Not every victim of an auto accident understands what it means to file a claim. Personal injury lawyers would like to correct that misunderstanding.
Filing a claim is not the same as reporting an accident.
The person that has purchased an automobile insurance policy has an obligation to report any accident. The Personal Injury Lawyer in Kitchener knows that the same person then has the right to choose whether or not he or she wants to file a claim. Once the insurance company hears about an accident, it starts a file. It enters the information that it might need to have, if the policy holder were to proceed with filing a claim.
The 2 different ways to file a claim
All claims filed by a policy holder represent an attempt to obtain promised coverage. A first party claim gets made to the policy holder’s own insurance company. A policy holder can make a 1st party claim, regardless of who has been found at fault for a given accident.
A third-party claim gets made to the defendant’s insurance company. In the case of a car accident, the defendant is the driver responsible for that particular incident. If the defendant is uninsured, then the plaintiff cannot make a third-party claim.
Filing a claim is not the same as filing a lawsuit.
If the victim of an accident wants to file a lawsuit against the defendant, then he or she must do that before the deadline, as specified in the statute of limitations. Someone that has filed a lawsuit is not obligated to move forward with that lawsuit, and to fight the dispute in court. Still, if a defendant were to dispute an allegation that had been made by the plaintiff, the filed lawsuit would provide the plaintiff with a clear path forward.
A parent could file a lawsuit for a child or teenager that had been involved in a car accident. That would allow the young adult to pursue that lawsuit, in the event that he or she developed a severe injury, one that was obviously caused by the accident. That is a fact that should be made clear to any family that has been involved in an accident. Maybe the parents do not want to sue the defendant. Still, changes in a child’s or a teen’s health might reveal the wisdom behind suing that same defendant.
A young adult does have 2 years in which to file a claim, after turning 18. Still, that same young adult might be faced with a number of decisions, at that point in time. Submission of a request for a lawsuit would not have to get considered, if it had already been made. Remember, the fact that it was filed would not force the young adult to meet the sued party in a courtroom. Still, the filed lawsuit would make such a courtroom meeting possible.