When I first meet with a client, it is important to gather all the important information. While many factors are important, here is a discussion of some of the most important issues.
First, I need to know when the accident happened. If it happened a long time ago, my concern is what has been going on since then. Have you just been sitting at home? Have you been seeking medical care? I need the client to fill me in from the date of the accident to the time they visit with me. Generally, I'm concerned when a client calls me weeks or months after the accident. To be honest, I like to be brought aboard soon after the accident so I can best guide and advise the client. However, every case is different and I would encourage someone to seek legal counsel anyway. Also, I need to know when the accident happened so I can be aware of any statute of limitations issues. The statute of limitations is the time within which a lawsuit must be filed or your claim will probably be barred. I also need to know where the accident happened. This will help me determine which court will probably host the trial for the case. Most cases don't go to trial, but it's good to know which courthouse might be involved. Certain jurisdictions are traditionally liberal while others are traditionally conservative. It is good to know whether or not your potential jury pool will be liberal or conservative. I also need to know how the accident occurred. I need to know who was at fault and how it happened. It's helpful to have a police report which points the blame squarely on the responsible party. If you are found at fault, or even if liability is disputed among the parties, then we have to ask ourselves whether it is worth the time, energy, and money to fight the claim. It probably doesn't make sense to spend $10,000 or $15,000 trying to prove a $5000 claim. Next, I need to know what happened to your body in the car crash. This is important to determine the "mechanism of injury." All insurance adjusters are concerned about mechanism of injury. In other words, if you claim injury to your knee, it begs the question: How was your knee injured? The answer can't just be: "Because I was in an accident." Did you twist your knee? Was it hit from the side? Did your knee hit the dashboard? If you're claiming injury, you need to explain how the injury occurred. The mechanics of the accident and how your body reacted to the accident are important. The mechanism of injury is very important to the insurance adjuster. In fact, if they don't believe your injury, they will often argue there was no "mechanism for injury." Then I need to know how much property damage there was to your car. This has become increasingly important as insurance companies fight injury claims. Think about it - if you are claiming significant injury but there's only a little scratch or dent to your car, and adjuster and the jury will probably have a hard time believing you were injured. However if the entire rear of your vehicle was crushed, that is something much more compelling and convincing. I can tell you unequivocally that this issue of property damage influences adjusters and juries perhaps more than any other issue. I hate to say it, but no matter how hard the impact felt to you, if the adjuster or a jury can't easily any appreciable damage to the rear of your vehicle, then you have an uphill battle. Next, I would like to find out what happened immediately after the accident. Were you taken away by ambulance? If so, it is generally more believable that you were injured. After all, why would anyone willingly take an ambulance ride to the hospital unless they were indeed injured? Insurance adjusters use the absence of emergency transportation as evidence that you were probably not injured in the accident. Conversely, they often consider emergency transportation as evidence that you were indeed injured. Also, I look to see if the police report documented any complaints of injury at the scene. If there were complaints at the scene, and they are consistent with your later claims, it is more convincing to an insurance adjuster. Therefore, it is in your best interest to tell the police officer what injuries you had so they are properly documented in the police report. It will serve you well later and add credibility to your claim. If you were injured in an accident, it is important for me to find out what subsequent care you received. Did you follow through with the recommendations of the emergency room doctor?Insurance adjusters are an inherently suspicious bunch. They deal with exaggerated claims all the time. If you were referred for physical therapy, make sure you follow through. If you fail to follow through or miss scheduled appointments with doctors, that will be used against you. Your medical history is also important. If you are claiming back pain from an accident but you have a history of back pain, you can bet that your previous condition will be used against you. Of course, you will likely argue that your previous condition made you predisposed to injury. However, that won't stop the insurance company from arguing that your current complaints are probably related to your previous injury and have nothing to do with the auto accident. Do not hide your medical history from your attorney. It is very important. Also, it is important to know what kind of insurance is involved in the case. The types of insurance available may help dictate how we approach your particular case. We may choose to use your car insurance or perhaps your health insurance instead. In some cases, people have medical payments coverage available under their insurance policies. It might be better to use that to pay the medical bills. Also, you need to check if you have uninsured motorist in case the other party was uninsured at the time of the accident or didn't have enough insurance at the time of the accident. Make sure you show your attorney your "declarations page" which contains a summary of all the insurance available to you on your auto insurance policy. If you don't have your declarations page, call your insurance company and they should send you a replacement declarations page. We also need to consider how we are going to pay for the treatment you might need in your case. Perhaps we should use the health insurance you have. However, keep in mind that whatever resource you use, they may have a right to reimbursement. We have to enter into these decisions carefully. If you had no health insurance at the time of the accident and incurred medical bills, there may be limited options. In some cases, your attorney might be able to get the health care providers to hold off before sending you to collections. This doesn't work in every case but it's certainly worth trying. This was a snapshot of the types of issues I think about when approaching an accident case. There are other concerns of course, but these are some of the most important. If you've been involved in a serious accident and you have questions, please call (661) 414-7100. VIDEO TRANSCRIPT:
