Permanent Injury Claim

It is always a good idea to consult with an attorney first. The first consultation is always free!

A permanent injury occurs when the injury that you had will never recover to pre accident condition. Permanent injuries are worth quite a bid more than soft tissue injuries, and adjusters are more willing to negotiate on pain and suffering.

The adjuster however is litigation savvy and usually has some years of experience in negotiations and dealing with this type of claim.

You will be at huge disadvantage trying to settle a claim like this in your own. This is probably the best time to hire an attorney. You can probably handle your own soft tissue injury claim without much of a problem, but permanent injuries are a different animal.

In a soft tissue injury you are attempting to show that your injury is more severe than the adjuster is willing to recognize.

In a permanent injury this is not a question of whether the injury is severe or no, but it is a question of what is the diminish value of your quality of life. Adjusters will try to negotiate in terms of wages and tangible numbers.

For example, if your right hand will never worked the same after the accident and consequently you cannot type as fast, the value to the insurance company will be in terms of your diminish productivity and how that is going to affect your pay check. They will bring experts (economist) to figure out how much value there is in that specific reduction of productivity.

This is a rather bad approach to settling a permanent injury (hence you need an attorney for this). When you hurt a hand, your entire life style change; the fact that you cannot type as fast is only a starting point. You cannot play with your kids the way you used to, you
cannot enjoy sports that require you to use that hand.

This can severely affect someone�s life style negatively, but again, claim adjusters do not like to entertain this type of argument. The reason is because it could add a lot of value to the injury (something the insurance company does not want).

You have a permanent injury when it is obvious (you cannot longer walk) or when a GROUPS of doctors will support that diagnosis.

Get a great Bodily Injury E-book for more key information.

Ordinarily, soft tissue claims are (should be anyway) settled by the value of lawsuit judgments awarded to similar accidents and injuries. However, with permanent injuries, there are other factors that will affect the value of the settlement. Only a good lawyer knows and understands how to manipulate these variables to get the most out of the insurance company.

The knowledge that the good lawyer has about any specific permanent injury claim is not necessarily a secret or something she/he learned in law school, but rather a recollection of knowledge and experience that can bring the value up.

The lawyer is in the trenches and knows what juries usually award for the same type of injury. She also knows which jurisdictions are more lenient towards plaintiff�s permanent injuries. Also, other factors like age, gender, profession, economic status, and the very facts of the accident can add or subtracts substantial value to the permanent injury claim.

There are other claims that can be tackled within the permanent injury realm. The spouse could have a claim against the negligent party for loss of companionship and diminished life style.

In some jurisdictions some of this claims are barred and in some they are allowed. This in one of the reasons why you should consider hiring an attorney if you have a permanent injury.

Another reason to hire an attorney is that you could be dealing with a policy limits issue.

If the negligent party has low policy limits (the insurance company will not come out and tell you unless you know how to ask, which only an attorney knows how to do) or the permanent injury is extreme (permanent brain injury), in either scenario the insurance company is looking to pay a cap and walk out. So if someone has a $50,000 Bodily Injury Protections Limits, then that brain injury will be paid at $50,000.

The insurance company will want documentation that they paid their limits and that is about it, but what about the rest of the damages? The negligent party will have to pay for the excess. However, in many occasions the defendant does not have funds to cover the judgment.

This is the situation where a good injury attorney is crucial. They know how to look for other sources of income. Other insurance policies, mortgages, liens, garnish wages, and/or take tax returns. Trying to do this on your own will be very difficult.

So if you have a permanent injury: Hire an Attorney. The 30% fee they take if you win is well worth it when they can find how to collect from the insurance company and the negligent defendant.

You should hire an attorney for a permanent injury. If you have a soft tissue injury, you could settle your self and save in legal fees.

If you�re like most people who have been injured, you�ve never had to consider filing a lawsuit before and don�t know all of the technical requirements involved in the process. You probably want to focus on recovering from your injury, but need help to cover the medical bills and other expenses caused by your injury. Fill the form below for a free consultation or call toll free: (866) 493-7760