Filing A Personal Injury Claim Against A Government Entity
Special rules must be followed if you want to file a personal injury claim against a government entity . This would include, for example, claiming for injury in an accident driven by a state employee during work time. You may want to claim against a city for a broken sidewalk that caused an injury or against a public hospital for malpractice.
File your claim within the time limit
Get medical treatment straight away and make sure you’re stable. If you want to make a claim against a government entity, you need to know that every state has different laws.
The most important thing to know is that if you are injured by a city, county or state entity, employee or property you must file a formal written complaint within a short period of time – usually 30 to 180 days.
This involves filing a Notice of Claim with the entity’s governing board. If you fail to file within the legal time limit, you will lose your right to be compensated.
It’s always wise to file your claim as soon as possible because you may have picked the wrong government entity or forgotten to include something. This means you have time to fix the error before it’s too late. Most public agency websites will give advice about where a claim should be filed.
The type of information required includes a description of the injury or damages and the date, place and circumstance of the occurrence. This is one of the trickiest parts of the form and it has to include all the liabilities you intend to pursue in your lawsuit.
The courts are quite strict about this and it is one area where people trying to claim without consulting a lawyer can easily make mistakes.
If you’re uncertain about which party is to blame, file your claim anyway. For example, if you and another car are involved in a three-way accident with a city bus, you should file a claim against the city, even if you believe the other car’s driver was to blame.
Do you need an attorney?
You may be able to access information on the internet as to your rights but it is important to consult an experienced attorney to guide you through the claims process. The procedures for claiming are intricate and an attorney can help you to get the compensation you deserve.
Getting more information and legal help
Consider talking to a personal injury lawyer to make sure you’ve covered all the legal bases and your rights are protected. If you have any questions, contact the Law Offices of Jance. M. Weberman on (213) 386-9100. You can also fill in a contact form on our website and we will get back to you as soon as possible.
The Weberman Law Office has been practicing law in Los Angeles for more than 20 years and will assist you in English, Spanish or French. We have successfully litigated hundreds of cases and will put our expert legal knowledge to work for you.