Risks Associated With Delayed Response To Discovery of Personal Injury Claim

Not everyone that has been injured can file a personal injury claim. Those that have the legal right to take that action have been injured by someone that committed a careless and neglectful act. That negligent act placed the person that performed it in the group of those men and women that must appeal for help to their insurance company.

An insurance company provides legal support to a policy owner that has become the target of a personal injury claim. That legal support serves to watch for any evidence that the claimant has failed to file the claim on time. Normally, that means submitting the file to the court no more than 2 years after a given injury has been discovered.

What is the reason for the limited amount of time in which to come forward with a charge?

The legal system does not want an injured victim to start taking actions long before the defendant becomes aware of the fact that the defendant’s actions have harmed the victim/plaintiff. According to the law, any defendant should be provided with sufficient time in which to investigate the veracity of the plaintiff’s charges.

The legal system has even put a name on the limited amount of time that is given to a potential plaintiff in a personal injury case. Personal injury lawyers in Chatham refer to that span of time as a statute of limitations. It has a start date, the date when the injury was discovered. It also has an end date, the deadline for filing a claim at the appropriate courthouse.

What the statute of limitations is not:

It is not an attempt to frighten victims, so that as many as possible elect to hire an attorney. Rather, it attempts to underscore the wisdom behind taking action at an early date, and not delaying the filing of a claim. Victims that delay too long can face serious consequences.

Moreover, it is not an excuse for initiating a frivolous lawsuit. Instead, it provides a victim with the right to make a charge and then prolong negotiations, regarding a fair compensation, until the full effect of the discovered injury has been established.

Unneeded delay disrupts a system that seeks to limit the risks for certain victims.

According to the law, there is a hold on the start date for the statute of limitations, if a child was injured in an accident. Still, a smart parent should not ignore the child’s symptoms. Once that child turns 18, he or she will have only 2 years in which to seek compensation for any complications that developed, as a result of the original injury. So, if a young adult must deal with such complications, then he or she should speak with a personal injury lawyer.