Indiana Personal Injury Attorney
"I have been injured. What should I do?"
Personal injury is a vast legal area under the legal body of law called tort law. The place to start is with understanding the type of case you have. The common types of Indiana cases that fall under this classification range from somewhat routine to exceeding complex:
- Slip and fall.
- Auto accident.
- Mass transportation catastrophe (airplane crash).
- Injury by dangerous product.
The latter personal injury cases generally necessitate skilled personal injury attorneys and a number of other experts, which may range from medical doctors to engineers of varying types. Without these, the case loses its settlement or trial value.
A complication is added to the personal injury calculus if the injury occurs while at work. In these cases, worker’s compensation may be the only remedy available to an injured person.
Competent and diligent personal injury attorneys can and will sort through these matters.
This noted, a current development and topic of interest/concern to Readers is a controversial change to Indiana’s ethical rules that went into effect January 1, 2011. Specifically, the new rule prohibits the personal injury attorneys who ply these waters from making any unsolicited contact with any injured party in a personal injury or mass catastrophe case until 30 days have passed.
The new rule tries to strike a balance between the emotional turmoil an injured person or grieving family might be experiencing, thereby impairing their ability to make an informed choice about legal counsel, versus the needs of the case.
However, the initial 30 days following an accident may be a critical time to preserve evidence for the case. Simply put, it may not exist, in whole, or in part a month after the fact. In addition, the time for a notice of tort claim (if a governmental entity is at fault) rapidly expires.
For this reason, every legal consumer should educate himself or herself about the personal injury process and decide if waiting for contact from counsel is the appropriate choice. Nothing in the rule prohibits an injured person or his or her representative from contacting a personal injury attorney during this period.
Given the profound impact a significant injury may have on life for weeks, months, and years following, making an informed decision and charting a course of action, even under this stress and duress of a recent injury or loss, is critical to making your future whole.
In each and every case, Readers should retain information about witnesses and treatment providers for the future use of their counsel and exercise extraordinary caution in settling any claim until the nature and scope of injuries and fully known.
Take care, and consult with counsel. The personal injury attorneys at Ciyou & Dixon, P.C. accept certain types of personal injury cases and are available to consult with you.
