Video Transcript
"How much time do I have to bring my personal injury lawsuit?" That’s a very critical and important question to ask.
Under Rhode Island law, that’s called the statute of limitations. That’s the period of time within which you must be able to settle your claim or file a lawsuit. All states have different time periods. In Rhode Island, for personal injury, it's 3 years.
There are many different rules and exceptions to that. One of them is trip and fall cases. There are some in which you must put the defendant on notice within 60 days of what caused your fall. Despite the fact that there’s a 3-year statute of limitations, if you don’t comply with that 60-day rule, you will lose all of your rights. That’s why it’s critical, as soon as possible after an injury, to come consult with us so we can work through all of those nuances and make sure you don’t miss any deadlines.
There’s another example of extending the statute of limitations beyond 3 years. That’s what we call the discovery rule. There are situations, for example, where you have surgery—you’re unconsious in the surgery, you obviously have no idea what’s going on, and they may have left sponges inside. It can take years before those sponges start to show; your body fights them. And now you have to have surgery and then, all of the sudden, you may discover, over 4 years later, what happened. That’s a perfect example where, even though it’s 3 years after the surgery, you didn’t know and had no reason to know within the 3 year time period, so you can still bring that case.
Again, it’s important to come speak to an attorney as soon as possible to make sure you don’t lose any rights that you may have. We’re equipped to be able to guide you and make sure you comply with all time limitations.
If you’re injured, come to us. Come to Kirshenbaum & Kirshenbaum and let us be your lawyers for life.
