Don’t Wait Too Long To Make Your Case
Michael Babboni
Personal Injury
In the legal world, there is a concept known as “statute of limitations.” Essentially, it is a legal clock that counts down to when a particular crime or violation is no longer considered punishable in a court of law. Murder, for example, has no statute of limitations and you can still be tried in court 50 years after a murder has occurred. Personal injuries that are not criminal acts however, have a much shorter “shelf life.” In most cases in the state of Florida, you have about four years from the time you were injured to bring about a civil suit case. Once four years has passed, you no longer have any legal right to sue an offending party, and there’s very little that a personal injury lawyer can do on your behalf at that point if you change your mind.Reasons For Waiting
Of course, while in an ideal scenario, a personal injury case would be brought against the offending party as quickly as possible, the very nature of a personal injuries works against this. Car accidents, for example, can be serious, with a person requiring life saving surgery that leaves him or her in no condition to think about seeking compensation, because immediate recovery is the priority. In some cases, a victim isn’t even conscious, as even something like a slip and fall can result in a coma if the wrong part of the head sustains an impact.
Often one of the reasons a case isn’t immediately pursued is a simple matter of the victim not being in any condition to actually engage in a case. Sometimes family members can take up the cause in these cases if the actual victim is still in no condition. This is especially true in the case of comas, where it is extremely difficult to predict when a recovery may occur, so a family proxy case may be the best course of action.
Fresh Evidence Counts
Perhaps one of the biggest reasons why people shouldn’t wait on a personal injury case is because the sooner you get the gears in motion to go to court, the better your chances are of your personal injury lawyer collecting good evidence to reinforce your case.
For example, in a car accident, there may be witnesses on the scene who can testify in your favor, but that’s only if they are available. Some witnesses may be tourists, and thus not easily accessible to begin with, but others may be residents of the city, at least in the meantime. If you pursue a case three years later, some important witnesses may have moved to another city, out of state, or even to another country, depriving you of information that could add more weight to your case.
In other cases, evidence is easier to collect closer to the time of an accident because there are still traces left. An accident reconstruction expert can look at a car accident scene, and make many expert observations based on evidence such as tire skids, damaged rails, signs and other physical evidence that will eventually wash away or be repaired given enough time.
Of course, your first priority is to yourself and your friends and family. A personal injury case is important, but only if you are in good enough condition to undertake the case. Just make sure that once you are sufficiently recovered, you act as quickly as you can. Get an experienced personal injury lawyer in St. Petersburg to hear you out and see what you’ve been through. Once you get an attorney on your side, the real work towards justice can begin.