A motorcycle accident is frightening and stressful. Depending on the severity of your accident, you could spend weeks or months in doctor appointments and seeing specialists. You may need to visit a chiropractor or make time for physical therapy. For an avid motorcyclist, there is an equal commitment to repairing the damage to your bike and replacing any damaged riding gear or equipment.
In short, the weeks following a Nashville motorcycle accident in are dedicated to repairing physical injuries and property damage. It is understandable that during this frantic time, contacting a Nashville motorcycle injury lawyer doesn’t come to mind. Most people don’t think about lawsuits and personal injury claims immediately after an accident, much less the process of hiring a lawyer.
However, eventually the medical bills will arrive in the mail and the cost of repairing your motorcycle will hit your credit card. When these expensive repercussions of motorcycle accident become apparent, you will probably wonder, “what is the timeframe for bringing a motorcycle injury case in Nashville?”
All Motorcycle Injury Cases Are Personal Injury Cases in Nashville
Under Tennessee law, there are several types of personal injury lawsuits. If you slip and fall in the grocery store, you may have a personal injury case against the property owner. Such claims are commonly called slip and fall cases. Similarly, if you are injured because the design of your new lawn mower makes it very likely you will cut your leg or foot on the mower’s blade, then you could have a personal injury claim. Personal injury lawsuits involving product design or construction are called product liability cases.
Car accidents are yet another subset of personal injury cases in Nashville, and likewise, so are motorcycle injury cases. As motorcycle injury cases are a type of personal injury claim, a Nashville motorcycle injury lawyer must provide similar evidence regarding fault, negligence, and cause, as is required in other personal injury lawsuits.
For example, if you are hurt in a slip and fall accident, then your personal injury lawyer must show that the store owner was responsible for the property and also owed you a duty of care while on the property, that the store owner was negligent in leaving spilled water or slippery substance on the store’s floor, and that your injuries were caused by the fall in the grocery store. The same requirements, although a different fact pattern, apply to motorcycle injury cases.
A successful motorcycle injury case requires evidence that the other driver was at fault for the collision, that the driver was negligent or reckless in causing the accident, and that your injuries were caused by the motorcycle accident. These substantive requirements aren’t the only similarites between a Nashville motorcycle injury case and other personal injury lawsuits. The same procedural requirements also are applicable.
What Does Personal Injury Law Say About Timing of a Case?
Just as the laws on personal injury set the requirements for a motorcycle injury case, the same is true for procedural requirements. One of the most important procedural requirements in any personal injury case is the statute of limitations.
The statute of limitations is the amount of time after the accident or discovery of the injury that a plaintiff is allowed to bring a lawsuit. According to Tennessee’s personal injury laws, the statute of limitations is determined by the discovery of a cause of action. For a motorcycle accident, fall in a store, etc., the discovery of the cause of action usually is the date of the accident. Also, it’s important to keep in mind that other types of civil lawsuits, such as breach of contract and disputes over real property, are subject to different statutes of limitations from a personal injury case.
For motorcycle injuries, as well as injuries involving other types of vehicles, the statute of limitations is is one year. The statute of limitations begins to run, which means accrue, from the date of your motorcycle accident. This means you have exactly one year from the accident to hire a Nashville motorcycle injury lawyer and file your claim with the court. (There are some exceptions, but these are allowed in very rare circumstances.) If you don’t file your motorcycle injury claim within this one-year period, you are barred from recovering any of your expenses or losses.
Why You Should File a Motorcycle Injury Claim Early
There is no need to wait six or eight months to approach a Nashville motorcycle injury lawyer with your claim. There are no benefits for waiting until your bills become due or brushing up against the statute of limitations deadline. In fact, the earlier you file a motorcycle injury claim in Nashville, the better for your case.
Filing a Nashville motorcycle injury case soon after the accident makes it easier to collect documentation and other evidence. Your Nashville motorcycle injury lawyer can locate and question witnesses before details become fuzzy and misremembered. You can also provide an account of the accident while it is still fresh in your mind.
As well, police reports, medical bills, and other paper evidence are easier to locate. There isn’t a need to dig through old files or try and organize bills from months prior. Finally, insurance companies want to process claims swiftly and efficiently and are more likely to cooperate if you contact the company soon after a collision or accident.
Contact a Nashville Motorcycle Injury Lawyer
So, if you were recently in a Nashville motorcycle accident and believe you have a personal injury claim against the at-fault driver or other negligent parties, contact Joel Surber, our team leader, at Suber, Asher, Surber & Moushon, PLLC immediately. Our team of Nashville motorcycle injury lawyers can start working on your case when you call (615) 997-1921.
