One common trick played by insurance companies is to claim that a personal injury victim’s injuries were “pre-existing” and therefore, their insured is not responsible for any damages. In truth, there are seldom any true cases involving “pre-existing injuries” when that term is given its plain and ordinary meaning.

For RI personal injury lawyers, Metropolitan Property and Casualty v. Barry, 892 A. 2d 915 (RI 2006) is an important case concerning Rhode Island uninsured and underinsured motorists (“UM”) insurance policy provisions. The Barry court determined that Rhode Island personal injury victims have a right to prejudgment interest beginning at the date of the automobile collision.

If you are not completely healed at the time you are considered to be at maximum medical improvement, your personal injury is considered a permanent impairment and you are entitled to compensation for this loss of function. This article reviews your legal options if you have a permanent medical impairment suffered from a personal or work-related accident.

Under the laws of Rhode Island, a lawsuit must be filed within three years after the incident causing your personal injury occurred. An insurance company may be sued up to 120 days later in some circumstances, but only if the original lawsuit is filed before this deadline.