Why Early Legal Action Matters After a Catastrophic Injury

A catastrophic injury is one with permanent, life-altering adverse effects, often on all aspects of the injury victim’s life, including their ability to work and accomplish routine daily tasks. Some catastrophic injuries also impact mobility, independence, and personal relationships.

When the injury directly resulted from someone else’s careless, reckless, or wrongful actions—all examples of legal negligence—it may be even more emotionally agonizing, but the injury victim has the right to demand financial accountability for their losses from the responsible party, typically through the appropriate insurance.

The timing of a personal injury claim is important, and early legal action may be crucial in a catastrophic injury claim. Contact the Chicago catastrophic injury lawyers from Smith LaCien LLP today for legal assistance.

Why Prompt Action In Your Catastrophic Injury Claim Is Important

When the results of a legal process are hugely important for the rest of your life, as they are in a catastrophic injury claim, early action is essential for the following reasons:

• You should hire a personal injury attorney with experience in catastrophic injury claims as soon as possible to protect against common insurance company tactics, such as offering you a lowball settlement before you know the full extent of the damages you are facing
• It’s important to document evidence that proves the at-fault party’s liability before the evidence disappears, such as security camera footage that loops and rewrites over older footage, or when physical evidence from a car accident scene is moved or lost
• Eyewitness memories may quickly fade or become inaccurate, so quickly obtaining depositions is beneficial
• Your attorney will need time to gather evidence to prove liability, and to consult with medical experts and ocupational therapists to calculate your total economic and non-economic damages, including a life-care plan of total damages for extraordinary injury costs, such as for adaptive equipment, mobility equipment for disability, medical and physical therapy costs, and home health assistance
• It’s crucial to consider filing deadlines and time limits under Illinois’ two-year statute of limitations for personal injury claims, which requires a case that needs a trial to go to court within two years of the injury date. A trial may be required if the insurance company fails to offer an ample settlement or disputes liability

In addition, if the claim is against a government entity, like a city bus agency, or road maintenance agency, the time limit to file a claim in Illinois is one year from the accident date.

Early Legal Action After a Catastrophic Injury Protects Against Common Insurance Company Tactics

Besides reaching out with an early settlement offer that’s often for far less than what’s available to the injury victim and requires signing away the right to a lawsuit, insurance companies often use other tactics to undervalue, delay, or dispute claims, especially for high-value catastrophic injury claims.

By hiring an injury attorney in Chicago for legal action soon after the accident or incident that caused the injury, your attorney will advise you on how to protect your rights from the very beginning, including by avoiding talking on recorded lines and carefully following your doctor’s treatment recommendations.

It’s always to your advantage to hire an experienced Illinois catastrophic injury lawyer and then direct all interactions with the insurance company to your attorney.