What Are The Different Parts Of An Injury Claim?

If you've been injured in an accident, it's important to take the right steps to ensure that you receive the compensation you're entitled to. Here's each step that you should take.

Seeking Medical Help

The first thing you should do if you've been injured is to get medical help. If you aren't taken to a hospital in an ambulance, get checked out by a doctor that afternoon or the next morning. This is only partly to protect your health.

When you make an injury claim, you need to prove that your injuries happened from a specific accident. The defense will say you got hurt doing something else. For example, if you slip and fall in a store, the store might say you didn't get medical help for weeks because you really got hurt weeks later playing sports. Going to the doctor right away documents when your injury happened.

Notifying the Insurance Company

You also need to notify the insurance company right away. This includes both your insurance company and the other party's insurance company if applicable. Insurance policies often have a specific deadline for filing a claim listed in the fine print.

Notifying the insurance company is a matter of documenting when your injury happened as well as preserving your right to receive insurance money. You can file a personal injury lawsuit, regardless of whether insurance money is available. However, there's a good chance that the other party won't have enough money to pay you without insurance. Get an injury lawyer involved in the insurance claim process to make sure you do everything properly.

Starting Discovery

Once you start the legal process, you're entitled to what's called discovery. This means sharing evidence with the other party. Unlike what you see on TV, there are few surprises in court. You're generally entitled to request relevant evidence from the other side and required to share your own evidence.

Discovery might include requesting surveillance videos, sharing witness lists, or interviewing the other party's witnesses. Your lawyer will know what you need to do.

Deciding Whether to Settle or Go to Trial

An important decision is whether you want to settle or go to trial. Settlements are usually for less than what you could get at trial, but there's a chance you could lose if you go to trial. Your lawyer can help you evaluate your chances of winning and whether settlement offers are fair.

An injury lawyer can advise you on all parts of your injury claim to seek compensation.