The recovery process can be long and complicated, and victims without help from experienced lawyers might make crucial mistakes that compromise their personal injury claims.
Waiting too long to get an attorney, delaying medical attention, ignoring medical advice regarding your physical recovery, failing to document an accident, accepting fault for an accident, missing the statute of limitations, underestimating your damages, and settling too quickly are among the most common mistakes personal injury plaintiffs make that our lawyers can help you avoid.
Call the New Jersey personal injury lawyers of Agrapidis & Maroules, P.C. (551) 525-6465 for a free case review.
What Are Common Mistakes that Can Hurt Your Personal Injury Claim in New Jersey?
Avoiding some of the most common mistakes personal injury plaintiffs make when pursuing compensation can increase your chances of a fair and fast financial recovery in New Jersey.
Waiting Too Long to Get a Lawyer
Some personal injury victims might wait too long to get a lawyer’s help because they think their injuries are too minor or their damages are not great enough to warrant a lawsuit. Waiting to start your case with our Newark, NJ personal injury lawyers puts evidence at risk. Physical and testimonial evidence might suffer if you wait too long for our lawyers to collect it.
Delaying Medical Care
Another common mistake personal injury plaintiffs make is failing to seek medical attention right away. After a bad car crash, fall, or other accident in New Jersey, go to the hospital if you feel the slightest bit injured. If you hit your head or lost consciousness but have no other obvious injuries, you should also go to the hospital.
If you delay medical care, it could be much harder to prove that you sustained injuries in the specific accident involving the defendant, an essential step in any personal injury claim.
Ignoring Medical Advice
Take the medical advice your physicians give you about your physical recovery extremely seriously. If you are warned against engaging in certain physical or strenuous activity, avoid it entirely. If you are cautioned against returning to work too soon, wait to resume work until your doctors tell you it is safe and won’t hinder your healing.
If you ignore medical advice from your doctors, you could aggravate an injury, making it cost more to treat and take longer to heal. In such situations, defendants often refuse to compensate victims for additional damages from ignoring medical advice in out-of-court settlements.
Failing to Document the Accident
Not documenting an accident can seriously compromise your future recovery for it. Taking photos and videos is a great way to document the location, the vehicles involved, and lacerations, contusions, and other visible injuries. We encourage personal injury victims to take as many photos as possible before leaving to seek medical care.
You may further document an accident by reporting it to the local police.
Accepting Fault for the Accident
Apologizing after an accident can be instinctual, even if you did not actually do anything or fail to do something that contributed to the accident. In New Jersey, plaintiffs may sue for damages as long as their negligence does not outweigh a defendant’s. If you can sue despite your contribution, your damages will be lowered proportionally to your involvement.
Even if you were not negligent, the opposing side could argue that your apology shows you were partially liable and refuse to compensate you in a settlement fully. Never apologize when speaking to the negligent party, the police, witnesses, insurance companies, or anyone else.
Discussing the Case on Social Media
Avoid posting about your injuries or the case online. The opposing side might try to use photos, videos, comments, and other posts against you to show you are not as injured as you claim to be. In addition to not posting about the case on social media, you should not discuss the details with anyone other than our attorneys.
Missing the Statute of Limitations
Missing the statute of limitations is a common mistake among would-be personal injury plaintiffs. If you do not bring your case within 2 years of sustaining injuries in New Jersey, you could lose your opportunity for recovery altogether.
Even if you think you might have missed the statute of limitations, it is worth seeing whether you have a case. There are several reasons why the statute of limitations might be tolled for a period of time, effectively giving you more than 2 years to sue. For example, there is a tolling exception for injured children that delays the statute of limitations from accruing until they turn 18.
Underestimating Your Damages
Many personal injury plaintiffs severely underestimate their damages. If you do this, you might not request relief for all damages you have incurred or receive it. It is easy to underestimate medical expenses, lost wages, and non-economic damages without our lawyers’ help tracking and calculating all compensable damages.
Settling Too Quickly
Too many personal injury plaintiffs agree to settle their cases too quickly, potentially leaving far too much money on the table. Expect the first several settlement proposals from the defense to be too low to accept. This is just the starting point, and not necessarily indicative of how high the opposing side will go.
Personal injury plaintiffs cannot change their minds after signing settlement agreements, even if they want to because they settled too quickly.
Underestimating the Standard of Proof
Plaintiffs might also underestimate what it takes to prove a personal injury case. Let us explain and meet the standard of proof so you can get compensation by establishing that the defendant is more than likely liable and should cover your damages.
Get Our Help with Your New Jersey Personal Injury Claim
Call our Elizabeth, NJ personal injury lawyers at (551) 525-6465 for your free case assessment from Agrapidis & Maroules, P.C. today.