The Clock is Ticking on Your Personal Injury Case

They say that time waits for no one. As our personal injury attorneys at the Law Offices of Aronberg & Aronberg know, neither does justice.

Let’s clarify that: if you’ve been injured due to the wrongdoing of another, you only have a certain amount of time during which you can file a legal claim seeking compensation for damages. After that window of time expires, even if you suffered a serious, life-long injury that will plague you for the rest of your life, you’re pretty much out of luck in terms of seeking compensation from the negligent party. The rules that govern the time periods discussed above can be found in Florida’s Statute of Limitations on Actions.

Below, our Palm Beach and Broward County personal injury attorneys have outlined some of the time limits on legal actions as they relate to a couple of the most common types of legal matters that we handle.

            PERSONAL INJURY CASES

• 4 Years (generally)(some specific causes of action like a wrongful death case are only 2 years)
• Including auto accidents, slip-and-falls, etc.
• The time period of 2 years begins on the day of the incident. So, let’s say that an individual is injured in an auto accident, which was caused by the negligence of another driver, on January 1, 2010. In order to recover compensation for damages incurred as a result of the accident (medical bills, lost wages, pain and suffering, etc.), the injured individual must have initiated the legal action by January 1, 2012, two years after the date of the initial incident.

MEDICAL (PROFESSIONAL) MALPRACTICE CASES

• 2 Years
• Including botched surgeries, failure to diagnose, negligent prescription of medications, etc.
• The time period of 2 years begins on the day of the alleged misconduct and/or omission by the medical professional OR from the day on which the resultant harm from the misconduct/omission was or should reasonably have been detected. For instance, if a doctor performed a botched surgery on March 1, 2009, and the patient suffered complications that could not have reasonably been identified until three months after the surgery (June 1^st), the patient likely will be allowed to file the lawsuit up until but no later than June 1, 2009. The same time frames would apply if on March 1, 2009 the doctor failed to diagnose a disease that he/she was reasonably expected to recognize; if the harm from the omission was not reasonably detected until three months later, the injured patient can file the lawsuit up until June 1, 2009.

Our South Florida personal injury lawyers know that the process of seeking and obtaining compensation from the negligent party and/or their insurance company, while it does not always involve actual an courtroom trial, is a lengthy one. For this reason, it is imperative that you contact an attorney as soon as you have experienced a potentially harmful incident (i.e., a car accident, a surgery after which you feel worse than you should, etc.). If you have any questions related to this issue or any other personal injury matter, please call our lawyers at the Law Offices of Aronberg & Aronberg by calling 561-266-9191 or e-mailing daronberg@aronberglaw.com.