How to Determine Whether Damages are Warranted in an Injury Case
By Craig Simon | Published on August 5, 2011 | 0 Comments
As a personal injury attorney in Phoenix, Craig Simon is frequently contacted by people who are not sure whether it’s worth seeking compensation for the injuries they sustained during freak accidents. When helping these people decide whether or not they should sue, Simon starts by finding out exactly how they were hurt.
Speaking from his office at the Simon Law Group in Phoenix, the personal injury attorney explains that a lawyer has to look at the injuries that a client has to determine whether the client might be entitled to compensation. In most cases, there are elements of damages that people are entitled to. For example, people can be entitled to damages for both past and future medical expenses, as well as past and future lost wages.
If a person has a disfigurement or any permanent scars – or, for instance, if a person is suffering from atrophy from an injury that did not fully heal – then that would count as a disability, to the extent that the person has not 100% recovered from the accident. In some cases, disability impairment ratings can be assessed. An example of an impairment rating would be when a doctor determines that a patient has a loss of use of a body part, which is causing impairment. If a person has not recovered to 100% capacity and he cannot do everything that he could before the accident, then an impairment rating would be necessary.
People with emotional injuries can always be awarded damages in personal injury cases. An attorney in Phoenix would determine whether the injuries that a potential client sustained fell into any of these general categories based on a series of telephone conversations in the days and weeks following the accident.
One of the challenges in being a successful personal injury attorney in Phoenix is that the injuries that people sustain can actually get worse over time. Although outward injuries are usually easy to identify, it can take time before a victim becomes aware of internal injuries. With this in mind, Simon is careful to point out that accident victims need to get immediate follow up care with their physicians to make sure that they did not sustain any injuries, even if they feel completely fine in the hours after an accident occurs.
As a general rule, victims have up to two years to file a claim. However, these periods of eligibility can differ depending on who the target is. For example, a different set of rules applies to governmental agencies. People who are filing lawsuits against their local governments often have a shorter amount of time to do so.
*Disclaimer: This article is for informational purposes only. You should not rely on this article as a legal opinion on any specific facts or circumstances, and you should not act upon this information without seeking professional counsel. Publication of this article and your receipt of this article does not create an attorney-client relationship.