subject: Filing A Personal Injury Lawsuit [print this page] Be aware that not every injury is grounds for a lawsuit. Your personal injury attorney will listen to your account of what happened, review your case carefully, and determine whether or not you have grounds to sue.
If you decide to go ahead with a lawsuit, your attorney should handle all the legal proceedings and keep you informed every step of the way.
You can file a lawsuit by yourself, but having an attorney is better, because trying to navigate the legal system without any expertise is very difficult.
Before filing, know that there is a statute of limitations that is different in every state that determines the length of time you have to file a lawsuit after sustaining an injury. In almost all states, your injury must be relatively recent.
In some states it is as short as 30 days, and in other states you have up to several years. However, you should file a suit as close to the date of your injury as possible to make your case more credible in the judge's eyes.
Additionally, for a personal injury attorney to file a suit on your behalf, you have to have both a valid claim and legal standing. The suit that you're bringing must be a reasonable grievance and be addressing an incident which was the clear fault of another person or party.
To have standing in a personal injury suit, you must have sustained a true injury. An attorney can easily determine whether you have a valid claim and the standing to merit personal injury a lawsuit.
Damages in personal injury cases come in two varieties -- compensatory and punitive. With the counsel of your attorney, you should be able to get an estimate on what monetary damages should be appropriate given the lost earnings, disfigurement, economic damages, or garnished wages you've suffered as a result of your injury.
Be aware that your attorney may ask for more money than seems reasonable upfront. This is for a potential plea bargaining that amounts down to a reasonable settlement or otherwise leveraging the defendant's fear to come up with a higher dollar amount for you.
Compensatory damages comprise everything from embarrassment to property destroyed in an accident to medical bills resulting from the injury. Punitive damages are put forward by the court to punish the defendant for negligence or carelessness.
In cases involving malicious intent or wanton and reckless flouting of the law, punitive damages may outweigh even hefty compensatory damage packages. But even if your personal injury attorney gets you a high settlement, it may take a while before you see actually money in your bank.
Your attorney may have to battle again for your rights in appellate court, and even if your motions survive appellate challenges, you likely won't get all the money at once. In cases involving corporations or lawsuits revolving around multiple plaintiffs and defendants, it may be years before you see damages.
This means you may receive the money in a structured settlement, not a lump sum. This is an arrangement which pays out cash to you according to a yearly basis.
You may be awarded damages even if you are partially negligent for the accident. For instance, if you've been injured in a motor vehicle wreck and both you and the other driver are partially responsible for the incident, you still may be entitled to a percentage of overall damages.
Be aware, however, that you or your insurance company may have to pay out damages to the other driver. A personal injury attorney familiar with the laws of your state and with the legal precedents associated with your type of personal injury should be able to give you a ballpark figure of what to expect in the way of damages and when to expect the payout.
by: Terry Daniels
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