How to make a personal injury claim? After getting injured where the victim has no fault at all, a citizen can apply to claim compensation for what they have lost due to the accident. The process is not so simple, and that’s the reason people get confused. To solve the problem, we have come up with an actionable guideline that will cover everything you need to know about claiming compensation for personal injury.
A personal injury claim is your right as a victim. But the opposite party will try to place arguments against you to lessen your claim in every possible way. So, in that case, you must collect and save the evidence of your injury, medical reports, medical bills and receipts, proof of your debts due to the accident.
Finally, hire a good, experienced, dedicated, and hard-working lawyer from an established law firm who will present your arguments before the judge. However, you have to know how to make a personal injury claim before hiring a lawyer. Let’s know.
How to Make a Personal Injury Claim?
Different injuries hold different settlement money, and it mostly depends on the severity of the loss. After getting medical assistance, hiring a lawyer for your injury cases is one of the first things you should do. By that, your 50% of the baggage is already gone.
Discuss your criteria, detailed situation, fix the remuneration for them, and then follow your intuition to choose a lawyer. Sometimes, there can be a financial dispute between you and your lawyer, and that is why we say discuss this awkward matter beforehand to avoid mid-crisis, which is bad for both you and your case.
When a personal injury case occurs, it can be in the workplace, footpath, or highway, the responsible person for the ignorant case is to pay you a fixed amount as compensation. Loss can be mental or physical, which cannot be measured by money.
Yet it is a little something that can ensure your soon recovery. The lawyers multiply the debts and expenses of the victim with the number of two or three and claim it. The insurance is the responsible party for paying the settlement, and their lawyer will try to weigh down your loss to lessen the amount. Check standard compensation rate for a personal injury claim.
Types of Personal Injury Claims in Canada
Before moving into the process, we thought it would be very effective for you if you know the types of injuries that are covered by the claim. Actually, it’s essential to understand because sometimes people claim their compensation without knowing whether the authority covers the injury type or not. Let’s have a brief idea from the below section.
Work-related Injury
You may have been working on a dangerous project or profession, and if you are hurt, the company will bear the medical expense. For example, you are a firefighter who got hurt on a rescue mission or worked in a construction site and somehow got hurt. The company will bear the expense of your injury or maybe the therapy sessions with your psychiatrist for your PTSD or traumatic experience.
Medical Mishaps
Sometimes the doctor ignorantly or intentionally treat you wrongly for increasing your medical expense. It is a very professional trick, and you have to prove it with proper evidence. So, in these cases, be detail-oriented.
Accident Injury
Accidents can happen anywhere. It could be your neighbor’s slippery lawn, or footpath, or a car accident. Check slip and fall injury claim settlement here.
Read more about the worst car accident injuries.
Steps to Reach a Reasonable Settlement
If you want to get a reasonable settlement amount without any serious issue, you must take help from an experienced lawyer. Airdrie Lawyer is the most reputed & experienced legal service provider in Airdrie, Alberta, Canada. You can get in touch with them, and they will surely help you get what you deserve. However, whether you take help from lawyers or not, you must know the steps you need to go through. The below section will discuss exactly those steps and processes that will help you get your compensation properly.
1. Report About Your Injury
For reporting the injury, you should ask for professional help and guidance. Report that to your accused party, the insurance company, or the neighbors. If they are willing to settle down the matter informally, you are lucky. If they refuse to give your asked compensation, you may proceed to your next step, which is taking legal action.
2. Consider the Advice of the Doctor
Take treatment as soon as possible. It will be the first evidence of your claim. Listen to the doctor and take the utmost care of your health. They will also support your claim at the court. Do not follow any unfair means which may return and bite you on the neck.
3. Settle Your Claim
Talk to your professional guide and settle your claim. Lodge your claim to the certified authority and pass legal notice to your opposite party. For different types of injuries, there are different formats. Keep the complaint as detailed as possible because the other party will try to find a loophole. So, don’t give them a chance.
Know more about pain and suffering compensation.
4. Seek Professional Help
If you are financially stable and can pull off the expense, hire a professional and experienced lawyer in your field. They will know what to do best to win your case. If you do not have the financial support, you can always present for yourself, but it becomes risky if you do not have enough knowledge about the trial process.
5. Negotiate the Offer
It is a common trick of the other party to give less money as compensation to check your knowledge about it. So, do your background research, negotiate, don’t jump into the first offer, and give reasonable arguments from your side to deny their offer.
6. Settlement
The settlement way could be-
- Lump-sum money if the amount is less and can be paid all at once.
- With installment- weekly, monthly or annual
- From pocket money
- Only the medical expense
- The debit from therapy or rehabilitation process
Talk to your lawyer and settle down any of the ways which are suitable for you. Sometimes you need to pay around 30% of the compensation to your lawyer. In that case, take the money all at once and deposit it in a bank with proper conditions which you have discussed with your lawyer.
Cautions
The personal injury report and claim should be in the light within three years. Otherwise, your claims would not be validated. All the legal process- report filing, hiring lawyers, your hearings everything should be in this limited time. Your failure in doing so can take away the right to claim the compensation money from the accused party.
How to Claim Personal Injury Claim Yourself?
If you are not able to bear the lawyer’s expense, your injury is minor, and the accused party’s faults are pretty clear, then you can represent yourself in court. You need to be enlightened about the whole process and need to know how to negotiate formally in front of the court. Estimate your damage and gather as many evidence as you can. Such as-
- Take pictures of the damaged area and where the accident took place.
- For road accidents, photocopy the police report to study it at home.
- As soon as possible, get medical treatment and save all the documents, reports, and bills.
- Use ‘personal injury protection coverage insurance to pay your bill.
- Do not expose your strategy and interview outside the court to your opposite party.
- Do your math and ask for a reasonable amount as your compensation. Trying out extravagant money could weaken your image in front of the judge.
- Social media are an open place to stalk your every movement. So do not share everything on your social media timeline.
Conclusion
Most cases of personal injury cases are settled outside the court. Both the party sit in an informal meeting and estimate the value and offer compensation. Negotiate politely if the offer is not reasonable, and listen to your lawyer. They handle thousands of cases like this and know what could make your case on the winning side. We hope that our guidelines will help you understand how to make a personal injury claim without going through unnecessary hassles.
