Managing Partner
Accidents don’t just cause new injuries, they can aggravate old ones. The good news for victims is that they can receive compensation in both scenarios. However, they should expect resistance from the at-fault parties and their insurance companies.
If you’ve been in an accident that worsened an old injury, you owe it to yourself to find out what compensation may be available to you. The Long Island attorneys of Dell & Dean, PLLC are ready to provide you with the guidance and counsel that you need.
You Can Recover Compensation for Aggravated Old Injuries
New York doesn’t just allow a victim to seek monetary compensation for new injuries. If an accident aggravates a pre-existing injury, the victim can ask for recovery for this as well. At-fault parties are not necessarily released from liability just because a victim’s injuries are old.
For example, a victim may have an old back or knee injury from something completely unrelated to the recent accident. But the recent accident may actually worsen that pre-existing injury. If so, the victim can seek compensation for medical bills, lost income, and other damages.
A Long Island personal injury attorney can assist with identifying the specific losses that are associated with the aggravation of your old injury. Often, expert witnesses are necessary. A medical expert witness, for instance, can explain in detail how the aggravation occurred.
Challenges That You Should Expect
Just because you can claim compensation does not mean the at-fault parties, and especially their insurance companies, will not push back. Insurers in general try to underpay or deny claims whenever possible. And this is particularly true with aggravated prior injuries.
These are some specific challenges you need to anticipate and for which you need to prepare with the help of your lawyer:
- Disputing causation: Causation is one of the elements that a victim needs to prove in a personal injury lawsuit. The insurer could try to deny coverage by claiming the pre-existing injury and symptoms related to it are not connected with the recent accident.
- Prior medical records: Be prepared for the insurance company to want to see your past medical records. Their objective in doing this isn’t to infringe upon your privacy but to learn the details of your old injury and attempt to distinguish it from the effects of the recent accident.
- Independent Medical Examination (IME): The insurance company may request an IME. The physician who conducts this examination could conclude that your current pain and other symptoms are attributable to the old injury alone, not the recent accident.
- Degenerative conditions: After suffering an injury, age and other conditions (and sometimes other injuries) can worsen that first, original injury. Insurers know this, so they may try to blame such conditions, rather than the recent accident, for the symptoms you now experience.
How a Long Island Personal Injury Attorney Can Help
Retaining an attorney who is knowledgeable about prior injuries is imperative to recovering the compensation you need. One task your lawyer will have is to collect medical records and other evidence to compare your conditions before and after the recent accident.
Working with expert witnesses is another key step. Your treating physicians and other experts can explain how the accident, not something else, is responsible for the aggravated problems you are experiencing with your old injury. This is important to establish causation.
If your aggravated old injury has made it harder to work, you might lose income now and in the future. Here again your lawyer can review current and past income records and other evidence related to your ability to work. You may be able to claim lost income and lost future earning capacity damages.
Finally, a skilled Long Island personal injury lawyer will know how best to handle the at-fault parties’ insurance companies. This includes responding to common insurance objections and negotiating effectively, if possible, for a settlement. Your lawyer will also represent you in mediation.
Get Legal Help With Your Pre-Existing Injury
The insurance company will do what it can to minimize or dismiss the symptoms you are now experiencing because of your old injury being aggravated. Don’t let them have the final word. Connect today with the Long Island injury lawyers of Dell & Dean, PLLC to learn more.
