When you suffer an injury that is not your fault or on your property, you likely know you should act quickly to receive compensation for medical treatments and other financial burdens associated with your injury. At Jordan Law Center, our experienced personal injury lawyers can help you with your personal injury claim.
What Is a Personal Injury Claim?
A personal injury claim is the process you go through after suffering an injury from a motor vehicle, workplace, or other accident. Tort law allows you to recover damages or financial losses you incur as a result of injury. These may include medical bills, pain and suffering, vocational rehabilitation, lost wages, and other expenses.
You typically need to file a claim with the insurance company that services the individual or business that contributed to your accident. You may receive a settlement offer and begin a negotiation to recover damages.
However, you may need to file a formal civil lawsuit against the person, business, government entity, or another defendant if the compensation is inadequate.
Types of Personal Injury Claims
As you seek personal injury advice, it is important to understand the types of personal injury claims and which category best fits your case. The seven major types of claims include motor vehicle accidents, wrongful death, medical malpractice, product liability, premises liability, animal bites, and workplace injuries. However, many other types of cases fall under personal injury, including burns, food poisoning, boating incidents, asbestos exposure, assault and battery, and dram shop cases, among others.
These major personal injury case types can include subcategories. For example, a motor vehicle injury case may involve motorcycle, auto, trucking, rideshare, cyclist, or pedestrian accidents. In addition, medical malpractice incidents may include surgical errors, improper prescription, misdiagnose, or failure to diagnose, while product liability cases may involve a design or manufacturing defect and a lack of or inadequate warnings.
Tips on How To Win Your Personal Injury Claim
While you should seek personal injury advice on how these types of cases work, several factors can help you receive a positive outcome in your case.
Understand how personal injury claims work
Learn about the process and requirements so that you can build an effective case. For example, most cases have three main factors you need to prove to win your case:
- You received an injury
- Your injury was the result of someone else’s actions or lack of actions
- The defendant could have prevented your injury in some way and was responsible for doing so
Do not talk to insurance adjusters
One of the best pieces of personal injury advice we offer is not to speak with the insurance company. These companies are for-profit businesses that seek to reduce their costs in whatever way they can. They will likely give you an initial offer and try to convince you to accept it so they can avoid larger payouts.
Get medical treatment
In many cases, these types of injuries cause your adrenaline to spike, which can mask potential injuries. You may feel fine, but pain and damage can appear over a few days or weeks. In addition, some injuries can become worse as time goes on. Therefore, seek medical treatment as soon as possible.
You need a diagnosis and treatment immediately. In addition, you need your physician to document all injuries, their severity, and potential complications. Follow your physician’s instructions exactly.
Avoid social media
Everything you put on social media becomes public knowledge, and the defendant and his or her insurance company will check these sites for evidence to support their case. Avoid talking about your injury online, and never say you are fine. Also, do not speak about your legal case at all.
Gather the right types of evidence
The evidence you gather can make a significant difference in whether you win or lose or how much you recover during your personal injury case. Therefore, take photos at the scene if you can. If you cannot do so right away, include general photos of the overall scene and more detailed images of the cause of your injury and the injury itself.
You should also gather statements and contact information from any witnesses. If you can get it in writing or on video, this is even stronger evidence. Ask for any CCTV footage of the incident. You should also collect any incident reports, such as worker’s compensation filings or police reports.
Ask your physician for any medical bills, treatment plans, medical records, and notes about your injury. Include documents that prove you have followed your doctor’s treatment plan.
Finally, gather your pay slips. You need these to prove that you lost income as a result of your incident.
Pay attention to statutes of limitations and deadlines
In most cases, the statute of limitations for filing a personal injury claim is three years, as it is in South Carolina.
However, once your claim gets started, you may have other deadlines you need to meet, particularly if you file a lawsuit. Therefore, make sure you understand the deadlines in your case and be proactive in making sure you meet them.
Prepare for a long battle
You need patience during personal injury cases. It can take months or years to get to a final settlement or court decision on your case. At times, the defendant or insurance company will drag the process out, hoping you get tired of waiting and overwhelmed with paying your medical bills so you will settle for less than your case is worth.
Receive Personal Injury Advice From an Experienced Attorney at Jordan Law Center
One of the most important things you can do if you are injured is seek out experienced personal injury lawyers. Our attorneys at Jordan Law Center can not only provide you with valuable personal injury advice, but they can also walk you through the process and fight on your behalf. If you have been injured, don’t wait another day to contact us.