Hello everyone, this is Robert Mansour. I want to discuss two issues with you today that may affect the value of your personal injury case. The first issue is that your diagnosed injuries may affect the value of your case, so when you go to the doctor, you have to mention every single thing that is bothering you. Do not just lump them all together. For example, let’s say you’re having pain in your elbow, your shoulder, and your neck, but it’s primarily your shoulder. You go to the doctor’s office and they say, “What hurts, Jimmy,” or whatever your name is, and you say, “Well, it’s my shoulder.” They’re just going to right down shoulder, and in your medical record that’s the only thing that it’s going to say; shoulder. That’s one thing and when the insurance adjuster takes a look at your file, they’re going to be like, “Well, Jimmy wasn’t hurt that bad. It’s just one little thing, big deal.” But, in fact, you may have had three or four body parts that were hurting, but you lumped them all together. Be very specific when you talk to your doctors about your injuries. Break them down into smaller categories. For example, your back, some people say, “Oh, my back hurts.” Well, is it the upper back, the middle back, or is it the lower back? “My shoulders hurt.” “Well, what about your neck; do you feel any pain in your neck?” “Oh, yes I do.” Well, you’ve got to mention that. Are you having headaches, any blurred vision? Are you having any knee injuries or any kind of orthopedic complaints that you forgot to mention? Your diagnosed injuries may affect the value of your case, so you don’t want to leave anything out, and it’s not the time to be brave or stoic. You have to make sure that your doctors and your physical therapist, and anybody else who is caring for you, knows every single part of your body that is bothering you. I also tell clients that even if it’s bothering you a little bit, make mention of it, because what if it bothers you more later on and it gets worse? Then you mention it for the first time six weeks later; that’s not going to look good for your case. An insurance adjustor might doubt that the injury is related to the accident because you mentioned it several weeks after the accident occurred. The next thing I want to talk to you about, of the two things that I mentioned, that may affect the value of the case, is you have to mention to your doctors and your healthcare providers, and your physical therapist and chiropractor, mention to them how the accident affected your life. For example, when you go to the doctor, the usually say, “Well, how are you feel, Jimmy?” “How are you feeling Johnny, since the last time we say you?” If all you say is, better or worse, or about the same, they’re just going to right better, worse, about the same. That doesn’t really give the insurance adjustor a very fair picture of what your life was like because of the accident. You need to be very specific about how the accident is affecting you. For example, if you’re asked how are you feel, well, you be truthful, and you give them all the information. You’ll say things like, well, I couldn’t take a shower. It was very difficult to put my arms up in the shower. It was very painful. I can’t play with my kids. I’m having trouble mowing the lawn. I couldn’t do any woodworking in the garage. I was working a project and I couldn’t do that anymore. I had to quit some classes at school because I was in too much pain. I can’t sit and watch television without being uncomfortable. I can’t sleep on my left side. Those are illustrations of how the accident affected you, and those things add value to your personal injury case because they help the insurance adjustor understand the affects of the accident, so it doesn’t just say better, worse, about the same. Once again, number one, make sure that you mention all the injuries, every single one, to the doctors, and number two, make sure that your doctors have a very good understanding of exactly how the accident affected your life. Those two things may help the value of your personal injury case, because they help convey to the insurance adjustor your actual injuries, and how the accident actually affected your life. That information can be very helpful. Thank you very much for watching this video. If you have any questions, feel free to contact my office. Thank you. VIDEO TRANSCRIPT:
Hello everyone. This is Robert Mansour. In today's video I want talk about your health insurance company's right to reimbursement. Now I'm not going to get into all the different nuisances and details of this particular subject but here's the short thing I want you to remember. If your health insurance company pays for medical bills related to a car accident, they are probably entitled to reimbursement if you recover money from the responsible party. Let's say this fellow Bob hits me and causes an accident. My health insurance company pays for my medical bills, my hospital bill, my ambulance bill, et cetera. Let's say my health insurance company paid out $5,000 for that. Well, in most cases your health insurance company has a right to reimbursement of that $5,000 if I recover any money from Bob and Bob's insurance company. Let's say I call Bob and I say "Hey, Bob. You caused an accident. I want you to pay me." He says okay or his insurance companies pays me $5,000 or whatever, I have to make sure that from that settlement I pay back my health insurance company. This is a big mistake that people are not aware of and they don't realize that they have that reimbursement issue to deal with in many cases. If your health insurance company is involved in your personal injury case, find out how much they paid not how much they were billed but how much they actually paid. Find out if they have a right to reimbursement and if so what their lean amount is. Then you want to make sure that that lean is satisfied and taken care of as part of the settlement of your personal injury case. Thank you very much for watching this video. I hope you found it helpful. As a lawyer, there is only so much I can do. I'm not a magician. I can't take a horrible personal injury claim and make it into a good one. If a person calls our office months after an accident, my first concern is, "Why are they calling a lawyer so late in the game?" In most cases, the client has caused damage to their own case, and they think a lawyer is going to fix it.
