If you experienced a personal injury in Wisconsin, you might qualify to receive compensation by filing a personal injury claim. Personal injuries cover a wide variety of incidents, from getting bitten by the neighbor’s dog to falling into a hole that was not covered sufficiently with topsoil.
The key to getting personal injury help in Wisconsin is to work with a state-licensed attorney who handles personal injury claims. Acting with a sense of urgency ensures your claim is filed before the state’s statute of limitations runs out.
How Do I File a Claim in Wisconsin?
Filing a personal injury claim correctly in Wisconsin helps you avoid wasting your time and money. It is essential that you follow all the rules established by the state for filing a claim that includes filing the following documents with the Wisconsin Circuit Court in the proper county.
Summons
The summons that you file with the Wisconsin Circuit court should contain the title of the case, the court where you seek monetary damages, and the address of both the defendant and the plaintiff. Your attorney can craft language that requests an answer from the defendant within a certain period. You can download the standard summons form at the Wisconsin State Statutes Section 801.095.
Complaint
A complaint document describes why you are filing a lawsuit against the defendant, as well as what you want the court to do for remedying the personal injury claim. Your lawyer drafts the document to include the legal reasons why the defendant should compensate you for suffering from one or more personal injuries.
Make sure to send the correct filing fee with your paperwork to ensure the expedited processing of your claim.
What is the Statute of Limitations in Wisconsin?
Every state imposes a deadline for filing a personal injury claim. Called the statute of limitations, the deadline for filing a personal injury lawsuit in Wisconsin is three years, which is one of the most favorable statute of limitations of any state in the country.
The clock starts ticking on the statute of limitations for your claim on the day when you suffered a personal injury. If you saved the document that details your medical care on the day of the personal injury incident, then that should be the day that starts the clock moving towards the filing deadline.
How Do I Prove Negligence in Wisconsin?
Filing a successful Wisconsin personal injury claim comes down to submitting persuasive evidence with your claim. If the incident includes an official report filed by a business or a government agency, you should send the report with other evidence that you collect.
Wisconsin personal injury law follows a comparative fault system for proving negligence. This means that you can assume some or most of the responsibility for causing the incident that left you with injuries.
According to the comparative fault rule, the amount of the compensation that you receive declines by the percentage assigned by the court for your responsibility in causing the personal injury incident. For example, if a car struck you while you were riding your bike, but you drifted briefly out of the bicycle lane before getting struck, the judge presiding over your claim might assign you some of the fault for the accident.
Dog bite claims in Wisconsin are considered strict liability cases, which makes a dog owner 100 percent responsible for a dog bite regardless if the owner’s dog bit someone for the first time.
What Kind of Compensation Can I Receive in Wisconsin?
Personal injury help is all about receiving just compensation to cover a number of expenses. Medical bills represent the most substantial expenses for most victims of personal injuries. Compensation from a personal injury claim can include money to cover the costs of diagnostic tests, treatment sessions, and any equipment required for a rehabilitation regimen.
You also have the right to seek monetary damages for pain and suffering. However, calculating the amount of money for pain and suffering is much more arbitrary than calculating what you deserve to cover the costs associated with medical bills. You might also receive punitive damages, which Wisconsin has capped at $200,000 or two times the amount of compensatory damages, whichever amount is higher.
How Do I Get Personal Injury Help in Wisconsin?
Before filing a personal injury claim in Wisconsin, schedule a free case evaluation with a personal injury attorney to determine the strength of your case. Your lawyer might make a few adjustments that make your claim more convincing when filed in a civil court.
