Things to Know about Personal Injury Claims

There are millions of lawsuits filed in the United States each year. Many of these lawsuits are based on accidents or conducts that resulted in injury. These types of lawsuits are commonly known as Personal Injury claims as they seek compensation for the injuries that the victims sustain. It is always helpful for victims to have some understanding of these claims before contacting an attorney.

An Injury Does Not Mean You Have An Actionable Claim

Simply because someone had an accident or sustained an injury due to some other reason does not necessarily mean that there is an actionable claim. In order to get some compensation in a personal injury claim, there has to be a legal aspect that can hold the defendant accountable for the injury. One of the most common legal scenarios involved in personal injury claims is negligence. This means that injury happened due to defendant’s negligence and the victim needs to show that the defendant owed a duty to the victim. For example, if the victim was an employee or customer in the store, it is the sore owner’s duty to maintain the premises safe. The victim must also be able to show through his or her attorney that the defendant failed to abide to this legal duty and the injuries happed because the owner did not take proper precautions to ensure safe premises.

There are other scenario’s (theories) that may be used, e.g. intentional torts etc. No matter what the theory is, the plaintiff always has the burden of proof in order to be able to get any recovery out of the claim.

Personal Injury Cases Are Of Many Different Types

Whenever someone refers to the term “Personal Injury”, it is most commonly believed to be pursuing a car accident claim. Though car accidents are one of the personal injury case types, there are several others, including Workplace Injuries, Premises Liability, animal attacks, Workers Compensation etc. In other words, any case which indicates that a person suffered harm due to negligence or other actions of another individual or entity.

 

Personal Injury Cases Often Involve Insurance Companies

Of all the personal injury claims filed each year, a lot of them involve insurance companies. A few examples being road accidents, medical malpractice and injuries that generally happened at a business place or private home. The insurance companies’ priorities are always to protect financial interests of the insurance company. Hence the settlement amount offered by the insurance company may not always be fair as they are trying to limit the financial exposure of the company.

 

Most Personal Injury Claims Settle

The court system in US is flooded as there are over 40 million lawsuits of different types including personal injury are filed each year. Hence, a lot of personal injury cases are settled outside of court. The pretty much means that a judge or jury does not give a verdict for the case. Instead, the victim’s attorney negotiates a monetary settlement with the defendant or the insurance company outside the court. The victim always has the option to accept or reject the proposed settlement.

Know five major factors that affect settlements in personal injury cases

The Victims May Have Limited Time to File a Case

In most states, due to the statute of limitations, the victim may have a very specific (limited) time period for a personal injury claim to be filed. Once the time limit for statute of limitations is expired, a claim cannot be filed and will be barred forever. Many states have a 3-year limitation for personal injury claims; however, this may be lesser or more in different states depending on state laws and the identity of the defendant.

Contact us on info@itcubebpo.com to know more about Personal Injury Claims.

How Much Is A Twisted Muscle Or A Broken Arm Worth To You....?

Well, not a very comfortable question for any of us. But for attorneys dealing with personal injury victims, handling these questions are a part of their everyday routine.

There’s no science that can be applied for calculating a personal injury settlement. Even though there’s no scientific formula, knowing and understanding the factors that affect the claim value of a personal injury case can help attorney gear up for negotiations in a much efficient manner. This can also help them to manage their client’s expectations better.

For a small / midsized law firm or an individual practitioner that works within a specific budget and lacks the scale of larger adversaries, mastering the ability to project settlement values for a personal injury case can be a big game changer for them. It helps them build most effective arguments on behalf of their clients and saves unnecessary hassles.

Here are five major factors that affect settlements in personal injury cases.

Severity of the Injury

It’s no surprise that accidents that cause more severe injuries end up getting larger settlements because of the trauma, pain and suffering that one goes through. Heavy or hard injuries such as spinal cord damage or multiple fractures will always have higher settlement value in comparison with soft-tissue injuries like sprains or bruising. Similarly, if the injury is permanent in nature, victims can generally be awarded a much larger settlement. Permanent injuries include brain damage / trauma, disfigurement, reduced mobility or the permanent loss or use of a body part.

Disruptions

When someone is injured, not only it is painful, it dramatically disrupts their daily life. If the injuries from an accident ends up disrupting your client’s daily life intensely, you can help them get larger personal injury settlement. To give an example, if the injury leaves a victim unable to walk, stand, play sport, travel or work certain jobs, they’ll be able to get a much larger settlement compared to victims whose lives don’t change dramatically after an injury.

