Explore the decision to pursue financial gain through personal injury claims. Weigh the impact on your life with insightful perspectives.
Most people have at least a general idea of how personal injury claims work. If some entity or individual harms you, or you believe they harmed you, you can hire a lawyer who will represent you in court. Then, you try to convince a jury that this person or entity owes you money because of something they did or didn’t do.
You must think about statutes of limitations if you want to file a personal injury lawsuit. These statutes vary from state to state. For instance, in Missouri, you must file injury claims within five years. If you don’t file the lawsuit within this designated period, then you will not get the money you want, and you must accept that since you’ll have no other legal recourse.
Some people might feel like filing a personal injury lawsuit makes perfect sense if someone harms them. However, they may not necessarily take into account all of the effort and time that goes into these cases.
We’ll discuss that in detail right now. The drawbacks you must consider when filing one of these lawsuits might make you think twice before moving forward.
Under What Circumstances Can You File a Personal Injury Claim?
First, let’s make sure you understand when you can bring a personal injury claim and what goes into it. Technically, you can hire a lawyer and file a personal injury lawsuit any time you like, for any reason. However, your attorney will probably tell you whether they think you have a case or not. If they feel that you don’t, they likely won’t represent you. They will think it’s a waste of time.
Even then, you can still file a personal injury lawsuit without a lawyer. If you do this, though, there’s little chance you’ll win. If you don’t know the law and all its facets, the suit will probably never advance to the point where you will collect any money. It’s likely you will make a mistake along the way since you don’t know the law very well.
Common Reasons Why You Might File a Personal Injury Claim
You can bring a personal injury suit if you hurt yourself on someone else’s property and you feel that you did that because they didn’t maintain the premises as well as they should have. You can do this whether you hurt yourself on a business’s premises or in someone’s house.
You can bring a personal injury suit if a doctor harms you. The courts generally consider this medical malpractice. In these instances, you must establish that the doctor or medical professional did not meet the established standard of care.
You might file a personal injury lawsuit if someone’s dog bites you. You can file one if a product harms you. In that case, you would sue the company. A slip-and-fall inside a store or on the sidewalk outside might bring on a lawsuit of this nature.
These are some common personal injury lawsuits, but you can probably think of many more if you try.
Some Ways a Personal Injury Lawsuit Can Disrupt Your Life
Maybe one of these things occurred, and you feel you deserve some money. Before moving forward, though, you should consider the following:.
If you decide to move forward with a personal injury lawsuit, that will take up a great deal of your time. There’s simply no avoiding this. If you hire a skilled and competent attorney, they can handle some of the legwork, but there’s plenty you must do as well.
You will need to produce medical documents that indicate that the person or entity that you’re suing harmed you. You must also figure out whether anyone saw the incident that injured you. You must produce these witnesses in court if the case goes to trial. This happens if the individual or entity you’re suing won’t settle.
You will probably need to skip work for court appearances. You might also feel nervous or anxious when you’re in court. Maybe you’re the unflappable sort, but most people feel anxiety if the person they’re suing glares daggers at them in the courtroom.
You may have to take the stand and describe what happened. If something traumatic caused your injury, you might not like talking about it with people listening. You must do this to win your case, though. The defendant’s attorney might also ask you questions. This cross-examination probably won’t feel very fun.
How Can You Decide Whether Pursuing a Personal Injury Lawsuit Makes Sense?
You will give up your time and energy if you pursue a personal injury lawsuit, but occasions might come up when you feel you must act. When this happens, it’s usually because the person or entity that harmed you caused you distress, and you feel you must make things right, no matter what.
Your sense of injustice might make you feel like you must move forward. You want the person or entity that harmed you in court to admit their wrongdoing. Failing that, you at least want financial compensation.
Maybe you spent money if some person or entity harmed you. You had doctor’s appointments your insurance didn’t cover, or perhaps it didn’t cover the whole expense. You paid something out of pocket, and you feel that’s not right. Maybe you paid hundreds of dollars or even thousands.
If you had surgery after the accident or incident, maybe you’re in the hole for tens of thousands of dollars or more. In these situations, you may feel you must sue the person or entity who you think harmed you, regardless of the consequences. You’re in a financial position where you must act, and just accepting what happened isn’t a viable option.
Personal injury lawsuits aren’t enjoyable, but you may feel they’re necessary sometimes. If you crave justice or you’ve spent lots of money, you may not care how much time or energy the trial takes. You will move forward and pursue the matter to the end.
