Did you know that more car accidents are caused each year by autonomous vehicles than actual drivers? Did you also know that is completely false? It is meant to serve as an example of the uncountable myths about personal injury claims and cases that circulate, especially on social media sites and around watercoolers. To help clear the air of falsities, our Louisville personal injury attorneys from Bahe Cook Cantley & Nefzger PLC have prepared a helpful list of some of the most common personal injury myths you have probably heard – and may have believed.
Here’s 7 personal injury myths and rumors debunked:
There’s no time limit to when I need to file a personal injury claim.
There absolutely is a time limit on your ability to file a personal injury claim against a negligent party. Each state has its own set of statute of limitations that prevents cases from being legally viable after a certain amount of time passes since the injury occurred or became noticeable. Kentucky is one of the strictest states with only a one-year window of opportunity to file. If you get hurt by a negligent third party, then you need to start thinking about taking legal action sooner than later. You can contact our Louisville injury lawyers at any time to schedule a free consultation.
Personal injury claims either resolve in no time, or too much time.
Every case is different from the next, so there is no guarantee how long it will be until you reach a settlement or courtroom conclusion. However, cases involving straightforward accidents – like a rear-end collision at a red light – might conclude in as little as 6 or 8 months. On the other end of the spectrum, a complicated injury case with multiple parties involved may take years, especially if it has to go through litigation.
My claim won’t be taken seriously because my injuries were minor.
There really is no such thing as a minor injury when you consider all the trouble an injury victim can experience, such as losing time at work and going through pain and suffering. You might also see huge medical bills for simple injuries, like a bone break or infection. In the end, the total damages are typically quite high, even if it doesn’t seem that way at first. Let a personal injury lawyer from our firm decide if your claim is worth pursuing or not.
I cannot file a claim against the liable party because they don’t have much money.
Most personal injury claims are not filed directly against one person in particular, or at least, they are not paid out by that person. Instead, insurance companies are the real opposition in a claim. As such, insurance companies are most often the ones who pay for the awarded damages or fulfil the settlement agreement. You should worry first about yourself and your recovery before you worry about how your claim will impact the insurance premiums of the liable party.
My case will go to court and require litigation.
Statistically, this is not true. The vast majority of personal injury claims with real merit will be settled in a conference room. Insurance companies tend to prefer this method, even if it means a guaranteed pay out for the plaintiff, because it takes less time, costs less money in legal fees, and can be kept completely confidential. Courtroom litigation is only used when a fair settlement cannot be reached after negotiations, the defendant thinks the claim is legally weak, or the defendant knows that even a settlement will cost them steeply.
There can only be one defendant in my claim.
Sometimes multiple parties are accountable for one single accident or incident. For example, a truck accident case usually has a few liable parties, from the trucker to the maintenance crew to the parent company. Your recovery is the priority. If a party is partially liable for what happened, then you should consider naming them in your claim. Now is not the time to pull your punches and let someone off easy for what they did.
I cannot file a claim because I cannot afford a personal injury lawyer.
At Bahe Cook Cantley & Nefzger PLC, we make starting personal injury claims easy for our clients by offering free case evaluations and contingency fees. Our contingency fee schedule or agreement gives you the benefit of not owing us any attorney fees if we do not recover you any compensation. Furthermore, you do not pay us out-of-pocket if we do win your case because we only collect a percentage of your total winnings. This means you never get more out of a claim than we do!
Want to know more about the legal services of our Louisville personal injury lawyers? Contact us at your first opportunity to schedule a no-cost, no-obligation consultation. We look forward to speaking with you.