Although the plaintiff in a personal injury case can agree to any of several different types of settlements, the settlement process follows a clearly-defined path. That path always starts at the spot where some person’s negligence produced an injury in another party. In Ontario, the path’s course has been defined by Canadian tort law.

Actions that should be taken at scene of accident:

• Take lots of photographs.
• Get the names and contact information for any witnesses.
• Get medical attention as soon as possible.

Actions to take after returning home:

• Contact your insurance company.
• Keep all medical documents and public reports.
• Keep all the receipts that you received when paying for medicine or medical equipment. Keep all the receipts for the payment of doctors’ bills.
• Find and hire a Personal Injury Lawyer in Kingston. Get details on the statute of limitations. In Ontario it is 2 years.

Learn what you might be able to claim:

Did you have to miss many days of work? You can claim your lost wages as economic losses.

Was your injury serious or painful? Were you impaired physically or mentally? If either of those is the case, then you can claim pain and suffering.

Did you receive a great many medical bills? If so, you can claim your health care expenses.

Are you seeking justice for a loved one that was fatally injured and died? If that is the case, then you may be able to claim loss of guardianship or loss of companionship.

Work with your lawyer to gather the evidence.

Ideally, you have taken lots of pictures. Find out if any store in the vicinity of the accident had a camera focused on the spot where you go injured.

Have your lawyer get in touch with each of the witnesses. Also, ask your legal representative to go after the police report.

Review the types of settlements available to you:

Do you want to seek an interim payment? That is an advance on your settlement money. Arrangements for an interim payment get made after the settlement has been finalized. In that respect, an interim payment on a settlement differs from a lawsuit loan.

Do you want to agree to a structured settlement? That would have you receiving regular payments over time. Eventually, you would receive the full compensation, minus the amount of money that you owed to your lawyer.

Would you prefer to get a lump sum payment? Understand that some percent of your compensation goes to your lawyer; it covers the lawyer’s contingency fee. What about the rest of the money? Think about how you might spend it. Of course, some of that money should help you to get back to where you were, before you got injured.