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How quickly must I file a lawsuit if I'm injured in a slip and fall accident? What if a minor is injured?
For slips and falls – or trips and falls – a lawsuit must be filed within a given period of time; you do not have forever. This specific time frame is known as a Statue of Limitations (SOL) and varies from state to state. If you snooze on the deadline, you lose the right to sue, even though you have an otherwise valid cause of action. Generally, for a slip and fall matter, the SOL would be either one or two years. California, for instance, recently changed from one to two years due to the fact that serious injuries may not be resolved within a year, and could therefore cause lawsuits to proceed prematurely.
Just because there is a long period of time before a lawsuit must be filed does not mean that you don’t have to do anything during this period. Waiting for a settlement offer from the adjuster is just not a smart move. Gather all your information—medical care and treatment, expenses-- and photos right away to justify the legitimacy of the value of your claim; get contact information or statements from witnesses, if any. Witnesses move, memories fade with time, and evidence can disappear. If the insurance adjuster seems to be “dogging” it or is bullheaded over your claim, not budging from a piddling settlement amount, you can file your own lawsuit within the prescribed time limit just to preserve your legal rights. You can still continue to work on negotiations.
The deadlines are usually longer where a minor is involved. Also, you must petition the court to appoint a Guardian Ad Litem—someone to represent that child’s interest. You would then name that person in the complaint, usually a parent or relative; but the court can appoint its own Guardian if necessary. At the very least, you must allow time for a hearing on the petition. Other state laws to protect the interests of children may also apply and affect your filing time frame, but generally minors do not need to file until they come of age.
For instance, if a 9-year-old fell, the SOL clock stops ticking until the minor turns 18 at which time the time clock starts to run until the statutory deadline set by your state runs out. You need an attorney to advise you of the state rules on this. As a practical matter, though, you may want to file much sooner than that, though that depends on the severity of the injury, if the slip and fall is likely to be permanent (scars, a limp, etc.), it may be smart to wait and see if anything else develops, rather than jump at a quick settlement. If an adult and child were injured simultaneously, such as a parent holding a child and both falling together, you may want to file one action for both parties, and the adult would be required to file by the regular statute date.
A settlement for a minor is usually held in trust, either in a lawyer’s trust account or a special account established by the parent in trust for the child. |
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