Personal injuries happen for a variety of causes. In most circumstances, an entity such as an individual, company or public institution can be identified as responsible for the incident that lead to personal damages of one or more persons.
The victims are entitled by civil law to accuse the entity to obtain compensation for the pain, suffering, and emotional and financial distress which ensued to the incident. Nevertheless, civil law requires that the lawsuit be filed within a certain period of time. This period of time is known in legal terms as “statute of limitations”. This is similar to the concept applied in penal law called period of prescription. The duration of the statute of limitations varies from state to state, and also depends on the type of incident that caused the personal injury.
Let’s examine the following hypothetical case:
On November 24, 2007, a careless driver runs a stop sign in Denver, Colorado. As a result of his actions, he hits another vehicle and causes a neck injury to the driver of that vehicle. Under the provisions of Colorado State Law, the victim of the motor vehicle accident has three years from the date of the damages to hire a Denver car accident lawyer and file a lawsuit against the culprit. These three years are the statutes of limitation in the state of Colorado.
After the expiration of this period, the plaintiff can no longer open any legal action against the other driver, no matter the reason. Even if the Denver car accident lawyer hired by the injured driver is sick on November 24, 2010, if he fails to file the necessary papers to the court, the legal system will not allow the victim to further pursue the case. This means that it is vital for the plaintiff to hire a Denver car accident lawyer and assign him or her with the task of filling the lawsuit as soon as possible.
There are some specific cases when different regulations concerning statutes of limitations apply. Let’s assume that the injured driver in our example needs a surgical intervention. One year after the operation, he develops a severe infection, and upon investigation it is discovered that the surgeon left a section of medical sponge inside the patient. This is a classic case of medical malpractice. To allow the victim to discover the personal injury which occurred in this case, or if the injury was intentionally concealed, the Colorado State Law specifies a discovery clause. This means that the sufferer is allowed two years, starting from the day of discovery, to hire a Denver medical malpractice lawyer to claim damages from the negligent surgeon. Other situations when exceptions are stipulated by the civil code are cases when the victim is disabled, as a result of insanity, imprisonment, or infancy. If the sufferer of a medical malpractice that happened in Colorado is under the age of 6, the victim can entitle a Denver medical malpractice lawyer to file a lawsuit against the culprit, on the 18th birthday, no matter how much time has passed since the incident.
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