If you are a victim of an accident and are considering seeking out a personal injury lawyer to assist you in your pursuit of an insurance claim, the first step you need to take is verifying that your case still meets the statute of limitations requirements. Each state has unique legislation in place that requires you to file a personal injury lawsuit within a specified timeframe after the onset of the injury. Typically, you are allotted as little as 30 days and as much 6 years to file a claim. With this much discrepancy, it is very important that you consult a personal injury attorney who is an expert when it comes to personal injury laws in your state.
Some statutes of limitation vary state by state based on the type of injury the victim has sustained. For instance, some states may only allow you one year to file a claim for an injury suffered in a car crash or on the job. However, if the claimant contracts a deadly disease such as cancer following exposure to a toxic substance, the statute of limitations timeline starts from the moment the illness was diagnosed. Many states also enforce further legislation overseeing medical malpractice lawsuits, so it is vital to discuss your case with a personal injury attorney to determine the appropriate course of action.
Putting harsh restrictions on the amount of time you have to file a lawsuit can be frustrating, but you must realize that statutes of limitations are there to work in our favor; if a statute of limitations was not in effect in your state, someone who you got into an auto accident with a decade ago could suddenly claim that they now have chronic back pain as a result. Obviously, a fender bender that happened ten years ago would have no correlation with the arrival of current back problems, and an accusation such as this would be unfair. So, statutes of limitations exist to prevent people from blaming every little bump and bruise on a previous accident.
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