Like a good coach, I'm only as good as my team. Phil Jackson is arguably a great NBA coach. However, if his players simply ran around the basketball court and did not follow his instructions or did not execute the plays they practiced over and over again, then his team is going to lose. It doesn't matter how good his coaching is. There are many things that clients do that can ruin their personal injury case. Oftentimes, clients have no idea they are putting holes in their boat that will prove to be a problem later on. Then the boat sinks and the clients wonder why. So here are some things people do that will almost always sink their personal injury case: 1) The client misrepresents how the accident has affected them. For example, during a consultation, the client says they can barely get out of bed, they can't work, they can't pick up their kids from school, etc. Given today's technology, insurance companies are eager to hire people to film you going about your daily life, picking up heavy groceries, going to the gym, playing ball with your friends, etc. Keep in mind this is an adversarial process. They are out to prove you wrong. In fact, that is their job. If you misrepresent matters to your lawyer, and the lawyer represents the same to the insurance company, then both you and your lawyer are going to be seen as untrustworthy. Also, be very careful of what appears on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and other social media outlets that might be viewed as inconsistent with your claim. In some cases, you may not be the one posting harmful photos, but a friend or family member might be doing so. In short, do not act inconsistently with your claimed injuries. 2) The client fails to show up to medical appointments and/or has significant gaps in treatment. Insurance adjusters always use failures to show up for appointments and gaps in treatment as indications that your injuries aren't as bad as you say they are. Otherwise, you would show up to your doctor's appointments, and there wouldn't be such gaps in treatment. Also, when there are gaps, the adjuster may assume there must have been another injury that occurred during the gap. Remember, adjusters are generally looking for reasons NOT to pay you. Why should you make their life easier? 3) The client makes damaging statements to the doctor that show up in the medical records. For example, the client says they feel 100% better when in fact they don't. Or they don't mention an injury because "it's not a big deal." Why would a client say that? Sometimes, clients want to be "macho" or stoic in front of their doctors. I tell clients that even if they still have 10% pain, they must mention it to their doctor. Whatever you say to your doctor during your visits, assume you are speaking directly with the insurance adjuster who will, whenever given the chance, use your statements against you. 4) The client hides past medical issues or past injuries from the lawyer. So many times, clients have looked me in the face and told me they did not have any prior injuries or similar medical issues in the past. I have to believe them, so I represent the same to the insurance company. What clients may not know is that insurance adjusters have access to large nationwide databases, and clients should operate under the assumption that their past injury or past medical records will be found. How can your lawyer help you if you don't tell them the truth or deliberately hide information from your lawyer? A client came for a consultation to my office long ago, and I asked her about prior injuries. She said, "Why do you need to know that? How is that important?" Needless to say, I did not take the case. This client was going to be difficult from the start! Don't be difficult with your lawyer. They are on your side! 5) Along the same lines, some clients hide past accidents from their lawyer. Again, those will most likely be found by the insurance company. Your attorney often doesn't have easy access to the same databases, so you and your lawyer will look like fools when the insurance company finds your past accident(s). 6) The client refuses to hire a lawyer when their injuries are serious. Cases involving serious injuries require serious attention. Would you go river rafting without a guide in your boat? If you wait too long to hire a lawyer, you may already be doing things that are harming your case without even knowing it. As stated earlier, if you've done irreparable harm to your case, your attorney is only human - they can't magically make the mistakes go away! 7) The client gives too much information to the opposing insurance company. Don't talk too much at the beginning of your case. As noted elsewhere on this website, don't be eager to give a statement to the opposing insurance company. As the saying goes, "Whatever you say can and will be used against you...." Statements solicited from you by insurance companies are rarely designed to serve your interests. The insurance company is preserving its own interests. If you give them too much information, you may find yourself in a bind when some of that information turns out to be false or not entirely true. The biggest mistake I see in this regard is when clients say, "Oh, I'm not injured. I feel OK." Then a few days later, they don't feel so good as their body recovers from the impact. Then they bring an injury claim, and the insurance adjuster conveniently pulls out their recorded statement and whacks them on the head with it! In most cases, there is no exigency that requires showing your entire hand to the insurance company so early in the case. Talk to a lawyer about your options first. 