Following a car accident, an ambulance is usually called to the scene. Oftentimes, paramedics may speak with those involved and provide emergency assessment and care. If a party is sufficiently hurt or otherwise reports severe symptoms, the individual receives appropriate medical care and treatment from a local hospital. As a result, important evidence has been created which may later benefit the injured party. The ambulance and hospital records will document the party’s complaints, injury and difficulties experienced on the day of the accident.
For the trial lawyer, having medical and hospital records is a powerful weapon to combat the insurance company’s future attempts to minimize the extent of the impact or damages to our clients. In reality, however, many clients are involved in collisions in which the harm is not immediately apparent or understood. In those crashes, a party may have not even realized they’ve been injured. Some people simply have a higher tolerance for pain. Consequently, in those cases, no medical care is requested at the scene and evidence of injury is minimized.
Inexperienced lawyers may be afraid to get involved in cases where the party does not immediately report symptoms or seek medical care. While they may accept a case, they may not fight the insurance company’s efforts to minimize the client’s case. They may hesitate to file a lawsuit and wait for the insurance company to make its “best offer” and recommend that the client accept it. We believe folks in this situation should NOT SETTLE FOR LESS.
Most honest, hardworking folks we represent often do not go to the hospital when they initially experience neck or back pain. Many of our clients wait days or weeks – wanting to believe they will improve. It is only after a period of time that they come to grips with the fact that they can no longer ignore their physical condition that they seek medical care. We have great respect for those individuals and from our experience, we find that juries do as well. Of course, in order to properly present those claims, an experienced trial lawyer must be prepared to deal with this issue of delayed symptoms or treatment right from the start.
Clients must be fully informed before they answer any questions by the insurance adjuster or the lawyer hired by the insurance company to defend the at-fault driver. They should reflect on the accident scene; what they were feeling; what they were thinking; and why they refused medical assessment or care. In some cases, injured parents had children in their vehicle that were their sole focus of attention. Other clients became so emotionally charged by the sudden, unexpected collision that it was not until they got home, laid down and calmed down when they first realized “everything hurt.” In all these cases, our clients were hurt, deserved full and fair compensation and needed aggressive representation.
This article was written by Tony Caggiano.
