Common Mistakes to Avoid in Personal Injury Claims

After an accident, injured victims have a chance to seek financial compensation by filing a personal injury claim. Unfortunately, the process for obtaining fair compensation isn’t easy. No one should expect an insurance company to immediately mail a generous settlement. Instead, we must work for every dollar.

Below, our personal injury attorney in Aiken identifies key mistakes to avoid. These errors will undercut your legal claim and make it harder to win fair compensation for your injuries. Call us if you’d like to schedule a consultation. We can represent anyone hurt in some common accidents, including car wrecks and slip and falls.

1. Not Documenting the Accident

South Carolina personal injury law hinges on “fault.” This is the legal concept for liability. You will only obtain compensation if you can prove who caused your accident.

Most of the evidence of an accident exists at the scene. Suppose you get into a car crash. Then you will want photographs of the vehicles and the debris field. You should also talk to witnesses. Finally, remember to report the accident to the police.

If you were hurt in a slip and fall, then you need to document the hazard, ideally by taking pictures. Some people slip and fall on a puddle of water or ice which scatters all over the floor. Our lawyer might also check if the property had a security camera which recorded the accident.

If possible, try to document the accident immediately after being hurt. Once you leave, it’s hard to find this evidence later. Witnesses will disappear, and it’s harder to reconstruct what happened.

2. Delaying Medical Care

As soon as you finish at the accident scene, you should go to the hospital to begin receiving treatment. Early treatment saves lives. You also will likely improve your chances of a full recovery.

Treatment also documents your injuries. Ultimately, you have the burden in a personal injury claim of proving the severity of your injuries and suffering. Doctor’s notes, X-rays, scans, and other information helps strengthen a personal injury claim.

3. Admitting Fault for the Accident

This is a major mistake. Remember that anything you say can be used later. You don’t want to apologize for causing an accident. Odds are you are in too much pain to really know what happened, so there’s no reason to accept responsibility.

Along these lines, avoid admitting fault to an insurance adjuster who calls you up on the phone. They might request that you answer questions or give a recorded narrative about what happened. This is another opportunity for you to slip up and say something which sounds like you are accepting fault for the accident. You should decline until you hire a lawyer.

4. Stopping Medical Treatment Early

Some victims stop going to physical therapy, or they stop taking their medication. These are big mistakes. You should do everything reasonably possible to heal. That means following your doctor’s treatment plan. If your doctor recommends physical therapy, don’t go only once.

What happens if you don’t think you’re getting better? You should go to a different doctor for a second opinion. But don’t try to diagnose what’s wrong by using online sources, and don’t cobble together your own treatment plan.

5. Undervaluing Your Injuries

Do you know how much your injuries are worth? Most people come up with a number that’s too low.

We can seek financial compensation for:

The full cost of reasonable medical care. You should receive money to cover the cost of surgery, ambulance transportation, diagnostic tests, doctor’s visits, medication, and physical therapy.
All lost income and wages if you cannot go back to work. Most people need to miss at least a little work to recover. You should receive compensation for all lost wages.
Property damage. If your car or motorcycle was damaged, we can ask for compensation to pay for repairs.

You can also receive money for intangible losses like:

Bodily pain
Mental anguish
Loss of enjoyment of life
Loss of consortium

Most people have no idea how much to request for pain and suffering. When it comes to medical care, they look at their medical bills. But there is no market value for pain or depression.

A lawyer knows how much your injuries are worth. We can investigate other personal injury settlements to estimate how much people with similar injuries have received. We can hold out for at least as much.

6. Forgetting Deadlines

You need to contact our offices as soon as possible. South Carolina has a statute of limitations for personal injury cases. (South Carolina Code § 15-3-530.) In most situations, you get only three years from the day of the accident to file a lawsuit in court.

We have seen too many men and women go over this deadline. Maybe they didn’t know it existed, or they were in so much pain from catastrophic injuries that they lost track of time. Sadly, anyone who goes past the deadline will lose the ability to sue, which reduces the chances of receiving any compensation. It’s possible to end up with $0, all because you waited too long.

Other accidents might have a shorter deadline, depending on the facts. Please reach out to Surasky Law Firm today. We can take whatever steps are necessary to protect your legal right to file a lawsuit.

7. Negotiating Your Own Claim

This is a major error. Some people fear they can’t afford a lawyer—especially if they are struggling with no income coming through the door.

Nonetheless, you should have a lawyer who can help with:

Evidence collection
Meeting deadlines
Negotiation
Mediation
Filing a lawsuit before the deadline

These are just a few of the critical legal services we provide clients. We also never charge our personal injury clients any upfront legal fees. We’ll only get paid if we win!