Important Steps You Should Not Skip When Filing A Personal Injury Claim
Dealing with an injury is stressful as it is, add the stress of dealing with an injury claim on top of that, and it’s pretty easy for anyone to get overwhelmed by it. Dealing with the expenses caused by the accident by yourself should be a big no if the injury is caused by someone else. The only reasonable thing to do is file a personal injury claim against the party at fault, whether it’s an insurance company, your workplace, or an individual.
The steps to filing a personal injury lawsuit are pretty simple. However, no matter how desperate you are to get compensation to deal with your finances, you should make sure to cover every step if you don’t want to miss out on proper payment. Missing certain steps, or even making errors can cause you a huge part of your compensation, and make your case even more complicated. Here are some important steps you should not skip when filing a personal injury claim.
1. Report Your Injury Asap
If you get injured in your workplace, it’s imperative that you report the accident or injury to your superior as soon as possible. Reporting your injury on time will ensure that you have a witness of your injury, or the intensity of your injuries when it comes to proving your claim. Moreover, reporting your injury will also ensure you have proper evidence when you’re building your personal injury case.
2. Get Medical Attention
It is extremely important that you get medical attention as soon as possible after you’ve been in an accident, even if you think you don’t have any injuries. Many accidents result in injuries that are internal and don’t show symptoms until after it’s been too long. At that point, it is too late to treat those injuries, resulting in a more complicated medical problem. It is therefore important to get your injuries looked at right after an accident.
Getting medical attention should be your first priority before anything else. Once you’ve been provided with immediate medical care, you should also follow through on the doctor’s orders, whether they’re for rest, follow-up appointments, medications, or recovery treatments. Physical therapy is also pretty important once your injuries have healed.
3. Calculate All Expenses
Once you’ve obtained the necessary medical treatment, and follow-up recovery sessions, it’s time to calculate your expenses. Post-injury expenses can include ambulance charges, hospital bills, medication bills, post-treatment therapy charges, and even the lost wages due to the workdays you’ve missed. All of these expenses will add up to a good amount that you should then seek to obtain from the party at fault, or from your insurance company.
4. Collect Evidence
A personal injury claim requires you to provide sufficient evidence for two purposes. First, you need evidence to prove fault. This can be done through witness statements, pictures, videos, security camera footage, etc. Secondly, you will need to prove the extent of your injuries, and how much financial loss it cost you. This will include all the expenses that you previously calculated. For this purpose, you will need to obtain your medical records, any police statements, if applicable, and official leave of absence statement from your office.
5. File The Claim Asap
The biggest mistake most people make during personal injury claims is that they take action too late. Although laws regarding this vary from state to state, many states have a time limit on how long after an injury you can file the claim. For example, there are limitations for filing a personal injury case in Maryland under three years. Similarly, an El Dorado Hills personal injury attorney explains why it’s important to file a personal injury claim as soon as possible so as to not disregard the medical records. The more you’ll wait to claim an injury case, the less leverage you’ll have.
6. Mention Injury Details
One thing you must keep in mind when filing a personal injury claim, or even any other compensation claim, is that injury details can make a huge difference in the compensation you receive. So, when providing your injury details, it’s important that you explain each injury in detail, without leaving anything out. You should even mention any pain or soreness you might feel. However, be sure to not exaggerate any details, otherwise, that could complicate your case later on.
Personal injury claims are straightforward if you follow the rules to the dot. However, you should ensure that you don’t miss any steps in between the process, otherwise, the value of your compensation can decrease significantly.
