When your child is injured by someone’s negligence, it can be a traumatic experience. Here are the steps you should take to ensure your child gets the medical care and the compensation for their injuries.
Hire a personal injury lawyer
First things first, the very first thing that you need to do after finding out that your child was injured due to another person’s negligence is hire a personal injury lawyer. If there is one thing that I could stress more than anything when dealing with any sort of accident, it would be getting an experienced personal injury lawyer on your side. You should never attempt negotiating the accident settlement without having an attorney by your side because accidents like these can get really technical and exhausting, especially for non-experts. Therefore, you should consider this step to be one of the most important ones. You can hire lawyers Perth if you live in Australia or hire lawyers from your region. It’s just significant to have someone with experience in this area.
Take your child to the hospital for medical treatment
The steps that follow once you have an attorney will depend on how serious your child’s injuries are. If they did suffer a head injury, life-threatening injury or some other potentially dangerous injury, then it would be best if you take them immediately to the hospital for medical treatment (and keep them there until everything is taken care of). However, if their injuries aren’t very serious and can be treated without staying in the hospital overnight, then it might also be best to go get checked out by a doctor at one of the hospitals. It is always better to be safe than sorry, especially when your child’s medical condition hangs in the balance.
Gather evidence to support your case
In order to make a strong personal injury case for your child, you’ll need to have some evidence to back it up. This means gathering medical records, eyewitness testimonies, as well as photos and videos of the scene of the accident. If there were any financial losses incurred because of the accident (e.g., missed work days, car repairs, etc.), then you should also gather any documentation or bills that can prove this. The more evidence you have, the better off your case will be. You need a strong case in order to make sure that your child is compensated for the injuries they have suffered.
Contact insurance companies
Once you have all the evidence that you need, it’s time to start contacting insurance companies. This can be a lengthy and arduous process, but it’s important that you are as polite and professional as possible when speaking with them. Remember, they are not on your side, so don’t expect them to be. Be sure to keep track of all conversations with them (including the date and time), as well as any letters or emails that are sent back and forth. This way, if things get tough down the road, you’ll have everything documented. Insurance companies will try to pay as little as possible for your child’s injuries, so you’ll need to be prepared to argue with them.
File a claim
Once you’ve gathered all the evidence and discussed the case with your personal injury lawyer, it’s time to consider filing a claim. You or your attorney should file an official personal injury claim with the insurance company involved. Most companies will try settling out of court, so don’t be surprised if they do this quickly. If not, then you’ll need to wait until the investigation is complete before anything else can be done on that front. When filing claims, insurance companies typically have a specific statute of limitations that limits how long you have to file any claims related to the accident. This time frame typically ranges between one and three years (depending on where you live), so it’s best to keep track of these dates in order to avoid any legal issues.
Negotiate a settlement with the other party’s insurance company
The final step in this entire process is to negotiate a settlement with the other party’s insurance company. Keep in mind that this negotiation process will be a lot different from negotiating with someone who has no power over the situation. It will have to go through several levels of authority before anything is finalized, so don’t expect an answer right away. And remember: if you accept a settlement offer, then it might prevent you from ever seeing a penny more than that from the other party. Injuries can happen at any time and in any place when children are around because they are not as careful as an adult would be, so we have to take special care of them, mostly because there are many negligent people out there.
When your child is injured due to someone’s negligence, it’s important to take the appropriate steps in order to ensure that they receive the best possible care and compensation for their injuries. This can be a long and difficult process, but with the help of a personal injury lawyer, you can make sure that your child gets the justice they deserve.
