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If you have decided that you must file suit against the driver that hit you, you should prepare yourself for a long and sometimes confusing journey. At the end, however, lies the compensation that you need and deserve. The way the justice system is set up tries to give both sides an even playing field and you might want to be prepared for what's coming. Read on to learn about 2 of many different defensive moves you can expect to encounter during your personal injury trial.

Did you file in time?

Once you are injured, you only have so much time to file a lawsuit against the person or business that wronged you. You can have the best case in the world, but if the statute of limitations has run out the case will be dismissed and will never be heard by a judge. In most cases, you have anywhere from a year to a few years, but the personal injury statute of limitations is different in every state. It's important for you to know how much time you have, and the correct state to bring your case. The state where the accident and injury occurred is the correct state (venue) for filing the suit. You can avoid this problem by speaking to a personal injury attorney as soon as possible after your accident; then you can rest easy that your case will be filed in time.

Did you sign a waiver?

Waivers of liability are everywhere these days and it's difficult to do almost anything that contains a chance, no matter how small, that you could end up with an injury. You may have heard some confusing things about these waivers. Some people think that if you sign one, you have no chance of suing. Other people think that you can sue no matter what. The facts lie somewhere in between, and you should understand what type of waiver you signed prior to your accident.

A waiver of total liability, for example, allows the owner of the business to deny any responsibility for any accidents that happen on the premises. These types of waivers are usually considered too far-reaching by the courts. For example, say you signed a waiver to let your daughter play t-ball at the local recreation center. During a game, the roof of the dugout collapsed, injuring your daughter. A waiver of total liability is not very likely to protect the recreation center or the park from a lawsuit for those injuries. They had a lot more responsibility to provide a safe venue than you did, so the waiver is essentially useless in this case.

There are many more defensive moves you might encounter, so speak to an attorney firm, like Downard & Associates, to learn more.