Five important factors that affect your injury case

After practicing this area of law for over 20 years (for plaintiff and for the defense), we have found these cases boil down to five major factors:

• The severity of the impact, documented by photos depicting major damage and/or physical injuries.  If you can't see the damage, it's going to be difficult to persuade an adjuster (much less a jury) that any injury was likely.  If you have to point out the damage to others, that's not great for your case.  

• The nature and extent of the injuries.  Muscle sprain/strain cases are generally less serious than cases involving neurological damage and surgical intervention, etc.  Generally speaking, adjusters downplay "soft tissue" cases.  I can't tell you how many letters I've received from adjusters saying "Your client should have been done treating by now since she probably only had 'soft tissue' injuries."  You see, they presume the outcome without knowing anything about the case.  Soft tissue cases are already "judged" by adjusters before they know any of the details.

• Seeking appropriate health care quickly and consistently.  Delays in care, gaps in treatment, etc. will be used against you.  Basically, insurance adjusters will question your injury if you don't get care.  They will argue you didn't get care because you were probably just fine.

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• Making sure you communicate in great detail with your doctors regarding your injuries and the effects of the injuries on your daily life activities. You want your medical and treatment records to be detailed and well-documented.  If something isn’t documented, the insurance adjusters probably won’t consider it.   If something isn't in your medical records, most insurance adjusters will argue it never happened.

• Regularly documenting how the accident affects your daily life activities (known as your “non-economic” damages) and listing people who can substantiate these effects on your life. It’s one thing for you to testify about how the accident affected you, but getting others to corroborate your story is even more powerful.  Basically you want to document what pain you had, how it affected you, what you did to relieve the pain, how it affected your daily life, etc.  In short, your case will be far more compelling if you add some color, by recounting specific examples and effects of the injuries.