The Future After An Injury

Transcript: Often times we find that the day-to-day necessities following an accident–getting to the doctor, trying to drag yourself to work when you’re not feeling well, trying to get to physical therapy and do all the things needed to recover it is easy to neglect thinking about the future. And by that I mean there is a two year statute of limitations on when to file a lawsuit and if you miss that, then you can be barred from making a claim. Now there are a whole host of other shorter limitation periods. For example, it’s 180 days from the date of an accident involving a governmental entity that you have to give what’s called a torts claim notice in Indiana to that entity. That time period can whiz by very fast, and we’ve had many people contact us after that deadline is expired, no notice was given, and you can’t sue a government agency in most cases under that circumstance. So what we would suggest to you is to put some deadlines on your calendar right after an accident because it may slip your mind once you start feeling well after three or four months that deadlines can creep up and that a statute of limitations can bar your claim if it expires and you haven’t sue, or other notice deadlines have passed. I would suggest that you, at the very first deadline you want to put is five months following the accident. After five months, you should evaluate how you’re feeling and whether you need to contact an attorney to handle your claim. That gives you at least a month in advance of the shortest notice deadline, and that would be helpful as a reminder to check in and discuss your legal rights. Now, keep in mind this is general information that we’re giving, and there are different extenuating circumstances where two year statute of limitations deadlines may not apply–for example, if a person is in a coma for six months after an accident, or sometimes children, if they are below a certain age, can get extended time. But our process of thinking and our general advice, which is all we can give in a video like this, is to put a note down on your calendar five months after the accident to start analyzing whether you need legal advice.