Photo by August de Richelieu
Being injured in an accident doesn’t automatically mean you’re eligible to recover compensation for your damages.
Alabama, like other states, has laws in place regulating personal injury claims. These guidelines apply to everything from who can file a compensation claim to the time you have to contact the insurance company.
Whether you’re trying to figure out the statute of limitations under Alabama law or if you can file a second injury claim, we’re answering some of your most commonly asked questions. Hopefully, this can clear up some of the confusion that often surrounds personal injury law.
What Does Personal Injury Law Cover?
If you’re looking for a broad law covering a wide range of accidents, personal injury rules are a great example. Personal injury law is sort of like an umbrella covering a variety of accidents. Essentially, if you’re injured in an accident that’s caused by someone else’s negligence it’s probably covered by the law.
Some examples of common types of accidents covered under personal injury guidelines include:
- Vehicle collisions, including pedestrian, motorcycle, and e-bike accidents
- Defective products causing injuries
- Slip and fall accidents
- Animal bites. Dog bites are the most common but they can include an attack by almost any type of animal if it’s considered someone’s pet. Wild animal attacks are different and not usually covered under personal injury law. After all, you can’t exactly file an injury claim against a wild animal.
Premise liability accidents and swimming pool injuries are other examples of incidents typically falling under personal injury rules.
How Long Do I Have To File a Personal Injury Claim in Alabama?
All states have statutes of limitations placed on personal injury claims. This is the time you have to file an injury claim or lawsuit against the at-fault party.
The reason for the statute of limitations is fairly simple. The timeline helps keep cases moving along through the court system. The filing deadline also works to protect accident victims. Since you don’t have forever to file an injury claim, there’s less of a chance for evidence to go missing.
So, how long does Alabama give accident victims to file a personal injury claim? The statute of limitations in Alabama is two years from the date of the accident. You’re probably also wondering if you can extend or pause the statute. The answer is maybe, it depends on the unique circumstances of your case.
Some examples of reasons why the statute of limitations may be paused can apply to minors. Since you typically need to be at least 18 years of age to file a personal injury claim. The deadline can be stopped until the minor is a legal adult.
If your injuries are severe enough to prevent you from participating in your case, the statute can be paused until you start making a recovery. This pause in the deadline can also give you time to accurately calculate all of your damages.
Will I Have to Prove Negligence?
The short answer to this question is yes, you must prove negligence to move forward with a personal injury claim. There aren’t any exceptions to this legal requirement. Negligence is a key factor in all types of personal injury claims, with the possible exception of a product liability case.
Proving negligence means addressing the four key elements, duty, breach of duty, causation, and damage. Here’s a closer look at the elements that make up negligence:
- Duty of care: Everyone owes someone a duty of care when they leave their house. Drivers have a duty to other motorists to follow all traffic laws. Property owners have a duty to keep their premises free of hazards.
- Breach of duty: A breach of duty occurs when someone behaves recklessly or negligently. An example is a driver failing to stop at a red light or a property owner ignoring broken glass on the floor.
- Causation: This is the third element of negligence and is usually relatively easy to prove once you get past the breach of duty. You must show that the at-fault party’s actions are the direct cause of your accident. In other words the accident probably wouldn’t have occurred if the defendant had acted reasonably.
- Damages: By the time you get to the final element of negligence, you’ve almost proven the defendant is at fault. You must prove that the accident is directly responsible for your damages.
Navigating the various elements of negligence can be a little tricky, so it’s often a good idea to partner with an experienced personal injury lawyer.
Do I Have to Accept the Insurance Company’s Settlement Offer?
There’s a good chance the insurance company will offer you a settlement and the number may even be reasonable. You can choose to accept the insurance adjuster’s offer, but it’s not a legal requirement.
Alabama doesn’t force accident victims to settle with insurance companies. You can refuse the offer and resume negotiations with the insurance company. You may even receive several settlement offers and you can turn each one down if it’s not enough to cover your damages.
What happens if negotiations with the insurance company fall through? Don’t worry. This doesn’t mean the end of your claim. You can take the insurance company to civil court by filing a personal injury lawsuit. Usually the threat of facing a lawsuit is enough to bring the insurance company back to the negotiating table. You may even be able to settle before your case goes to trial.
Can I File Multiple Personal Injury Claims?
You can file a personal injury claim each time you experience losses in an accident. However, if you’re asking about filing a second claim for the same accident the answer is usually a resounding no.
The law prevents you from filing multiple claims for the same accident. The only exception may be if you can prove the insurance company used dishonest and illegal tactics to force you to settle your claim.
Even if your settlement isn’t enough to cover all of your damages you still can’t file another accident claim. Hopefully these answers make it a little easier for you to navigate personal injury law. Don’t forget that you can simplify the process by partnering with a personal injury attorney.
