There are an infinite number of factors that can affect the compensation that a plaintiff receives in a personal injury settlement or jury award. The extent and severity of the physical injuries received by the plaintiff are certainly some of the most important factors that both sides of the lawsuit will focus on during the negotiations or trial. Whether or not the plaintiff suffered any permanent injuries can have a huge impact on the eventual monetary award that the plaintiff receives.
A victim in a personal injury accident can be injured in any number of ways. Additionally, those injuries can vary widely in severity. One of the most important questions that a personal injury lawyer will attempt to answer before deciding what the case is worth is whether or not the plaintiff suffered and permanent injuries. Why is it important to distinguish between injuries and permanent injuries? A victim in a personal injury accident has the right to receive compensation for her injuries. She also has the right to receive compensation for any expenses that she can reasonably expect to incur in the future as a result of the injuries. Many injuries can heal completely with proper medical treatment and therefore the plaintiff will not require future treatment and shouldn’t anticipate future suffering as a result of the injury. Other injuries, however, will leave lasting damage to the victim, Head, neck and back injuries are usually good examples of injuries that do not completely heal. A plaintiff that has received a head, neck or back injury can frequently expect to continue to have problems as a result of injury throughout her lifetime. As a result, she can expect to have medical bills in the future that should be the responsibility of the negligent party in the accident. Additionally, many injuries will continue to cause the plaintiff pain and suffering long after the personal injury case has been concluded. These future expenses must be factored into any settlement or jury award at the time of the personal injury settlement or trial or the plaintiff will forever lose her right to collect on them.
Proving a permanent injury generally requires a series of examinations, treatment and evaluation by a physician or a group of physicians. An attorney representing a plaintiff in a personal injury case will typically request detailed evaluations and written reports from any physician that has treated the plaintiff. The attorney will specifically ask the physician to indicate whether the plaintiff has suffered any permanent injuries as a result of the accident. The physician’s report will then indicate whether the plaintiff has indeed suffered a permanent injury, what the nature of the injury is and in many cases will assign a numerical percentage to the permanent injury. For example the physician may conclude that the patient suffered a 5% permanent partial impairment meaning that 5% of the plaintiff’s body has been injured beyond repair. This number can be a critical factor in determining the amount of compensation that the plaintiff is entitled to in her personal injury lawsuit.
If you would like to know more, please contact California personal injury attorney Emery Ledger of Ledger & Associates at 1-800-300-0001 or visit the website at www.ledgrelaw.com
