If you have suffered a personal injury you may be aware that claims for personal injury compensation are subject to strict time limits. This means that if you fail to begin your case within a certain time frame (typically three years of the date of the accident), your case may not be heard. However, in the case of childhood injuries, and due to the fact that children cannot make a claim on their own behalf, time extensions are permitted (for further information, see Pintas PI lawyers). Let’s take a look at how these time extensions play out in real life.
If you were aware of your injury and nobody claimed on your behalf
If you were injured as a child in an accident that wasn’t your fault, you will have had to rely on a parent or guardian to start the personal injury claims process on your behalf. Where a claim was not brought by a parent or guardian at the time of the injury, you generally have three years from the date of your 18th birthday to begin your claim (note that the claim does not have to be completed within this time frame, but rather your lawyer must submit the relevant paperwork by this date).
Even if you believe that the school or company or individual responsible for your injury is no longer available to face legal action, there may be something that can be done to ease the financial burden of certain ongoing costs that may relate to a childhood injury. For example, if your injury has resulted in a disability that means your home requires the installation of mobility aids such as ramps or handrails – speak to a lawyer for further details of how a claim may be handled.
If you didn’t know you were injured
If you have recently been made aware that an ongoing and debilitating adult condition is linked to a childhood injury, bear in mind that you have three years from the date of discovering this fact (known as your date of knowledge) in which to begin your claim for personal injury compensation. A typical example of a debilitating adult condition linked to a childhood injury is exposure to asbestos. Used as a construction material in older buildings, asbestos is a fibrous insulator that poses a major health risk. When microscopic asbestos fibres enter the lungs, they become embedded in the lining of the lung wall. When this happens, the body reacts as if it were under attack from a virus, resulting in localised swelling that never eases. The result is a type of lung cancer called mesothelioma.
If you are living with an adult condition linked to a childhood injury, speak to a lawyer today to discover your options.
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