Well, yes and no. You may be surprised to learn the other party’s insurance company usually won’t pay your bills as they come due. Your health care providers won’t be too excited about that. Keep in mind, the other party’s insurance company doesn’t have a contract with you. Frankly, they don’t even have to return your calls in a timely manner – if at all! Even if they do eventually pay, don’t be surprised to learn they won’t pay for all your bills.
Answer: If you’re calling me right after your accident, then I don’t know.
I got a call today from a client who got hurt about 3 days ago. His ankle was fractured, and he asked, “How much is an ankle worth?” Truth is, there is no open market for body parts so I couldn’t tell you how much an ankle is worth so early on in the case. We still don’t have all the facts. This is not like calling Walmart and asking, “How much for a basic toaster oven?” If a lawyer promises your case is worth a certain amount so early in the case, that lawyer is not giving you a fair or accurate evaluation of your case. My recommendation to the client was to keep visiting with his doctors and make sure his health was top priority. After he is done treating, he will be in a better position to approach valuation of his case. In some cases, significant car accidents, especially side-impact auto accidents can cause hip injuries or aggravation of a pre-existing hip problem. Trauma from a car accident to the hip can lead to very severe fractures.
The treatment of these injuries can require the use of plates and rods or the revision of the hip replacement entirely with placement of a new, long femoral component to span the fracture. The key in these kinds of injury cases is causation. Was there is “mechanism of injury?” The main question is whether or not the accident actually caused the hip injury. Just because you have a hip problem doesn’t mean you get to blame a car accident. If you had a pre-existing problem in your hip, the accident may have “aggravated” the condition but not necessarily made it worse. Close consultation with a hip replacement surgeon is critical when it comes to hip injury and car accident personal injury cases. While rotator cuff tears are often associated with repetitive use of the shoulder, you can have a traumatically induced rotator cuff tear. The rotator cuff is composed of muscles and tendons which can get injured when there is direct impact to the shoulder from a side impact, for example. However, another common way for the rotator cuff to become injured is when an individual braces for a rear end collision. By holding the steering wheel tightly in anticipation of an impact, they tighten the shoulder muscles and tendons, making it more likely for injury to occur. To learn more about rotator cuff injuries and car accidents, please visit my library article.
A personal injury case is when the negligence of another causes you harm. Negligence occurs when someone violates their duty to use due care (i.e., failing to drive safely, obey traffic laws, etc). However, their negligence must be the cause of some harm to you. The harm has to be appreciable. If someone’s negligence causes you to get a tiny scrape on your arm, then you probably shouldn’t waste time pursuing anything. However, if the harm is appreciable (economic harm, non-economic, and/or both), then you should consult with an attorney.
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April 2024
by Robert MansourRobert Mansour is a personal injury lawyer serving Santa Clarita, Valencia, |