Normally, an injured accident victim can file a personal injury claim for himself or herself. Still, there are some special circumstances that give rise to the need for exceptions. This article shares with the reader the rules that apply to a couple of those exceptions.
General rules on filing a personal injury claim
The incident that covers the injury-causing accident must be covered by the insurance policy of the person that has been held responsible for the harm done to the victim/plaintiff, as a result of the reported accident. The person filing the claim must complete that process in compliance with the statutes of limitation. That means that the injured party should file the claim before the stated deadline.
Someone that is filing a claim against a governmental body or agency must submit an administrative document. That document should provide the charged body or agency with information on the filed claim. The same document should get sent to the appropriate governmental body/agency before the deadline, which should have been stated in issued regulations.
Exceptions that apply to specific circumstances
Some accidents cause the victims to suffer a severe injury. Sometimes an accident proves catastrophic, and one or more victims die at the scene of the collision, or fail to recover and die. Such an occurrence gives rise to one of the circumstances that calls for application of an exception to the general rules.
Obviously, someone that is deceased cannot file a personal injury claim. Yet that same individual was injured, due to someone else’s negligent behavior. For that reason, a family member of the deceased has the right to file a personal injury claim. Some states allow the filing of a claim for negligent infliction of emotional distress. In this situation, a family member that has witnessed the distressing accident files the claim. Typically, that same family member was located within a “zone of danger” at the time of the reported incident.
Personal Injury Lawyer in Kitchener knows that restriction provides some insight into the difficulties that face law enforcement, as it seeks to identify adults that have committed sexual acts against children. Seldom is that family member present, when such an act gets carried-out.
So, even if the violated child were to speak out, a family member’s knowledge of the threat posed by the offending adult would not have been obtained from a zone of danger. Hence, that knowledgeable family member does not have the right to file a claim for negligent infliction of emotional distress.
Still, the offense does not have to be reported by the child. That fact explains the reason for the exceptions to the laws on reporting injuries, those that were caused by an act of violence against a minor.