8) If the client is injured at the scene, some make the mistake of not calling the police. Most insurance adjusters use the absence of a police report as evidence that no one was hurt. In other words, if someone was hurt, they would have called for the police. 9) Some clients fail to obtain information about the other party involved in the accident and fail to document other evidence of the incident. It is important to take photos of the damage, obtain names, addresses, phone numbers etc. Of course, that isn't always feasible, but when it is, failing to do so can harm your case. How can your attorney help you when you don't even know who the party at fault is? Your lawyer is not clairvoyant. The information is not going to appear to them in a dream sequence. How can your attorney help you if you don't take photos of your damage? How many photos should you take? As many as it takes to convince an insurance adjuster you were injured. Photos taken at close range or that are blurry don't help convey any message to an adjuster. In short, take photos designed to illustrate the severity of the impact. 10) The final thing that people do to sabotage their case, and this is perhaps the most important, is they wait too long before seeking medical care. Clients who wait more than a few days to seek active care for their injuries often encounter resistance from the insurance adjuster. Again, the insurance adjuster's position will likely be: "If your injuries were that bad, or as bad as you say they were, then you would have sought treatment/care for this accident." Here is the basic overall lesson - a personal injury matter is basically an adversarial process. On one side is the injured party who may do things to sink their own case. On the other side is an insurance company that generally hates parting with money and will use your mistakes against you whenever possible. If you want help with your injury case, make sure you consult with an attorney as soon as possible so you know how to best handle your claim. A lawyer isn't a magician but a good one will tell you what mistakes to avoid and how to present your case in the best possible way. Again, no lawyer can guarantee an outcome - but at least you can increase your chances of a decent result by avoiding all the landmines that are out there. I was recently hired by a new client who was not only the victim of a severe head-on collision, but she was also probably the victim of poor (or perhaps no) advice from an insurance agent.
You see, she had just purchased a new $20,000 vehicle. When she called her insurance agent to obtain insurance, she expressed that she wanted to get the "least expensive" policy possible. Therefore, without any discussion, he simply put her in a "liability only" insurance policy with the lowest limits of $15,000. That meant that if she was responsible for an accident, she would be covered for liability up to $15,000. However, the policy did not provide for anything else. She trusted that he got her adequate coverage, because after all, he was a professional insurance agent. As it turned out, the coverage was too basic for her needs. After the head-on collision, she came to my office for advice. I explained that the only way she could get her car fixed was by going through the other party's insurance company. In other words, the other party would have to concede to fault. She couldn't turn to her own insurance company because she didn't have "collision" coverage under the policy. Also, because she didn't have health insurance, she had no way to get medical treatment until the other side conceded fault. She also didn't have "medical payments coverage" under her auto policy so she was unable to seek medical care through that avenue. I told her that we might be able to proceed on a lien basis (where the healthcare providers would defer payment till she collected from the other party), but it was too risky to do so without knowing what the police report said for sure. Otherwise, she might be digging herself into a financial hole full of medical bills. I trusted that the accident wasn't her fault, but that doesn't prevent other people from saying otherwise, including a police officer. I've come to learn after over 20 years of practicing law, that a 2 car accident often results in 4 different stories! The lesson is this: It is an insurance broker's responsibility to recommend and provide the correct coverage to a client. Then, after figuring out what the "correct" coverage is, he/she can look for a competitive price from a good company. Selecting the cheapest policy is not a service to the client, especially when they are not adequately insured. Also, when you shop for insurance, your focus shouldn't be only on the price. You should be asking yourself whether or not you were getting the correct kind of coverage for you and your family. That way, you won't be dependent on an opposing insurance company when you get into an accident and need help. I cannot emphasize this enough - the insurance adjuster's job is to "adjust" your personal injury claim. Their job description is in their title - "adjuster". After over 20 years of practicing law, working both sides of the fence (plaintiff and defense), I can safely say that insurance adjusters almost always adjust your claim DOWN. I don't remember the last time an adjuster told me the value of the case should be more than I'm asking. They've never said, "You know what, Rob....I know your client wants $10,000 to settle this case, but I'm going to offer you $25,000 instead." Never happens.
