Insight

Steps to Take After a Personal Injury Accident

You’ve recently been in a life-changing accident. Now, you’re forced to deal with accident-related injuries and all of the bills that come with them.

Charles V. Vaughan, Jr.

Written by Charles V. Vaughan, Jr.

Published: January 6, 2024

What’s more, you may have to take off work to recover more effectively from the losses someone else should have taken responsibility for.

What steps can you take after a personal injury accident if you want to get back on your feet? You have the right, under Indiana law, to work with a personal injury lawyer to assess your losses. Then, depending on your circumstances, you can take the party or parties liable for your losses to civil court.

Vaughan & Vaughan can advocate for your right to compensation after all kinds of personal injury accidents. If you want to learn more about how we can go to work for you, you can schedule a free personal injury case evaluation with our team.

Seek Out Medical Care

You should never prioritize legal action over immediate, emergency medical care. If you’re severely injured in a personal injury accident, you need to work with emergency responders to treat your or any loved ones’ most pressing conditions. You can then reach out to your general practitioner or related specialists to secure additional and essential medical attention.

Document Your Accident Scene

If you feel you can safely navigate the scene of an accident without exasperating or ignoring any of your injuries, you can document the scene in the immediate aftermath of your accident. Doing so lets you get an early and unimpeded look at the damage done to yourself and your property. You can also secure immediate bystander statements and pictures of an accident’s aftermath.

Most attorneys recommend exchanging insurance information with an at-fault party as soon as you can after an accident, provided that said party remains on the scene. Do not pursue a fleeing party, whether they’re fleeing on foot or by car. Let police officers do the heavy lifting for you while you gather statements from witnesses.

Reach Out To An Insurance Provider

You have the right to reach out to a relevant insurance provider within 24 hours of a personal injury accident. So long as you can present evidence of your accident-related losses, you can demand that said provider offer you the financial support you need to recover from a severe accident.

There is a chance, unfortunately, that an insurance provider may deny your post-accident claim. Alternatively, some providers may try to protect their bottom lines by undervaluing your accident-related losses. You don’t have to let a provider get away with this kind of bad-faith behavior.

Instead, you can request that an Indiana personal injury lawyer step in and communicate with a provider on your behalf. Vaughan & Vaughan can specifically file an appeal in the face of a denied accident claim. We can even help you sue an offending insurance provider should said provider continue to wrongfully deny you the compensation you deserve for your losses.

Contact A Personal Injury Attorney

Whether you want to take legal action against an unresponsive insurance provider or the party liable for your personal injury accident, you can do so with help from Vaughan & Vaughan. Our team of experienced Indiana lawyers can help you file your personal injury claim before your statute of limitations expires.

We can then go on to represent your best interests in settlement conversations with a liable party. Should the need arise, you can count on our team to defend your right to personal injury accident compensation in civil court.

Do You Need To Take Legal Action After A Personal Injury Accident?

Some personal injury accident survivors prefer to represent their own best interests upon taking a claim to civil court. This is completely feasible and, in some cases, can work out well for the injured party.

That said, navigating Indiana’s civil court system is intimidating on the best of days. You may talk yourself out of accident compensation if you don’t know how to protect your rights. Working with a personal injury attorney allows you to rely on that attorney’s professional expertise as you navigate your difficult road to recovery.

What’s more, Vaughan & Vaughan mitigates any concerns you might have about the cost of personal injury representation. Our firm and attorneys operate on contingency. Per our contingency fee agreements, we don’t get paid for the services we offer unless we win your case.

File A Personal Injury Claim

If you decide that you want to file a civil claim after a personal injury accident, you need to finalize that complaint by your accident’s second anniversary. Indiana Code section 34-11-2-4, known as Indiana’s personal injury statute of limitations, states that attempting to file after your accident’s second anniversary can see a court deny you the right to legal action.

In other words, the sooner you contact an attorney after a personal injury accident, the more investigative work you can do. Our team can help you make the most out of the time Indiana gives you to look into your losses. You, in turn, won’t have to sacrifice your right to recovery to make your case’s filing deadline.

Our Indiana Personal Injury Lawyers Can Represent Your Best Interests

Knowing what steps to take after a personal injury accident can prove challenging, particularly if you’re contending with life-disrupting injuries or time away from work. Fortunately, no one says that you have to recover on your own. You can request that a personal injury attorney in Indiana oversee your road to recovery.

Vaughan & Vaughan can specifically connect you with a lawyer who can guide you through the process of interacting with insurance providers and taking a negligent party to civil court. You can learn more about the services we offer personal injury accident survivors like you during a free case consultation with our team.

Reach out to Vaughan & Vaughan today to schedule your case evaluation.

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