Statute Of Limitations In Personal Injury Law - How Complex Timelines Can Benefit Victims
When someone is injured due to the negligent or intentional behavior of another person or party, the victim and his or her family may be able to pursue financial compensation.
This is done by a personal injury lawyer who works to settle out of court with the responsible party, or who delivers the case in court, generally in a jury trial.
The compensation pursued and often recovered is based on physical and emotional injury, or death, and addresses a broad range of objective and subjective damages.
However, if the lawsuit is not filed by a personal injury lawyer within a certain amount of time after the injury occurs, the victim may have lost forever the opportunity to pursue compensation for their damages.
This clause, known as a "statute of limitations," states that victims who do not file lawsuits within a certain length of time waive their right to do so entirely.
The statue of limitations is often cause for confusion on the part of accident and injury victims.
If a statute of limitations were simple and straightforward, it would not confuse so many people.
However, it would also be unfair.
Indeed, the complications and qualifications within the law are intended to ensure that all injured people have a fair shot at getting their voices heard.
For example, imagine that a universal statute of limitations required all injury lawsuits to be entered within 18 months of the incident that caused the injury, with no exceptions.
What would happen if a medical mistake led to progressive illness that was not discovered until 2 years after the incident? Or what if a sexually abused child did not come forward about the abuse until adolescence or adulthood? Because of these and many other complex scenarios, the statute of limitations differs for different situations.
To start off with, more serious crimes tend to have a longer statute of limitation.
So victims of petty burglary will not have as long to file a case as will victims of a serious car accident or devastating work-related injury.
Next, the time at which the proverbial limitation clock 'starts ticking,' if you will, also depends on the situation.
After obvious wrongs, such as a vehicular collision that causes paralysis or a defective product that burns a house down, the statute of limitations begins at the time of the incident itself.
But, as in the earlier example of medical malpractice that is not apparent until two years later, the statute of limitations starts accruing at the time of discovery, not at the time of the malpractice itself.
Then, there are instances in which the statute of limitations is "tolled," or paused, until the pursuit of legal action is again possible.
One example is either party in the suit being out of the country on military duty.
The clock essentially pauses until resuming with the person returns.
Another case of tolling would be if the personal injury lawyer is himself injured in an accident that prevents them from filing the suit in time.
Tolling also applies when the injured person is a minor; the statute of limitations then begins when they turn 18 and runs its regular course from then on.
Despite these general trends, the statute of limitations varies in each state.
Therefore, if you have been injured in Tallahassee, you would want to contact a Florida law firm, while in Davenport, IA, a Quad Cites Injury Lawyer would be most helpful.
But the best thing an injured person can do is to contact an attorney as soon as you realize there is a problem.
If you are proactive in this regard, you stand the greatest chance of filing on time and recovering and compensation to which you may be entitled, but would miss if you waited too long.
(NOTE: The content in the article shown above may be linked and circulated freely on web sites, as long as ALL article content, links, author and copyright information remain UNCHANGED in any way whatsoever.
)
This is done by a personal injury lawyer who works to settle out of court with the responsible party, or who delivers the case in court, generally in a jury trial.
The compensation pursued and often recovered is based on physical and emotional injury, or death, and addresses a broad range of objective and subjective damages.
However, if the lawsuit is not filed by a personal injury lawyer within a certain amount of time after the injury occurs, the victim may have lost forever the opportunity to pursue compensation for their damages.
This clause, known as a "statute of limitations," states that victims who do not file lawsuits within a certain length of time waive their right to do so entirely.
The statue of limitations is often cause for confusion on the part of accident and injury victims.
If a statute of limitations were simple and straightforward, it would not confuse so many people.
However, it would also be unfair.
Indeed, the complications and qualifications within the law are intended to ensure that all injured people have a fair shot at getting their voices heard.
For example, imagine that a universal statute of limitations required all injury lawsuits to be entered within 18 months of the incident that caused the injury, with no exceptions.
What would happen if a medical mistake led to progressive illness that was not discovered until 2 years after the incident? Or what if a sexually abused child did not come forward about the abuse until adolescence or adulthood? Because of these and many other complex scenarios, the statute of limitations differs for different situations.
To start off with, more serious crimes tend to have a longer statute of limitation.
So victims of petty burglary will not have as long to file a case as will victims of a serious car accident or devastating work-related injury.
Next, the time at which the proverbial limitation clock 'starts ticking,' if you will, also depends on the situation.
After obvious wrongs, such as a vehicular collision that causes paralysis or a defective product that burns a house down, the statute of limitations begins at the time of the incident itself.
But, as in the earlier example of medical malpractice that is not apparent until two years later, the statute of limitations starts accruing at the time of discovery, not at the time of the malpractice itself.
Then, there are instances in which the statute of limitations is "tolled," or paused, until the pursuit of legal action is again possible.
One example is either party in the suit being out of the country on military duty.
The clock essentially pauses until resuming with the person returns.
Another case of tolling would be if the personal injury lawyer is himself injured in an accident that prevents them from filing the suit in time.
Tolling also applies when the injured person is a minor; the statute of limitations then begins when they turn 18 and runs its regular course from then on.
Despite these general trends, the statute of limitations varies in each state.
Therefore, if you have been injured in Tallahassee, you would want to contact a Florida law firm, while in Davenport, IA, a Quad Cites Injury Lawyer would be most helpful.
But the best thing an injured person can do is to contact an attorney as soon as you realize there is a problem.
If you are proactive in this regard, you stand the greatest chance of filing on time and recovering and compensation to which you may be entitled, but would miss if you waited too long.
(NOTE: The content in the article shown above may be linked and circulated freely on web sites, as long as ALL article content, links, author and copyright information remain UNCHANGED in any way whatsoever.
)
