Who Can File a Personal Injury Lawsuit?

If you've been injured recently in an accident or because of another's party negligence, you may be able to file a personal injury lawsuit to collect money to help diffuse your medical and hospital costs. To find out if your case is eligible for a lawsuit, it's a good idea to contact a personal injury attorney. Be aware that not every injury is grounds for a lawsuit.

Your personal injury attorney will listen to your account of what happened, review your case carefully, and determine whether or not you have grounds to sue. If you decide to go ahead with a lawsuit, your personal injury attorney should handle all the legal proceedings and keep you informed every step of the way. Of course, you can file a lawsuit by yourself, but having a personal injury attorney is highly advisable, because trying to navigate the legal system without any expertise is very difficult.

Who is eligible to file a personal injury lawsuit? Well, first of all your injury must be relatively recent. There is a statute of limitations that is different in every state in the country, which determines the length of time you have to file a lawsuit after sustaining an injury. In some states it is as short as 30 days, and in other states you have up to several years. However, the bottom line is that you should file a suit as close to the date of your injury as possible. This makes your case more credible in the judge's eyes.

Additionally, for a personal injury attorney to file a suit on your behalf, you have to have both a valid claim and legal standing. A valid claim is one that can be settled through the legal process. In other words, the suit that you're bringing must be a reasonable grievance and be addressing an incident which was the clear fault of another person or party.

To have standing in a personal injury suit means, in layman's terms, that you must have sustained a true injury. For example, you would have standing if you slipped on a wet building lobby and broke a hip. You would not have standing if your hair was messed up from a leaking ceiling. A personal injury attorney can easily determine whether you have a valid claim and the standing to merit personal injury a lawsuit.