A personal injury is an injury that occurs to a person’s body or property due to the negligence of another individual. The person who is the victim of a personal injury is liable to file a lawsuit for his compensation in the court. An attorney can help the victim a great deal in achieving his desired claiming compensation.
Statute of limitations
New Hampshire also follows a similar procedure of setting a time frame for the injured to file a personal injury claim in the court. This time is THREE YEARS in New Hampshire. Following details should be kept in mind before making a claim for personal injury in New Hampshire.
- The state of New Hampshire provides a time period of three years to people suffering from any personal injury to file a lawsuit for claim.
- The THREE YEAR time period should be strictly adhered to for filing a personal injury claim.
- If not filed under the given statute of limitations, the affected person may lose out on the opportunity to bring the at fault person to justice.
Vehicle insurance policies in New Hampshire
- Claim can be made through one’s insurance company.
- Claim can be acquired by the insurer of the person at fault.
- Claim can also be made by taking the accused person to the court by filing a lawsuit against him.
Finding fault for personal injury
The state of New Hampshire applies “modified comparative fault rule”. This rule basically leads to lesser compensation in case the victim suffering personal injury is also found to be accountable in the same offense. Here is an EXAMPLE of modified comparative fault rule:
Suppose you are using a chair outdoors, whereas it is clearly mentioned that it is for indoor use only. Now, the chair breaks and you sustain personal injuries. The court will also take into account our fault and will mark it to 35% in this case. This outcome can drastically affect the compensation amount you will receive. The awarded claim which earlier was $10,000 will get reduced to $6,500.
A real example of personal injury in New Hampshire
A typist received consistent pain in her wrists by using a latest laptop given to her by her bosses. Her personal injury due to this incident ruled the decision in her favour. As a result, she was awarded a compensation of $3,500 by the local court.
Damage caps in New Hampshire
As with all state, New Hampshire also puts caps to the damages to be received in the personal injury cases. In New Hampshire, a lot of state cap tend to reduce the damages as follow:
- Damages covering physical injury are regularly capped along with losses suffered due to medical negligence.
- Till the time 2012 arrived, New Hampshire stopped having any kind of caps in case of personal injury.
- The last cap observed was way back in 1980 involving unethical medical practice but was over-ruled.