After being seriously injured due to someone else’s negligence, recklessness, or intentional malice, the first thing you may wonder is how you are going to be compensated for your damages. Why should you be expected to pay for repairs and medical bills, and lose out on your regular wages, if someone else is liable for what happened? To pursue maximized compensation, you are going to want to file a personal injury claim.
To maximize the likelihood of your claim being successful, you are going to want to avoid these 6 common mistakes:
- Leaving quickly: If you can manage it without jeopardizing your health, stay at the scene of the accident and collect useful evidence for as long as possible. From car accidents to defective products, the evidence, photographs, and testimonials you gather right at the time of the accident often proves most useful in court.
- Refusing or delaying medical attention: Even if you feel 100% fine after being in an accident, consider seeing your physician as soon as possible to get a medical checkup. Your doctor could discover underlying injuries that produce no immediate pain or disabilities. Additionally, your doctor will provide a medical report that you can use as part of your evidence.
- Delaying your claim: Most accidents in Texas trigger a two-year statute of limitations, which means once two years have passed since the day the injury occurred or was discovered legal action cannot be taken. Once you are confident you have a claim and know who is liable, you should start taking proactive steps to pursue the claim.
- Discarding documents: For as long as your personal injury claim is open, you should avoid tossing out anything that could be related to the claim. Notes from your doctor after checkups, prescriptions for medicines or painkillers, auto shop bills, and so on are all part of your claim now, so keep them organized and where you can find them
- Taking initial offers: Insurance companies want to give you as little as possible once they realize that their customer is to blame for your injuries. Try not to take it personally, it’s likely just business to them. When you are offered an initial settlement, it is more than likely not enough to fully compensate you.
- Going through it alone: Consider hiring a lawyer as soon as possible. From knowing the necessary paperwork for your claim to negotiating skillfully with insurers, your attorney can act as the frontline, middleman, and backup throughout your case, leaving you the opportunity to recover and rest assured that you and your loved ones are in capable hands.
Simpson, Beeton, Shabot & McConnell can provide you with the trusted and highly-experienced advocacy you would expect for your claim. Contact our Galveston personal injury attorneys today to learn about your rights, what the value of your claim might be worth, and where to begin, all during a free case evaluation.