So here are some common arguments that will be used against you in an effort to minimize your claim or deny it altogether.
These are just some of the arguments insurance adjusters will use against you. Remember, they do so because that's their job. That is their reason to go to work every day. They are not on your side. They are not there to help you. There allegiance is to their employer - the insurance company. There is nothing wrong with that. After all, there are many exaggerated and false claims out there. I just want you to be aware of these realities. Don't take them personally. These arguments are not just being used against you - they are being used against virtually every person who brings a claim. Please call (661) 414-7100 to see if we can help you with your personal injury case. Here is the complete segment from SCV Today featuring Dave Caldwell and Tami Edwards. Santa Clarita lawyer Robert Mansour discusses some insurance company strategies and tactics commonly used against people claiming injury. It's not that the insurance companies are "evil" but their interests usually don't align with yours.
Some of the issues discussed during this segment include: 1) Why insurance companies don't really want you to get a police report. 2) When should you file a police report? 3) Why filing a report days later doesn't really help you. 4) How insurance companies use the absence of a police report against you. 5) Why insurance companies don't want you to involve emergency personnel like an ambulance. 6) Insurance companies want you to delay or forego medical care. 7) Be wary of insurance adjusters who are too friendly with you. 8) Some insurance adjusters will give you wrong information. 9) When should you call an attorney after an accident? 10) Are insurance companies evil? Robert use to work for the insurance companies as a defense attorney, and now he represents victims of serious car accidents. If you need guidance on your personal injury claim, feel free to call (661) 414-7100. VIDEO TRANSCRIPT: Hello, this is Robert Mansour, and I wanted to make a brief video today about renting a car after your car accident. Let's say you get into a car accident. You have several options. You can rent a car and have your insurance company pay for the rental if your insurance company provides you with rental car insurance. Now, don't assume that insurance pays for that. You've got to call them first and go through them.
I would also recommend against going and renting a car first, and then expecting your insurance company to repay you later. Here's the deal, you go and you rent a car for $35 a day, $40 a day, $50 a day, and then you turn in the bill. Then your insurance company says, "Well, we only pay for $25 a day. And we only pay for a certain number of days, and you've exceeded that. Therefore, you're on the hook for the rest." So, be careful. You can also have the responsible party's insurance company rent you a car. I would do the same thing. Go through them. Most of these insurance companies have arrangements with the rental car companies at a prorated, or a discounted rate, I should say. You usually want to go through the insurance company, have them arrange for the rental car directly or have the rental car company arrange directly with the insurance company. Do not pay out of your pocket. Also, be very careful. If you rent a car that's too expensive, the insurance company may give you a hard time about that. Also, if you rent a car for too long, without any substantiation, they also may have a hard time with that. I recently had a case where my client's repair was taking a very long time. There was a lot of parts that needed to be ordered, and the repair shop had to keep calling the insurance company to explain to them why they are running into problems. So, the insurance company agreed to keep extending the rental. Rental car issues can be very, very thorny. The biggest problems I see is when clients rent the vehicle for far too long, rent it on their own without informing the insurance company, and expecting to just simply be repaid, or renting a car that is too expensive. Anything that is over $25-$30 a day, you're going to run into a problem with the insurance company. They generally don't want to pay more than that, which is why I recommend going directly to the insurance company and having them arrange for the rental. That way it's between the insurance company and the rental car company and not you. You're just there to pick up the keys and turn in the keys. I hope this helps you with the rental car issue, and if you have any questions about this, please feel free to contact my office. Thank you very much. Call (661) 414-7100 for help with your personal injury case today. In this brief video, Attorney Robert Mansour explains how some insurance adjusters give accident victims patently false information. Now, whether or not this false information is given purposefully or by innocent error is not terribly relevant. What is important to learn is you should run the advice by a seasoned professional who can tell you whether the information you received is misleading, not entirely true, or an outright lie. Again, having worked for an insurance company I can confidently say that most adjusters are just trying to do an honest job. They aren't out to trick anyone. However, that doesn't prevent some people from giving false or incomplete information to victims of car accidents. Just be careful and make sure you consult with a lawyer to figure out whether the information you've been given is accurate or perhaps not quite so.
