Legal Question in Personal Injury in Wisconsin

Re: At what stage of a personal injury should a law siut start?

My suggestion is always to start at least a preliminary investigation immediately. Assuming your son is 18, the statute of limitations against any third pary (someone not his employer) is three years from the date of injury.

I say to investigate immediately because evidence gets lost and misplaced all the time and witnesses move and forget all the time. If you think there is a case, then hire a lawyer immediately. Good luck.

Re: At what stage of a personal injury should a law siut start?

It would appear that your son has a worker's compensation claim that he can make for his time off from work, his medical expenses and any permanent injuries that result from the injury. He has this claim if he is injured in the course of his employment. In addition to the worker's compensation claim, he may also have what is called a third-party claim, if he can prove a case of negligence aginst someone other than his employer, such as the manufacturer, distributor, retailer of the machine or an outside company that did service work on the machine,but only if it is shown that they were negligent and thier negligence was a cause of his accident. If, as an example, the machine was not manufactured correctly to include warnings or guards or other safety shut-off buttons, there might me a third-party case to pursue, in addition to the worker's compensation claim. Often, the worker's compensation insurance company will investigate the potential third-party claim to see if there is this claim to be made because they can also recover some or all of the benefits that they have or will pay your son, out of any third-party recovery. It is difficult to tell you whether the third-party claim potential exists, without obtaining additional information from you. Please be advised that if the accident involving your son happened in Wisconsin, and if he was an adult at the time of the accident, there is usually a three year statute of limitations time period for the third-party case to be settled or to have a lawsuit started. If the third-party case is not settled or a lawsuit begun by that three year end point, your son may not be able to recover any money for his injuries or damages in the potential third-party case. Feel free to contact me if you have further questions or if you wish to discuss the facts of the accident further.