What Happens If I Get Into A Car Accidents with Pre-Existing Injuries?

A pre-existing injury can add to the complexity of a personal injury lawsuit. As you know, insurance companies are always looking for ways minimize damages awarded or disprove the plaintiff’s claim. For example, you may have been injured prior to a car accident. Your neck injury may have certainly been worsened by the crash, but it’s hard to prove the defendant is at fault. Their insurance company will use it against you and lower any settlement offered.

Is there a way to get around this? For one, you need an experienced Los Angeles car accident injury attorney. You’re not entitled to damages for an injury or condition that wasn’t caused by the accident or the other party’s negligence. A lawyer representing you can, however, fight to get you compensation if the accident worsened a pre-existing condition.

Aggravation of Pre-Existing Conditions

If an accident can be proven to have exacerbated a pre-existing problem, you may be compensated for:

• Accident-related injuries
• Physical ailments
• Anxiety
• Depression

But if you’ve previously suffered a neck injury, it can be hard to tell if whiplash resulting from an automobile accident made it worse or the problem would have been less severe without the accident. Even if the whiplash aggravated a pre-existing condition, your damages may be significantly reduced.

Also, if you once had a neck or back injury, and you recovered, proving a car accident caused your symptoms is a challenge. There are other difficult circumstances. One is when a previous vehicular accident caused an injury. In that case, an insurance company may dispute the claim regarding the accident in question.

Are You an Eggshell Plaintiff?

The eggshell skull rule goes by many names, but the general idea is the victim is taken as they’re found. You may have been injured the day before, but the injury could have left you more susceptible to harm in a subsequent accident. It can be a single injury or general frailty; the defendant would not have known about your prior injury or health. But they can be held accountable for wrongful actions that led to damages sought in the claim.

Protecting Your Legal Rights

Your medical records are proof of your health before and after the accident. Accurate medical records and your medical bills are essential to establishing a causal relationship between an accident and your injury. An insurance company can make all sorts of judgements when it sees medical records, so your doctor should clearly distinguish differences between your condition prior to and immediately after a car accident.

Having a skilled Los Angeles personal injury attorney on your side is also an advantage. Your attorney should see the records before the insurance company to anticipate their arguments. They can also take testimony from medical witnesses, which can help calculate the damages you as a defendant may be liable for. If you have pre-existing injuries exacerbated by an accident, call The Law Offices of Jacob Emrani (serving car accident victims throughout California) at 888-952-2952 today!