Ray Hrdlicka – Host – Attorneys.Media
Somebody does get hurt, and they’re going to medical treatment, they continue on, and it may or may not get better, but it’s continuing. And then they decide, I think I need to see an attorney to see what, you know, my rights are and what can be done. So, what’s the statute of limitations?
Steven Gacovino – Personal Injury Attorney – Suffolk County, NY
OK, well, the statute of limitations for most accidents and not every single one and every case needs to be evaluated on its own merits because certain defendants have shorter time limitations in which you can bring a claim against them.
But the typical accident where we’re alleging negligence and two private parties are involved and everybody’s an adult, that limitation is three years from the date of the accident. So that’s the most typical statute of limitations that’s going to apply, but there are situations where that will vary.
That situation will vary if there’s a municipality involved. If you’re suing a county, for instance, if you’re suing a town, if you’re suing the state, that’s a different statute of limitations.
If you’re under the age of 18, your statute of limitations is tolled until your 18th birthday. So essentially you have until the day that you turn 21 to commence that lawsuit.
But in the instance that you’re describing, and I guess making a determination as to whether or not we’re going to take that case, it sounded like you were describing they got injured, the accident is maybe not their fault, that they’ve been continuing treatment, that they haven’t gotten better.
I would assess that on a a case-by-case basis to see what kind of medical care they had, what type of continuity in medical care they had, and a slew of questions and considerations… that they lose time from work. That makes the case a little bit more interesting to us with a potential higher recovery.
What do they know about the defendant’s insurance company? Did they find out what the limitations are of that potential insurance policy? Does the person have insurance at all? Did they file their own no-fault application? They do it timely? These are considerations that would come into play.
Did they have another lawyer represent them up until a certain point? Sometimes I don’t love to jump into a case where somebody just says, hey, I had a lawyer for six months, the case isn’t done, I’m getting agitated with them, I want to switch lawyers. That’s usually not a great reason to switch attorneys because these cases aren’t typically done in six months.
So, I may say, well, before you do that, let’s look at the case and let’s discuss it. And by reputation, we know a lot of the attorneys that are also in our location, and it could be that it’s a perfectly competent attorney doing a perfectly competent job, and I’m going to create the same frustration for this individual that this previous lawyer is going to create. So, I don’t jump into a situation like that in all, in many circumstances, anyway.
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