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Do You Want To File A Personal Injury Lawsuit In Indiana?

If you are planning a personal injury lawsuit in the state of Indiana, then there are a lot of laws that you need to be aware of. Many can shape the course of your case, and some can even determine whether or not you can file at all. To give you an introduction, here are some of the most important guidelines to follow when filing a personal injury lawsuit in Indiana:

How long do you have to file?

If you wait too long to file your lawsuit, then it will probably just get thrown out immediately. There are very few exceptions to this rule, and they are not particularly flexible.

Therefore, it is crucial that you file within the statute of limitations, which happens to be 2 years in Indiana. If you fail to meet this deadline, then you better have a pretty good reason, such as being a minor at the time of the incident, or not having discovered the damage until long after the incident.

How much money can you get?

Like many states, Indiana has some limitations on how much money you can ask for in certain situations.

For example, if you are dealing with a case of medical malpractice, you can ask for no more than $1,250,000 in total damages. This is pretty different than other states, which may impose limits on punitive or non-economic damages. In contrast, this cap actually applies to all damages combined. While the number may seem high, it could actually be dramatically less than your injury has cost you.

What if the injury was partially your fault?

Like many states, Indiana has a system that judges you based on comparative fault. What this really means is that your compensation can be reduced proportionally to the amount of responsibility that you bear for your injury. If the other party can somehow prove that you were 25% responsible for your injury, then your compensation will be reduced to 75% of its initial value.

Additionally, you need to worry about whether you were more than 50% responsible for your injury. If the other party can prove that you were, then you will lose out on compensation altogether.

However, you can be thankful that Indiana isn't quite as strict as some other states when it comes to relative levels of fault. In certain states, you may lose out on your compensation altogether if the other party is able to prove that you were even 1% responsible for your injury.

Laws will vary by state. If you don't live in Indiana, be sure to contact a personal injury lawyer in your state for more information. For example, if you live in Washington you should contact someone like Kornfeld Robert B Inc PS.


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