Treatment and Recovery

When a victim’s medical treatment involves hospitals and doctors, as opposed to physician assistant or chiropractors, the settlement probability goes significantly high. Cases that involve reconstructive surgeries are common examples where settlement values were much higher compared to other personal injuries.

Similarly, how long it took for someone to recover also matters. Since longer recoveries involve multiple follow-up appointments and prescriptions for medical treatment, it in turn elevates the settlement value. The longer it takes to recover, the longer is the pain and disruption from regular life, this primarily helps in getting higher settlement values. This also helps us understand why smaller/soft injuries generally end up getting lower settlements.

Emotional and Mental Trauma

If you’ve ever been in an accident, you know that the pain resulting from the accident goes way beyond physical injuries. The magnitude can differ from person to person, but the emotional trauma in the form of anxiety or depression can be equally devastating during the recovery period. Of Course, proving that the victim (client) has suffered or is suffering from mental trauma is not so easy. This in most cases requires input from reputable mental health professional who can testify to an accident’s longer lasting psychological effects on a victim (client).

Cost of Litigation

Initial clerical work, multiple depositions, addressing technical issues through experts, reviewing medical records, the list goes on and very quickly adds up cost for defendant. The cost goes even higher if there are multiple witnesses or any number of contested scientific questions. Mostly, in these cases, defendants prefer to settle at a higher price to avoid running up their defense costs.

Also, on the other hand, if the plaintiffs are not so resourceful to continue to litigate complex cases effectively, well off defendants can persuade them to cut down on settlement’s value.

A well organized and summarized medical record (history) of the victim can help Personal injury attorney’s highlight the above discussed points and evaluate the value of the claim case. ITCube has 15 years of experience working with medico-legal firms for organization and summarization of medical records.

Contact us on info@itcubebpo.com to know more about how we can help you get the best settlement for your client.

The Role Of Medical Records In Personal Injury Cases

If you had an accident and you sustained injury due to someone else’s (legal) fault, you may be eligible to get compensation for your medical expenses, wages and other damages which happened due to the accident. A personal injury lawsuit is essential for civil justice in the country as it helps the victims of an accident with financial aid to not only recover from injuries but to move forward in life. Evaluating and deciding the compensation amount for the damages one sustained is one of the most important and tricky points in a personal injury suit negotiation. Your medical records can give a great deal of insight for not only illustrating the extent of the injury but to highlight the ongoing challenges.

Calculating Damages

Well, first off, medical records provide the proof of injuries you’ve sustained. That’s one of the most important factors while calculating damages. Actual records of hospital visits, doctor’s appointments, surgeries (if any) as well as ongoing treatment (if any) records can illustrate the injuries you suffered and how these injuries have impacted and will continue to affect your life. For Attorney’s dealing with the claim case, medical records are the most critical elements while calculating and deciding on claim value.

How Your Medical Records Affect The Defense

When you file a personal injury claim case against an individual or a company, you’re most probably going against their insurance company. These insurance companies in most cases will ask for an independent medical investigation to ensure a fair assessment of your injuries. The doctors who work for insurance companies will provide a report of how he or she believes your injuries will affect your life emotionally and financially. A jury may or may not consider these records to determine the claim settlement value.

Patient Privacy

As a patient one will always want complete privacy regarding their medical records under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA). However, a personal injury case obliterates much of this privacy. Your attorney has to review your medical records to assess the strength of your case. These records are also required to be given to the opposing counsel. HIPPA and state law requires you to sign a medical record release form in order for providers to release and share your medical records with attorneys regarding your case.

Medical Records Will Never Lie

Medical records are one of the most important and strongest forms of evidence in your personal injury claim case in our legal system as they provide the most accurate picture of how injuries have and will continue to affect your life. It is absolutely imperative that you tell the truth when speaking about your case with your attorney in order for him or her to be able to help you build a strong case. Altering or misrepresenting the truth will undermine the genuineness of your personal injury claim.

ITCube BPM work with personal injury attorneys and medico-legal companies to help them with medical records organization and summary. We are an ISO ISO/IEC 27001 certified and HIPPA compliant company and while working with these clients for medical summary we ensure that we protect your privacy and summarize records that can help strengthen your case.