If you are hurt in an accident, you might have serious injuries that hinder your ability to live a normal life. Whether your injuries are expected to quickly heal or totally alter your life forever, you can take legal action to get financial compensation. By filing a personal injury case, you may have the person who caused the accident held responsible.
To begin, you must gather records about the accident and your injuries, including medical records, details from the accident scene, and evidence of financial costs. The degree of pain you are in, your ability to continue working, emotional distress, and the cost of medical care are all important factors to consider when assessing your damages. We need to move quickly to claim these damages, as you have only 3 years to file your case, barring special circumstances.
Receive a free initial case evaluation from our Long Island personal injury lawyers at The Carrion Law Firm by calling (631) 910-7493.
What Records Should You Keep Following an Accident?
After an accident, you must start gathering evidence to help build your case and prove your claims in court. Among this evidence may be various records pertaining to the accident and your injuries.
Certain records may come straight from the accident scene. If you called the police after the accident, they may have investigated, spoken to witnesses, and even uncovered some evidence. The police report is an important record to have for your case, although it is typically inadmissible in court. Instead, our personal injury attorneys may use it to guide us to admissible evidence.
You should have gone to a hospital after getting hurt, and we should obtain copies of those medical records as soon as possible. The sooner you go to the hospital, the more accurate your records may be regarding your injuries. They may also shed light on how much treatment costs, so we can assess your damages.
Accidents tend to be expensive in multiple ways, and we may need various other records of costs. If you have receipts and other proof of expenses, they can help us make sure you get all the compensation you deserve.
Factors That Influence the Value of Your Bellport Personal Injury Case
The value of your case is based on numerous factors about your injuries and costs, and you should speak to an attorney about how to evaluate your claims and maximize your potential compensation.
A major factor in determining the value of your claims is your physical injuries. If your injuries are extremely painful, come with severe or long-term complications, or cause serious disabilities, your claims are likely worth more.
Many injuries interfere with a person’s ability to work. If you are no longer able to work after an accident, you may lose substantial income. The more you lose, the greater your damages should be.
We should also consider how your accident and injuries have affected you emotionally and psychologically. If the accident was a harrowing experience, you might be left with serious psychological trauma. On top of that, painful injuries may lead to a loss of enjoyment of your life or a diminished quality of life.
When You Should File Your Personal Injury Case
Some people take their time when filing a lawsuit, while others get started almost immediately. Whatever the right time might be for you, it is best to begin sooner rather than later.
You might want to take time to carefully prepare your case, but you must abide by the statute of limitations. According to C.V.P. Law § 214, personal injury plaintiffs have 3 years from the date of their accidents to file their claims in court. If you cannot file on time, you might be barred from doing so.
Under limited circumstances, you may have the statute of limitations tolled so that you have additional time to file. One possibility is that you may have the statute tolled for the defendant’s absence from the state under § 207. The time that the defendant is out of the state and beyond the reach of long-arm statutes may not be factored into the limitation period.
Even if we are not worried about the statute of limitations, it is still a good idea to begin early. We need to collect evidence before it disappears. If we do not, witnesses might relocate, physical evidence might become lost, and the case may be more difficult to prove.
How Long Will a Personal Injury Case in Bellport Take?
How long your case takes is hard to predict, as this may depend on multiple factors surrounding the case. Your attorney can help you get an idea of how long you can expect your case to last while also identifying factors that might slow it down or speed it up.
Personal injury cases tend to move more slowly when the facts are more complicated. If there are multiple defendants, and they are all trying to blame each other, it can take more time to get to the bottom of things. Similarly, when evidence is unclear or incomplete, we may need to spend more time investigating.
On the contrary, when evidence is strong and hard to dispute, cases tend to move faster. Defendants might realize they cannot win against the evidence and agree to a settlement. Cases also move faster when the parties are more cooperative. Needlessly bickering over minor details will only delay the case and cost both parties more legal fees.
You may also help speed things up by hiring an attorney sooner rather than later. If you wait too long, your lawyer will have to spend a lot of time familiarizing themselves with facts and evidence that the other side is already well aware of, and the case may move more slowly.
Contact Our Bellport Personal Injury Lawyers Today
Receive a free initial case evaluation from our personal injury lawyers at The Carrion Law Firm by calling (631) 910-7493.