Answers To Questions About Personal Injury Claims

Some people feel reluctant to pursue a personal injury claim, even after their vehicle has been damaged by a rear end collision. Sometimes their reluctance reflects their lack of familiarity with basic facts, concerning personal injury claims.

Does the victim of an accident need to file a lawsuit, in order to claim damages?

No, many cases get settled before a lawsuit has been initiated. In such cases, the losses suffered by the claimant get covered by the terms of the insurance settlement.

Can a pre-existing condition affect the value of a claim?

Did the other party’s negligence make the condition worse? If that can be proven, then the defendant has no reason to seek a consideration of the plaintiff’s medical condition. If the defendant’s actions aggravated the existing condition, then the defendant has caused harm to the plaintiff. Consequently, the plaintiff can seek compensation for injuries.

What determines the size of a settlement?

A long list of factors determines the size of a settlement. That list includes things like the nature of the plaintiff’s injury, the extent of treatment obtained by the victim, the prospects for recovery, the extent of the defendant’s coverage, the victim’s loss of income, the future medical expenses for the victim, the future earning capacity of that same individual, and the outcome expected, following the recovery.

Personal Injury Lawyer in Waterloo like to wait until the victim has reached the point of maximum medical improvement before settling. At that point, the plaintiff has demonstrated to a sufficient degree his or her ability to recover from the injury. The evidence relating to the plaintiff’s condition might be substantiated by testimony from witnesses, or from the plaintiff.

If a car owner’s insurance policy covers the cost of damage caused by an accident, why should that car owner think about filing a personal injury claim?

Was the car owner driving the damaged vehicle? Was the driver injured? Were there any passengers; were they injured? Those are the questions that need to be answered, before that same car owner could safely dispense with the idea of pursuing a personal injury claim.

It could be that the driver had no injuries, and saw no visible injuries on any passengers. Still, that would not rule out the possibility that one or more of the passengers got injured. If any of the passengers was a child or teenager, an injury might affect that child’s or teen’s life. If an accident affects a victim’s life, that same victim deserves some form of compensation. By hiring a lawyer, the car owner could go after the amount of compensation that would be appropriate. Otherwise, the young passengers might develop a life-changing medical condition, one that would call for fair compensation.