How long do I have to decide whether I want to make a personal injury claim?
If you have recently been involved in an accident, whether in public or at your workplace, you may have grounds for a personal injury claim to cover the costs of the resulting damage you are faced with. While the law does put in place protections for people who suffer these types of accidents, there are also very strict personal injury time limits and requirements for being able to successfully seek compensation.
In Queensland, for example, section 11 of the Limitations of Actions Act 1974 states that you have 3 years from the time the personal injury occurred to file a claim. The only exception to this is if it is a dust-related condition, in which case it won’t be subject to any personal injury time limits.
While this may seem like quite a bit of time, it is also important to remember that a significant amount of work usually needs to go into preparing the claim before it can be filed. This will include things like receiving a medical assessment, putting together records of the incident, gathering evidence of past and future economic losses as a result of the incident and so on. Whether or not you decide to carry out this process yourself or with the assistance of a lawyer will also effect how long the claim preparation takes, as it will generally take a self-represented person a while longer to prepare a proper claim as compared to a personal injury lawyer.
You should also keep in mind that depending on what state you are in, time limitations may vary.
If you wish to have a free consultation with one of our PI Lawyers Brisbane to discuss personal injury time limits, you can contact our office on (07) 3252 0011 or through our general enquiries page.
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