Free Consultation
(715) 849-3200
Practical steps to protect your health, evidence, and legal rights
An accident can leave you hurt, shaken, and unsure what to do next. In the first hours and days, your health must come first. At the same time, a few practical steps can protect important information and help preserve your legal rights.
You do not have to handle everything at once. Start with safety and medical care. Then, when you are able, document what happened and speak with an experienced Wisconsin personal injury lawyer before making decisions that could affect your claim.
If you are in immediate danger, move to a safe location if you can do so without risking further injury. Call 911 when emergency assistance is needed.
Seek medical attention promptly, even if you are not certain how badly you have been hurt. Some injuries—including concussions, internal injuries, and soft-tissue injuries—may not be obvious right away. Tell your medical providers how the accident occurred, where you feel pain, and whether you have any new symptoms. Follow their treatment recommendations and keep your appointments.
If your symptoms change or worsen, obtain additional medical care. A timely and accurate medical record helps your providers treat you and documents the connection between the accident and your injuries.
Report the accident to the appropriate person or agency. After a motor-vehicle crash, call law enforcement when anyone may be injured, a vehicle cannot be safely moved, the scene presents a danger, or the law otherwise requires a report. For an injury at a business, rental property, workplace, or other location, notify the owner, manager, supervisor, or other person in charge and ask that a written incident report be prepared.
When possible, obtain the report number and the name and contact information of the person who prepared the report. Do not assume that someone else has reported the accident.
Conditions can change quickly. Vehicles are repaired, spills are cleaned, defective products are discarded, and surveillance recordings may be erased. If you can do so safely, take photographs or video of the scene, the surrounding area, your injuries, property damage, weather or road conditions, and anything that may have contributed to the accident.
Get the names and contact information of witnesses. Write down what you remember while the details are fresh, including the time, location, conditions, and what happened immediately before and after the accident.
Keep damaged property and potentially defective products. Do not repair, alter, return, or throw them away before speaking with a lawyer. In a serious case, an attorney may need to act quickly to preserve physical evidence, electronic data, or video.
Cooperate with emergency personnel and provide truthful, basic facts. But do not guess about what happened, accept blame, or minimize your injuries. Immediately after an accident, pain, shock, and confusion can affect what you notice and remember.
An insurance adjuster may contact you soon after the accident and ask for a recorded statement or medical authorization. You may report the occurrence to your own insurer as required by your policy, but you should consider speaking with a lawyer before giving a detailed recorded statement, signing a broad authorization, or discussing settlement with another party’s insurer.
Create one place for accident-related documents. Keep medical bills, appointment information, prescription receipts, insurance correspondence, repair estimates, and other out-of-pocket expense records.
If you miss work, save pay stubs, employer communications, disability slips, and records showing the dates and hours you could not work. Also keep a simple journal describing your symptoms, medical treatment, sleep problems, activities you cannot perform, and the ways the injury affects your daily life. Be accurate and consistent; do not exaggerate or minimize what you are experiencing.
Assume that anything posted online may eventually be seen by an insurance company or opposing lawyer. A photograph or comment can be taken out of context and used to question your injuries.
The safest course is usually to avoid posting about the accident, your injuries, your activities, or the claim. Ask family and friends not to tag you or post information about you. Do not delete existing posts after a claim arises without first obtaining legal advice, because deleting material may create a separate evidence issue.
An early offer may come before you know the full extent of your injuries, whether you will need future treatment, or how much income you will lose. Once you sign a release, you ordinarily cannot return later and ask for more compensation if your condition worsens.
Before accepting an offer or signing any document, make sure you understand what rights you are giving up. A personal injury lawyer can investigate responsibility, identify available insurance coverage, evaluate your damages, and help determine whether an offer fairly accounts for your past and future losses.
Wisconsin law imposes deadlines on injury claims, and the applicable deadline can vary depending on the facts and the parties involved. Claims involving a government entity or employee may also require formal notice much sooner than the ordinary lawsuit deadline. Evidence can disappear long before any deadline arrives.
Contacting a lawyer promptly allows time to preserve evidence, investigate the accident, communicate with insurers, and identify every potentially responsible party. You do not need to wait until your medical treatment is complete to ask for advice.
The days after an injury can feel overwhelming. Taking these steps can protect your health and place you in a better position to pursue fair compensation, but you do not have to manage the process alone.
Bremer & Trollop Law Offices, S.C. represents injured people throughout Central and Northern Wisconsin. Our practice is devoted to personal injury cases, including motor-vehicle crashes, dangerous property conditions, defective products, farm and workplace-related injuries, dog bites, nursing-home abuse, and wrongful death.
Contact us for a free consultation. There is no attorney fee unless we obtain a recovery for you.
If you are recovering from an injury, you need to focus on regaining your health. You should not have to negotiate with stubborn insurance companies or compromise with a defendant.
A Wausau personal injury lawyer could lessen the stress and complications associated with collecting compensation, allowing you to recover fully. Call today to learn more about your options.
