Personal Injury Statute of Limitations

[Below is a transcription of the podcast]

Hi, this is Ann-Margaret Perkins with Perkins law firm and I’m going to be talking in this podcast about personal injury statute of limitations. I hate to start a podcast with a disclaimer but in this case, it’s necessary because the statute of limitations is a very detailed, sometimes confusing, filled with exceptions sort of topic. So, let me start by saying this discussion does not apply to some issues in medical malpractice or products liability cases. And potentially other personal injury cases. But basically the information in this is information that you can apply to automobile wrecks, and trip and slip and falls.

An important caveat to this is if a person causing injury is working on behalf of their employer at the time and the person causing injury receives a traffic citation, the statute of limitations against them may be tolled. But the appellate courts have said the statute of limitations against their employer is not tolled. If a person is a minor at the time of an injury. The statute of limitations is tolled until they become 18. So generally a minor has until two years after they turn 18 to resolve the claim or file suit. A person who is incompetent, during their incompetency, the statute of limitations is tolled. So if a person is incompetent at the time of an injury causing an event, the statute does not begin to run until a representative is appointed on their behalf. It’s tolled during their incompetency. These are just a few examples of the statute of limitations in a car wreck and slip, trip and fall cases. It is obviously a very important issue in your case. And so it is not something that you need to take any chances with. That’s why I tell people if you intend to talk with an attorney. Or you think you may possibly at some point want to talk with an attorney, you need to do that sooner rather than later. You can call most attorneys who handle these type cases and have a free consultation and you could ask in your specific case, what is the statute of limitations and you would be well advised to do that.

There are other important time-sensitive matters many times in cases that are not the statute of limitations but which have the same effect on for instance insurance coverage. Failure to give notice to uninsured motorist carriers can prohibit you from getting coverage under that policy. And sometimes that time limit is as little as 60 days. You can read my blog about that if you want more specific details on that particular issue. It’s important to move quickly after an automobile wreck or a slip or trip and fall. Not only because of the statute limitations or other types of limitations that may apply but also because gathering evidence sooner after an event is much easier than trying to gather it later. Sometimes evidence disappears. Witnesses move. And this can have a significant impact on your ability to recover sometimes.

So I think regardless if you want to call me to discuss your case or some other attorney, you need to, it’s better to do that on the front end, you have nothing to lose. Whether you call me for a free consultation or some other attorney you may get information that makes a difference in whether or not you can pursue your case. And you might get information that changes your mind about whether you think you need to hire an attorney. So I would urge you to take advantage of those free consultations. Even if you think you don’t necessarily want to hire a lawyer at that point. I hope this has been helpful while I said at the beginning I had to issue a disclaimer and I hate to do that. It is a very complicated area and it is just not something that there are, that you can state a general rule about and not have numerous exceptions so that’s why you need to talk to somebody about your specific situation. I am happy to be that person. You can call me at 770-834-2083. You can fill out a contact form on our website. Injuryispersonal.com or you can e-mail me.