Personal Injury Claims- All You Wanted to Know to Make a Claim Yourself

Posted by genedumas on September 12th, 2013

Life is quite unpredictable. No one can tell what is going to happen next. This moment you seem to be perfectly fine but the next moment, God forbid, you may meet with an accident. One ought to remain prepared for the worst. If a person suffers an injury due to his own fault then it can be justified. However, if the accident is caused by another person’s negligence then stringent action has to be taken. You may have heard of Personal Injury Claims. They are designed to help those people who have suffered due to the fault of other people. If you are facing a similar kind of situation, you can file one yourself following the required process. Instructions

i. It is always advisable to seek medical attention even if you feel that that the injury is no so severe. Minor injuries can take a bad shape in the future. Take pictures of the injury, which can be scratches, contusions, lacerations, injured or broken bones, inflammation, etc, for future reference.

ii. It is important to document everything about the accident. Consider noting down time, date and place of accident. Other information like lost wages, injuries sustained and medical expenses have to be documented as well. If you have suffered an accident due to a motor vehicle, you need to note down factors like road condition, weather condition, malfunctioning traffic signals, traffic flow and anything else worth considering.

iii. File a report about the accident with the police station in your area and thereafter obtain copies of it to submit with the accident claim.

iv. The best thing would be able to get an eye-witness of the accident to understand who was at fault. His statement should be put into writing.

v. There ought to be evidences of the accident at the accident spot itself. Collect and preserve everything you find there for future reference as they are the most effective for winning a claim.

vi. Calculate the amount you want to claim by taking into account the amount you spent as medical expense, cost to repair your property or vehicle, lost wages or work time and the amount you want to claim for your pain and sufferings.

vii. Let your insurance company and responsible party know that you are filing or have filed an injury claim within a specified time period of the accident. The notification ought to be in letter form.

viii. Take legal help if you are not sure of filing the claim yourself or if your case is a complex one.

Legal help for personal injury claims are sometimes available for free as well. If you are not in a position to pay to the lawyer until you win the claim yourself, you can seek help from somebody who works on no win, no pay basis.