March 21, 2014

Contact a Los Angeles Injury Attorney to Find Out if You Have a Case


It does not hurt to talk to a Los Angeles personal injury attorney after an accident to see if you have a case. It should be mentioned there are times where you may not have grounds for filing a case. There are different reasons and causes why this occurs, including a lack of evidence, no negligent party, and the time for filing a case has expired. Your lawyer will explain these situations in more detail during your initial consultation after reviewing your accident. 

A lack of evidence occurs when police reports, accident reports and other details about the accident are not completed or get lost. It is your responsibility to make sure reports are filed any time an accident happens and not leave it up to someone else. You should also obtain copies of the reports as soon as they are available and keep them for your own records. This way, if the reports do get lost, you have copies on hand to support your claim.

If you were the responsible party who caused the accident, this often implies there is no negligent party to sue. However, there are exceptions to this in certain cases. For example, the brakes on your car failed, and you hit a pedestrian and seriously injured them. While the pedestrian clearly has grounds for filing a case against you and your insurance company, you may be able to file a counterclaim against the automobile manufacturer or repair shop which installed the brakes.

All types of civil cases, such as personal injury, have a set time limit for bringing action against another party. If the time limit runs out, even if you had grounds for filing a case, you cannot bring legal action against the other party. Talking to a Los Angeles injury attorney is free, regardless of whether there are grounds for filing a case. It never hurts to obtain a professional legal opinion, because this area of the law encompasses a wide range of injuries and accidents.