5 Critical Signs You Have a Legitimate Legal Claim

Not every bad experience is a lawsuit. That’s a hard thing to hear when you’re angry, hurt, and certain someone else is responsible. But the legal system doesn’t run on fairness in the abstract – it runs on specific conditions that either exist or don’t. Knowing which side of that line you’re on before you hire an attorney saves you time, money, and a lot of frustration.

Here are five signs your situation may actually qualify as a legitimate legal claim.

1. Someone Owed You A Duty Of Care

The first thing to establish is whether or not the person who you think injured you had a legal duty to prevent that kind of injury. For example, people have a duty to drive in a way that minimizes the risk of injuring others (which is why everyone has car insurance), doctors have a duty to minimize the risk of injuring their patients, and property owners have a duty to maintain as safe a premises as possible.

It’s worth noting that a duty of care doesn’t have to be written down in a contract or formal agreement – in many cases, it arises automatically from the relationship between two people or the situation they find themselves in. A shop owner doesn’t need to sign anything to owe you a duty of care the moment you walk through their door.

If you think about the person who you feel hurt you, and ask yourself if they had a responsibility to not do so, then you’ve at least figured out the beginning.

2. You Have Documented, Measurable Losses

Emotions and a sense of unfairness don’t pay the rent, or for physical therapy, so they shouldn’t be your primary focus when preparing for a personal injury lawsuit. When pulling together your documentation to assess whether your losses are real and provable, using a Legal Claim Assistant can help you organize what you have and connect with legal professionals who can give you a real evaluation.

Your case will ultimately live or die on whether you can demonstrate to the satisfaction of a judge and/or jury that you suffered real, compensable damages as a direct result of someone’s negligence or malfeasance. These damages can take many forms – medical bills, lost earnings, rehabilitation costs, or even the long-term impact on your quality of life. The more clearly you can put a number to your losses, and back that number up with records, receipts, and expert opinions, the stronger your position will be.

3. Their Failure Caused Your Harm Directly

Proving that someone breached their duty isn’t enough. You need causation too; a direct, provable link between their actions (or inaction) and the harm you suffered.

Proving this can be where many claims fall down. If your injury would have happened anyway, or another cause was chiefly responsible, causation becomes much harder to show. Courts don’t just consider if something bad occurred, but if their failure led to your harm.

Essentially, the causation test is: would you have been injured if they hadn’t been negligent? If you’re honest, and the answer is no, you probably have a good case.

4. You Still Have Time To File

A perfect legal claim as written in a textbook has no value if the statute of limitations has passed. There is a deadline for filing every type of claim, and these deadlines are strictly enforced. If you miss the window of time, your case will not be harmed, it will simply no longer exist.

The length of time you have to file a claim will depend on the nature of the claim and the location where the incident occurred. Some claims have a two-year window, while for others it may be even shorter. In some very rare cases, you may have a bit more time. However, you shouldn’t base your expectations on being the exception to the rule. If you think you have a legitimate claim, the clock is already ticking.

5. You Have Real Evidence To Back It Up

Strong arguments are based on the facts of the case – not just what you remember happening. Police reports, medical files, surveillance videos, photos taken at the scene, emails, and credible witness statements are all sources of evidence because they exist outside your recollection of events.

Courts use a preponderance of the evidence model for civil claims. This essentially means your description of events is more likely true than not. While a dramatic life story can certainly help your case, it cannot be the case. The more readily accessible documentation you have, the better your claims will be taken seriously in litigation, as well as settlement discussions; the vast majority of personal injury suits settle out of court – 95-97% (Bureau of Justice Statistics).

Separating Emotion From Eligibility

Please do not be discouraged from seeking what you are entitled to. These guidelines are designed to give you a realistic view of your chances though. The best claims typically have five elements in their favor: duty, causation, measurable damages, timely filing, and solid evidence. If your situation meets all five of those conditions, you have a very strong case. If it meets two or three, there may be a case, but you will need a lawyer to help you make those determinations.

Knowing where you stand is the first step to doing something about it.