Here is the brief transcript for the above video: Dave: And then you have here, on one of the things, they will patently give you false information. Robert: Yes. And unfortunately, there are always bad eggs in every industry. So one of the false things that they'll tell you is, they'll say, "Well if you had a back injury before, you can't make a claim for a back injury from this case." Or, "It seems that you had shoulder surgery in the past. If your shoulder is hurting you, you're not allowed to make another claim for that." Or they will tell you something like, "Don't hire a lawyer because you're not going to recover enough money if you hire a lawyer." And the biggest one is, "We'll pay for your medical bills." They will always tell my clients, "Oh, we'll pay for everything. Don't worry. You just send us the bills." And I always tell my clients, "They're not going to pay your bills. They're not." Because insurance adjustors "adjust." That's their job. They have to "adjust." So what do they do? They take your bills and they offer a fraction of them. They tell you they're going to pay the bills, but they don't. They just pay a fraction of those bills because they adjust them and they say, "Oh, this was too expensive. This was unnecessary." And now you're stuck with all these bills that you can't pay. VIDEO TRANSCRIPT:
Can a person get an eye injury from an accident? Hello my name is Robert Mansour, and one of the more serious injuries that can happen in a car accident is damage to somebody's eye, vision issues, etc. and these can actually occur. Sometimes they occur simply due to the trauma of the event, and sometimes also they occur when there's some kind of flying debris, glass, or some particles in the car - or something ends up in somebody's eye - or injuring the eye. Sometimes it can also happen from the trauma of the airbag against the face and against the eye. After all, the eye is just another body part, and it can get injured in an accident although it is generally a more “rare” injury so one of the things that can be affected is just your daily life. Your vision being hampered, it can affect your ability to drive, your ability to read - A person's vision is a very serious affair. One of the most important things that you can do if you think you may have an eye injury from an accident, especially if you start noticing blurred vision or you feel some kind of a scratching sensation in your eye, or it is difficult to focus, you need to go see an optometrist or an ophthalmologist right away. An optometrist is generally your basic eye doctor, the kind of person who helps you with your glasses. And then an ophthalmologist is more of a “specialist” with the eye, and you need to go there and have them check and make sure that your eye is okay. You don't want to overlook this issue. Also, what is very important is proper documentation. If you've had a car accident and you think you injured your eye in some way, you need to mention that to the doctors! When you go to the emergency room or anywhere else, you say “Listen…something’s wrong!” Proper documentation is very important - you see, if the insurance adjuster and the insurance companies see that the eye injury appears later or a few weeks later all of a sudden the eye injury becomes an issue and it was never an issue before, they might doubt that the eye injury is from the car accident - especially if you're silent for several weeks much like any injury you've got to mention it at the very beginning. Also, if the accident caused the eye injury your records need to say that! The ophthalmologist or the optometrist needs to say that! In their records, it needs to say "The accident most likely than not or more likely than not caused this injury to occur". Sometimes the injury can also lead to the eyelid or to the eye itself, the cornea, the iris, the retina; a variety of parts of the eye can be injured in an accident. It's very important to seek help right away. And then of course you want to make sure your records are very clear. I had a case one time where my client got into a car accident, and all the glass in the car broke…and he felt something in his eye. And it was bothering him, and his glasses broke during the accident, so he went to the optometrist, and the optometrist was examining his eye and he said, “You know what? You have a glass fragment in your eye!” Sure enough, when the wind shield exploded during the accident, he got a little bit of glass in his eye, which caused a permanent scratch on his cornea. And his doctor (his ophthalmologist) had the opinion that “Well, you could do surgery to correct that.” In all likelihood, it wasn't going to correct it 100 percent. He was always going to have a deficit with his cornea. He was always going to see something called a “star burst” effect that, basically, when you see things especially at night when lights are approaching you and they appear to kind of be in a very star exaggerated fashion. It's very difficult for people with that kind of injury to drive at night, especially with all the lights coming at them. He also had trouble viewing television. He had to sit very, very close to the TV in order to be able to see it versus before he was fine. He had to change his glasses. He had to wear contacts and glasses on top of them. So eye injuries can be very, very serious injuries and you want to make sure you diagnose them early and catch them early. Don't think the problem is going to resolve itself. My name is Robert Mansour, if you want to learn more please visit my website at valencialawyer.com or call my office at 661-414-7100. Thank you very much. |
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March 2024
by Robert MansourRobert Mansour is a personal injury lawyer serving Santa Clarita, Valencia, |