Oklahoma gives people injured in Edmond two years from the date of an accident to file a personal injury lawsuit (12 O.S. § 95). If a city, county, or state entity caused the injury, written notice must reach that government within one year (51 O.S. § 156). Missing either deadline can end an otherwise valid claim before it starts.
How an Edmond Personal Injury Lawyer Can Help After an Accident
When someone else’s carelessness leaves you hurt, an Edmond personal injury lawyer at Hasbrook & Hasbrook investigates what happened, gathers the police report, medical records, and witness statements, and deals directly with the insurance company so you can focus on recovering. If the insurer will not offer a fair settlement, we are prepared to take the case to court.
What Counts as a Personal Injury Case in Edmond?
A personal injury claim arises any time someone else’s negligence causes you harm and the law allows you to seek compensation for medical bills, lost income, and pain and suffering. If you are unsure whether your situation qualifies, our attorneys review the full range of personal injury matters our Oklahoma team handles at no cost to you. Common examples include:
- car accidents on Edmond’s streets and highways, the single largest source of local personal injury claims
- motorcycle crashes
- commercial truck collisions
- drunk or impaired driving crashes
- bicycle accidents
- dog bite injuries
- a life-altering, catastrophic injury, including spinal cord damage
- a serious head or brain injury
- wrongful death claims when an accident proves fatal
- dangerous conditions on someone else’s property, including slip-and-fall hazards
Proving Fault in an Edmond Personal Injury Claim
Not every accident supports a claim. Simply losing your footing on a level sidewalk is different from falling because a neighbor’s porch step collapsed. To recover, you generally must show that another person or company acted negligently and that their negligence caused your injury.
Oklahoma also follows a comparative negligence rule: being partly at fault for an accident does not automatically bar you from recovering, though a claimant whose own fault is found to equal or exceed the combined fault of everyone else involved cannot recover (23 O.S. § 13). An Edmond personal injury attorney can help you understand how this rule applies to your specific facts.
How Much Is My Edmond Personal Injury Case Worth?
Case value depends on the severity of your injuries, the cost of medical treatment, lost wages, and the effect the injury has had on your daily life. An Edmond personal injury lawyer reviews these factors, along with any long-term or catastrophic effects, to estimate what a claim is realistically worth and to make sure a settlement offer accounts for future as well as past losses.
Should You Settle or Go to Trial?
Settling out of court is usually faster and more certain, but it is not always the best outcome. Taking a case to trial can lead to a larger recovery when the insurance company refuses to negotiate fairly. Your attorney should walk you through the tradeoffs of each path and let you decide, with a clear recommendation based on the facts of your case, before any offer is accepted.
Negotiating With the Insurance Company
Insurance adjusters are trained to minimize payouts, and dealing with them while you are trying to recover from an injury adds unnecessary stress. Having an Edmond personal injury lawyer handle every call, letter, and settlement demand keeps the negotiation focused on the full value of your claim, not just what the adjuster wants to offer first.
Oklahoma’s Personal Injury Statute of Limitations
Most Edmond personal injury claims must be filed within two years of the date of injury, or the date you reasonably should have discovered it, under 12 O.S. § 95 (linked above). This is one of several statute of limitations rules in Oklahoma, and it runs faster than most people expect.
When a city, county, school district, or other government entity is involved, the deadline is shorter: written notice of the claim must reach the government within one year of the loss under 51 O.S. § 156 (linked above), well before any lawsuit can be filed. For a broader look at how these claims work in practice, see this overview of Oklahoma personal injury law.
Because motor vehicle crashes remain the most common cause of these claims nationally, confirming which deadline applies as soon as possible protects your right to recover.
Contact an Edmond Personal Injury Lawyer for a Free Consultation
Do not wait to seek legal advice if you or someone close to you was hurt because of another person’s negligence. Hasbrook & Hasbrook offers a free, no-obligation consultation to review your case and explain your options plainly. Start your free Edmond case review to find out where you stand.
Attorneys and legal writers on our team prepared this page under our editorial and legal-review standards, and attorney Clayton T. Hasbrook, who has practiced personal injury law in Oklahoma since 2008, approved it before publication.
