You are entitled to medical benefits from the first day of injury. Benefits may include: death benefits, specific loss benefits (finger, hand, or certain disfigurements), payment for surgery and other equipment as well as services provided by a doctor or other heath providers.

The law requires that you file a lawsuit within a specified period of time depending on the nature of the claim and the entity that caused your injury. This is referred to as the statute of limitations. Failure to file suit within this time frame prevents you from filing suit at all. In some instances, there are various exceptions to the statutes of limitation that may extend or limit the limitation periods. There may be special claims presentation requirements. For example, if you have a claim against state or local government, you must notify them within six months of the date of the incident. For these reasons, it is important to consult an attorney as early as possible to be sure you don’t miss a crucial deadline.

In Pennsylvania, most actions for personal injury must be commenced within two years after the cause of action accrues. In most cases, the cause of action accrues on the date of the incident, but there may be exceptions when the injury could not have reasonably been discovered until a later date. In such cases, the limitation period does not begin to run until the discovery of the injury is reasonably possible. Wrongful death cases must be filed within two years from the date of death.

In its most simple definition, it means that someone was careless and as a result of being careless, someone else was injured. Negligence serves as the basis for a personal injury lawsuit. Negligence is any conduct that falls below the recognized standards of behavior established by law for the protection of others against unreasonable risks of harm. A person has acted negligently if he or she has departed from the conduct expected of a reasonably prudent person acting under the same or similar circumstances. To establish negligence, a plaintiff (the person injured) must be able to prove or demonstrate in court that the defendant (the person being sued) had a duty to the plaintiff, the defendant breached that duty by failing to conform to the required standard of conduct, the defendant’s negligent conduct was the cause of the harm to the plaintiff, and the plaintiff was, in fact, harmed or damaged. For example, the driver of a tractor trailer truck hauling a large piece of machinery owes a duty to other drivers on the freeway to be careful. If the truck driver failed to strap down the machinery and it fell off the truck, landing on a passing car and injuring the driver of the car, a personal injury claim could be made based upon the negligence of the truck driver.