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by KABB
Personal injury accidents are common in the United States, leading to more than 31 million emergency room visits and 90,000 deaths every year, according to San Antonio law firm Carabin Shaw.
After a serious accident, the most important thing is to focus on your health, including getting immediate medical treatment if necessary. When someone else is at fault in the accident, you should also gather as much information as possible about the person or company, including insurance information, and about the accident itself.
A qualified personal injury attorney can speed up this process and make sure the right people pay for your medical bills, work loss, and pain and suffering.
Do you have a case?
The first step in any personal injury case is to determine if the circumstances of your accident qualify you for monetary compensation. An attorney can evaluate your accident and determine if your case might have success. The four common requirements in every case are as follows, according to Carabin Shaw:
1. Establishing the duty to exercise reasonable care: This means determining what precautions a reasonable person would normally take to prevent causing injury. For example, placing a wet floor sign near a recently mopped floor in a grocery store would constitute taking reasonable care.
2. Identifying negligence: This involves pinpointing what reasonable care a person or business did not provide in your case.
3. Proving causation: Your attorney will work to prove how negligence caused your injury. In the case of a freshly mopped floor without a caution sign, the store’s negligence caused the fall.
4. Assessing damages: This involves showing evidence that the accident caused you to suffer losses — financially, in pain and suffering, or both.
Understanding the statute of limitations
Once you’ve determined whether you have a case, filing your lawsuit without delay is important. All civil cases have statutes of limitations and, once you are past the designated time allowed, you may not file a lawsuit, regardless of how valid your claim is. In Texas, the statute of limitations for injury to a person is two years, according to FindLaw.
“Settling a personal injury claim can be time-consuming,” according to FindLaw. “If you fail to file your claim in a timely manner, you may find yourself denied from collecting any sort of compensation. If this period expires, you may be barred from ever suing to recover for your injuries."
The two-year limitation refers to how long you have to file the claim, not how long you have to resolve it.
Gathering evidence
Gathering evidence is essential to prove your claim, so collect it as soon as possible following an accident by taking pictures, recording witness statements, and getting copies of police reports if available.
You will also need to gather and organize evidence in the long-term by keeping track of medical expenses, including immediate and ongoing treatment and rehabilitation costs. Other important evidence might include days you have to take off work because of your injury, lost wages, loss of future income, and emotional pain and suffering. Claims involving a wrongful death should also take into account funeral and burial expenses and loss of companionship.
Hiring a knowledgeable personal injury attorney is the best way to make a successful claim. Carabin Shaw has helped its clients recover over $1 billion. Visit online or call 800-862-1260 to schedule a free consultation to discuss your case.
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