What if you are injured in a car accident and assume it is nothing serious, only to find out it is something significant later on?
When you are injured in an accident, you are generally entitled to collect compensation for both economic and non economic damages. The problem with injuries related to a car accident is that there are times when they don’t surface right away. What if you are injured in a car accident and assume it is nothing serious, only to find out it is something significant later on? Are you able to sue the other driver and get your injuries covered?
After an accident happens, who is at fault is determined in order to calculate who is responsible and liable for paying for any injuries and damages. Since Missouri is a comparative negligence state, it is possible for both drivers to bear some responsibility for an accident and to pay their portion of negligence. After an accident happens, the total cost of both non economic and economic damages are totaled, and each negligent driver pays what they owe.
Should You Plan Ahead?
It is important, after a car accident, that even if you think something is just a bruise, you have it looked at by a medical professional. Not only do you want to make sure that you get the care you need so that the injury doesn’t get worse, but you also want to create something called the chain of causation, which is basically a paper trail the court can follow to document your injuries. If you didn’t get the medical attention you needed at the time of the accident, there are times when you can go back later to collect and others when you can’t.
If you did not report your injury and it surfaces or worsens later, whether you can collect or not is going to depend on what type of evidence you have and what the length of time is between the injury and when you reported it. There is a statute of limitations to report injuries resulting from an accident in Missouri. In Missouri, if you wanted to sue for your injuries, you would have five years from the date of the accident to file a claim.
Will You Be Able to Recover?
If you didn’t sign any settlement papers that absolved the insurance company handling the accident, then it is possible for you to sue for your injuries. If you signed a settlement then anything that happened after your signature is your responsibility.
Even if you didn’t sign and you are within the five-year statute, it might be difficult to win in civil court if you don’t have the proper documentation to prove that your injuries are directly related to the accident. If you can prove that your injuries are directly related to the accident, you might be able to receive compensation for both your economic and non economic damages.