Dalton, GA Personal Injury Lawyer

Accidents and injuries due to recklessness or negligence occur routinely in Dalton, and victims can often respond by holding at-fault parties accountable in civil claims.

In general, victims can file most personal injury claims no later than two years after an accident in Georgia. To file on time, you must have enough proof of negligence to bring your claim so our attorneys will immediately investigate your accident and obtain relevant evidence. The most crucial evidence in these lawsuits is victims’ hospital and medical records, which we can collect from providers as they are generated. Furthermore, we can identify potential sources of surveillance footage and photographic evidence and promptly interview eyewitnesses to keep their statements intact. If experts, like physicians or crash reconstruction experts, would benefit from your claim, our lawyers may also get them to testify about the cause or your resulting damages.

To get a confidential case review for free, call our personal injury lawyers of Rice, Murtha & Psoras at (470) 287-3070.

Learning the Filing Deadline for Your Dalton, GA Injury Claim

In all likelihood, you will have two years after an accident to prepare and file your lawsuit in court in Georgia. according to O.C.G.A. § 9-3-33. Exceptions to the statute of limitations are rare, and victims should not assume they apply to their claims, as doing so could make them miss the deadline to sue.

Should that happen, the court would block victims from recovering compensation from a lawsuit. Because your medical damages, lost wages, and other expenses from an injury may be great, you should prioritize initiating your case alongside focusing on your physical recovery. Our attorneys will immediately identify the filing deadline based on the accident’s date or when you discovered your injuries and proceed accordingly.

While victims have the full two years after suffering injuries to sue, they should not intentionally delay their claims. Waiting to initiate investigations with our lawyers might result in the loss or destruction of certain evidence. For example, it is important to preserve witnesses’ memories by interviewing them right after an accident, or their testimony might not be as strong.

So, in addition to identifying the filing deadline for your lawsuit, our personal injury lawyers will also help you bring your claim before that time comes, preferably well before, as this could signify your commitment to both your physical and financial recovery.

Organizing Evidence to Prove Liability for a Personal Injury in Dalton, GA

While preparing your case for success, our attorneys will identify relevant evidence that we must obtain, such as hospital and medical records, photos and videos, and witness statements. Organizing sufficient evidence to meet the standard of proof for civil lawsuits is important, even if your case ultimately settles out of court and does not go to trial in Georgia.

Hospital and Other Medical Records

Hospital records can help confirm a victim was injured during the accident involving the defendant, so make sure to seek immediate medical attention. If you need transportation to the hospital after a serious car crash, fall, or other incident, call 911. If you do this, police officers might respond in addition to paramedics, and you can tell officers what happened so they can write an accurate report, which we can also help victims obtain in the proceeding days.

Our lawyers can begin by getting records from paramedics who treated you at the accident site or on the way to the hospital. We can then get records from the emergency room after your arrival detailing any trauma care you received there. If you stayed in the hospital for additional tests or observation, we can document those costs, which the defendant should have to cover.

Victims who suffer traumatic brain injuries, spinal cord damage, or other similarly devastating injuries may have to see specialists for weeks or months, and our lawyers will also obtain records from these visits so we can show a timeline of their medical treatment and improvements to their condition.

Photos and Video Evidence

Depending on the accident’s location, our attorneys may obtain video evidence from surveillance systems. The negligent party might own this footage, especially if the accident happened on their property, so working to preserve it immediately is important. Otherwise, it might get deleted or lost, hindering your ability to prove certain aspects of your case as easily.

Before leaving the site to go to the hospital for medical evaluation, take pictures. Photos documenting your injuries can help us prove you sustained them at the scene and during the accident caused by the defendant. Photos of property damage or impact points after a car crash can also help our lawyers establish liability, as can pictures of hazards that cause slip and falls.

Expert Witness and Eyewitness Testimony

Expert witness testimony can strengthen injury cases, convincing negligent parties to settle for larger amounts out of court. The type of experts we involve in your case may depend on the accident in question. For example, after auto accidents, crash reconstruction experts can assess physical evidence from the scene, photographs, incident reports, and witness statements to determine which driver caused the collision and why.

Medical experts can benefit nearly all personal injury claims, as physicians can testify about victims’ required care to date and in the future. Mental health experts can help our lawyers prove victims’ pain and suffering, which is necessary to get compensation for non-economic damages in Georgia.

Eyewitnesses can offer valuable testimony, confirming key aspects of victims’ claims and undermining arguments from the defense that a victim contributed to an accident and thus deserves lesser damages. For eyewitness statements to be most impactful, our lawyers will interview them as soon as possible after you are injured.

Call Our Dalton, GA Attorneys for Help Getting Compensation for an Injury

Discuss your case for free with our personal injury lawyers by calling Rice, Murtha & Psoras at (470) 287-3070.