing that you need to know is that if you want to file a personal injury claim, you may only have a limited time to do so. What that time limit is depends on your jurisdiction and what type of accident you had.
Let’s use Illinois as an example. In this state, you have 45 days to report an injury to an employer to be eligible for workers’ compensation. Then, you have three years after the date of injury to challenge those benefits for work related injuries.
Be aware of those deadlines if you are on the fence about filing a personal injury case. If you do not know if you have a legitimate case, do this research anyway to have an idea of how much time you have to figure the rest of it out.
3. Seek Legal Counsel
You should hire a personal injury attorney if you are serious about filing a claim because there are lawyers who specialize in these types of claims. They are professional and tend to have years of experience dealing with these cases.
A personal injury lawyer would be able to tell you if you have a case at all, how much money you could get from the case, and establish the barrier of proof needed to win the case. Lawyers also help you to not be intimidated by large companies or insurance companies to settle or drop the case.
Besides all of this, they can offer a third party and neutral perspective for how strong your case is rather than giving in to personal bias.
File a Personal Injury Claim
After reading these tips, if you feel your case is strong enough to file a personal injury claim, follow this advice to get the best and fastest results possible. Get professional help while having the proper documents and start the process sooner rather than later.
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