The actions you take in the hours and days after an accident can make all the difference in how much you can get paid in the end.
Every year millions of people suffer wrongful injuries and never receive the compensation they deserve. Don’t be one of them!
If you’re filing a personal injury case, many things can affect the outcome. Read on to learn how to handle your claim.
How to Handle a Personal Injury Case
What makes for a successful personal injury claim? First things first: you must make sure the accident qualifies as a personal injury case.
According to the American Bar Association, a personal injury case must include both liability and damages. It doesn’t matter whether the incident was purposeful or accidental; it must be someone else’s fault, and someone must suffer injuries.
Personal injury case examples include:
- Car accidents
- Slip-and-falls
- Dog bites
- Medical malpractice
Once you establish that you were, in fact, on the unfortunate end of a personal injury case, it’s time to make sure you take the right steps to have a successful claim.
After that rear-end car accident or grocery store slip-and-fall, make sure to follow this personal injury case checklist.
1) Seek Medical Attention
It’s critical that immediately following an accident, you seek medical attention. Even if you don’t “feel” injured, your body may be experiencing the trauma of the injury, including chemicals like adrenaline that can numb you from pain.
Immediate medical attention also ensures you took responsibility after the accident, which establishes that you did not wait until after the fact. You want to avoid coming across as an opportunist.
So, see a doctor and get the requisite scans and assessments to make sure that you’re not seriously injured and to have a record if you are.
2) Record Everything
If at all possible, record as much as you can. If you were in an accident, try and take pictures of the scene and, as nasty as it sounds, of your wounds.
File a police report, or retrieve one from your local substation. Police reports often contain important details about the accident, including eyewitness accounts.
Part of the battle with personal injury cases is establishing who’s at fault. So gather as much evidence that you can so you can bolster your case.
3) Contact a Lawyer
As soon as you’re able, contact a personal injury lawyer, but no one else. Don’t communicate with the opposing party.
There is too much room for hearsay, and you don’t want to introduce any doubt into your case.
On that note, don’t post anything on social media either. Posting pictures from your accident may compromise your case in many ways, so keep the hospital selfies to yourself!
Don’t Wait
Finally, don’t wait to file your injury claim. The types of personal injury cases that win always get filed no more than two years from the incident.
So lawyer up and get going on your personal injury case.
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