Within how much time can one make an injury claim?
All legal claims should be filed within three years of the date of the accident or injury suffered. The three year period is called the ‘limitation period’ and after the lapse of this period it is almost impossible to get compensated for the personal injury caused.
There are some circumstances where the three year period is prolonged depending on the date on which the injury was identified rather than when the accident took place. For example when you suffer an injury in an accident which is identified as a minor bruise on your leg at the time but later it can be stipulated as a broken bone when the pain continues during a revisit to the hospital. In such a situation the hospital will notify the claim period to have commenced when the broken leg was identified as an injury suffered because of the accident and not the day of the actual accident.
In case of any mental disability the claimant can plead the court to waive the initial three year period when the claimant is under 18 year of age or when the injury results in a disease or illness that take a long period of time to develop symptoms after the initial exposure.
There are certain particular cases like in asbestos related illness where the claimant would start the limitation period to make a personal injury claim from the time he knew about his illness and that it was a work related injury.
Another circumstance is when someone is part of the way through dealing with their accident injury compensation claim and they die during this period, the three year deadline will begin again from the date of the death to allow their family time to continue with the claim.
The only solution to successfully claim for personal injury compensation is to get the right advice from experienced solicitors about the time period within which one must file the claim. These expert injury lawyers will give you an understanding of what the procedures are and determine the limitation period you have to file the case. It is beneficial to spend some time to find the right solicitor to represent your case than to be in a hurry to claim within the limitation period.