Accidents can happen anywhere, at any time, including at home, on vacation, or while you’re visiting a friend. Being injured can be a jarring experience as it is, but when you’re not near home, it can be even more stressful. That’s why it’s important to have a plan for taking legal action, just in case you experience an injury far from home.
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Your top priority should be to seek medical care
No matter where you are, it’s crucial to see a doctor after an injury, not just for your own well-being, but because not getting medical care will be used against you in court.
Getting immediate treatment, even if it’s an appointment with your primary care physician the next day, will tell the court you’re actually injured. If you skip this step, the other party – typically an insurance company – will try to discredit your injuries.
It’s a good idea to have the phone number for the local hospital wherever you’re visiting, but if you don’t have it ahead of time, it should be easy to find.
Once you’ve gotten medical attention, call a lawyer
Next to getting medical care, talking to an attorney is the most important thing you can do after being injured. It doesn’t matter how you were hurt – whether it was a car accident, a slip and fall, a dog bite, or anything else – an attorney can help you immensely.
Even if you don’t think you want to file a lawsuit at the moment, you might change your mind after talking to a lawyer.
An attorney can help you with a handful of things:
- Eliminate the stress of having to figure everything out on your own;
- Handle filing a lawsuit for you in an unfamiliar state, county, or country;
- Help you understand your options since you won’t necessarily be familiar with local laws;
- Clarify why you can’t file a lawsuit if you were involved in a car accident in a no-fault state;
- Advise you regarding whether you have a good case and if so, what your case is worth.
An attorney will advise you on the next steps to take, whether that’s working with an insurance company or filing a lawsuit.
Document extensive evidence
Being far from home means you won’t be able to just run back to the scene of your accident to document more evidence. Aside from the obvious, like your injuries, any cars that were involved, other people, or objects, there are many more pieces of evidence to photograph. For example, say you were hurt in a car accident because someone ran a stop sign.
Get photos of that stop sign area from a driver’s perspective so you can demonstrate what the person would have seen while approaching the stop sign. They might try to say there was an overgrown bush covering the sign, but if you take a photo the same day, you can prove that wasn’t the case.
It’s also possible that the at-fault driver might relay the scene of a car accident incorrectly in court in a way that is impossible given the actual layout. For example, if you got t-boned by someone who says they had the right of way, you might need to prove they were coming from an area where they did not have the right of way.
If you don’t know the area, you won’t be able to describe it to the judge, but a photo will explain everything.
Get contact info from witnesses
It’s always crucial to get contact information from witnesses to an accident, but when it happens far away, you need to act fast. In some situations, people have been able to get in touch with witnesses by posting to local Facebook groups, but you can’t count on that.
Be ready to approach people who may have seen something and ask for their name and number. Some people may not want to get involved but ask anyway.
Take note of any video cameras nearby
Video surveillance can be extremely helpful, but not if it’s erased. Look around for video cameras that may have captured your injury. Find out who they belong to and let the owner know you might need a copy of the tape for court.
Typically, your attorney would do this for you, but if you don’t have an attorney yet, time is of the essence and you don’t want to risk having that footage deleted.
Move quickly
If you decide to file a personal injury lawsuit, act fast. Don’t let the statute of limitations run out because then you can’t recover any compensation. Each state has a different time limit, so the sooner you take action, the better.
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