A personal injury is a term used to describe any harm or injury caused to your body due to an accident or negligence of another. If you are a victim of a personal injury in the state of Kansas due to the negligence of another person, you may file a personal injury claim against that person.
Statute of Limitations
In Kansas, the deadline for filing a personal injury case in state civil court is TWO YEARS. This time starts running from the time of the occurrence of the accident. However, in some cases, if you suffer a hidden injury that gets discovered later after the accident, the statute of limitation time will start from the date of the discovery of your injury.
Insurance laws in personal injury
Kansas is one of the few states that follow ‘No Fault’ insurance laws. Under this law, the injured party needs to file insurance claims under his or her own insurance company, instead of going to court. If the injured person wants to bring the case to the court, his or her insurance personal injury protection (PIP) benefits must have been exhausted. Additionally, he or she can file the case only if he or she has suffered a serious injury like:
- Permanent dislocation
- Fracture
- Compound, compressed, displaced, or comminuted fracture
- Permanent loss of a body function
- Permanent injury
Comparative Fault Laws in Kansas
When determining fault in an injury case, a ‘comparative fault’ rule is followed in Kansas. This rule reduces damages when the injured person is found to be partially at fault in the accident. The amount of compensation that gets reduced depends on the percentage of fault shared by the injured person. Let’s take an EXAMPLE to know how this rule works:
Suppose a person is shopping in a grocery store and suddenly slips and falls down over a broken floor tile. During the case proceedings, it is found that the person was reading an advertisement when the slip and fall accident happened. He was determined to be 10 percent at fault and the grocery store was at 90 percent fault. As a result, the compensation amount that would have been $10,000 becomes reduced to $9,000.
Damage Caps in Kansas
Many states in the country limit the amount of damages that can be awarded in a personal injury case. During a personal injury claim, Kansas limits the non-economic damages to a total of $ 250,000 for a single plaintiff. Recently, the laws of damage caps were changed in Kansas to slowly increase the damage cap for non-economic damages Kansas up to $350,000 over the next several years. Additionally, Kansas is a state that applies a serious injury threshold. The party who is filing for a personal injury claim must have suffered $2,000 before they can file a personal injury claim in the court.
