Personal injury public guide
Learn how injury claims are commonly documented and handled
Review general information about medical records, incident documentation, insurance communications, damages, published time limits, and licensed help.
General legal information. A licensed attorney can apply it to your facts.
Recently injured or contacted by an insurer?
Get needed medical care, preserve evidence, and be cautious with recorded statements or releases. Some claims and government notices have short deadlines.
Your first useful result
Build a personal injury starting roadmap
Choose the situation that is closest. The result organizes first moves, records, source-linked tools, and questions for licensed review.
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What each roadmap covers
Open any path to see the information it organizes before making a selection.
The injury or incident was recent+
Preserve incident, witness, condition, medical, insurance, and work-loss information while it is still available.
The roadmap organizes:
- Record the date, time, location, conditions, people, entities, and available witnesses.
- Preserve photographs, video, reports, physical evidence, and relevant communications lawfully.
- Keep treatment, symptoms, restrictions, missed work, and out-of-pocket expenses in a dated log.
- Open the state source page for filing periods and any government-notice rule.
Records:
Incident or police reports · Photos, video, and witness contacts · Medical and pharmacy records · Insurance and employment records
An insurer requested a statement, authorization, or release+
Keep the request, policy, claim history, communications, and proposed authorization or release together for review.
The roadmap organizes:
- Preserve the exact request, form, authorization, release, deadline, and sender information.
- Create a communication log showing dates, participants, and what was requested or provided.
- Keep policy, coverage, claim-number, and prior payment information together.
- Use licensed review for the scope and effect of a statement, authorization, or release.
Records:
Requested forms or releases · Insurance policies and coverage letters · Claim correspondence · Medical and wage records already provided
A city, county, state, school, transit agency, or other public entity may be involved+
Identify every public entity and verify source-linked notice requirements separately from the ordinary filing period.
The roadmap organizes:
- Identify the entity, department, employee, contractor, location, and event date as precisely as possible.
- Open the state source page and the entity’s official claim or notice instructions.
- Keep notice forms, delivery method, recipient, and proof of receipt together.
- Treat government-notice timing as a separate procedural question from a lawsuit filing period.
Records:
Incident and agency reports · Official claim or notice form · Delivery and receipt proof · Entity and employee identification
I am organizing treatment, losses, and claim value information+
Build a documented chronology of medical care, function, work, expenses, insurance, and continuing needs.
The roadmap organizes:
- List every provider, visit, diagnosis, test, treatment, referral, restriction, and gap by date.
- Track bills, insurance payments, liens, mileage, equipment, and other expenses separately.
- Record missed work, reduced duties, wage records, and employer communications.
- Describe functional changes with concrete before-and-after activities rather than a single total.
Records:
Medical records and bills · Insurance explanations of benefits · Wage and employment records · Expense, lien, and functional-impact records
Published by DocketBuddy · Roadmap content reviewed August 9, 2026 · State pages carry their own source verification and review dates.
How the process is usually organized
Preserve records
Incident reports, photographs, witness information, medical records, bills, correspondence, and work-loss records may be relevant.
Understand the participants
Health providers, insurers, employers, property owners, government entities, and other parties may have different roles.
Confirm applicable time limits
The correct period can depend on claim type, jurisdiction, age, discovery, defendant, notice rules, and other exceptions.
Check the deadline, notice, fault, and damages rules
Choose a state for source-linked limitation periods, government-claim notice, comparative-fault, and damages-cap posture.
Browse all 51 published state guides
Official and public sources
Use these sources to verify the common process. Need help applying it to your situation? Find licensed help.
For personal injury attorneys
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