Louisiana personal injury law empowers accident victims to seek financial compensation when they are hurt in an accident. But what is the effect of a pre-existing injury? Is the defendant who injured you responsible if you already feel pain from a prior accident or even an ongoing illness?
The answer is complicated. Typically, the defendant is responsible for all consequences resulting from the accident. Even if you are especially vulnerable due to a pre-existing condition, the defendant is still at fault. They should pay fair compensation for all negative physical and emotional effects. Call Inzina Law Injury Attorneys to discuss your case. We can bring a personal injury claim with a pre-existing condition, but we’d like to learn more about your specific situation.
The Eggshell Plaintiff Rule
Understanding how pre-existing conditions may impact personal injury claims in Louisiana and the effects of injuries on mental health. Learn more about navigating these factors.Some accident victims struggle with pre-existing conditions which make them especially vulnerable to injury. For example, a woman in her 60s might have osteoporosis, which weakens her bones. Even a slight bump in a parking lot could shatter her hip and send her falling to the ground. Conversely, a younger person might not even lose their balance. However, this pre-existing condition has made the victim vulnerable to serious injuries.
Something similar happens with brain injuries. A person who has already had a concussion can suffer devastating consequences when they suffer a second concussion. Instead of recovering in a couple of months, they might end up hospitalized and in the intensive care unit. The pre-existing injury has made them especially vulnerable when they suffer a second blow to the head.
Louisiana law recognizes the eggshell plaintiff rule. Essentially, a defendant cannot avoid liability by claiming the victim is “too sensitive” and suffered an injury for that reason. Instead, if the defendant is at fault, they must “take the victim as they find him.” In other words, a defendant is responsible for all consequences that result from the accident.
But…Things Are Not So Simple
Although Louisiana recognizes the eggshell plaintiff rule, a defendant might not be fully to blame for all the pain and other symptoms a victim feels. For example, imagine a man sprained an ankle in a workplace accident and then suffered a concussion when he fell in a grocery store. The store might be liable for the man’s head injury for failing to mop up some spilled liquids. But the store would not be responsible for the ankle injury unless the fall made his ankle injury worse
The same is true if you injure the same body part. Under the law, the defendant is only responsible for aggravating the pre-existing injury, which means they made it worse. If your pre-existing injury didn’t get any worse, or you don’t feel more pain, then you might not have a legal claim for the accident.
Calculating an Aggravated Injury Settlement
Things get complicated when it comes to calculating the value of your claim. You can force the defendant to compensate you for aggravating your pre-existing injury:
- Medical care to treat your new injury: You can’t get them to pay for an old injury. But if the accident made your condition worse, then you can ask for compensation for whatever additional care you need.
- Lost income or wages: Aggravating an injury can keep you out of work. Or, if you are already out of work, the aggravation can keep you out of work longer. Work with a personal injury lawyer at our firm to calculate how much income you have lost because of the aggravation.
- Pain and suffering: You deserve compensation for the increase in pain and suffering you are enduring because of aggravating a pre-existing condition.
The defendant has an incentive to claim your pain is entirely the result of your prior injury. That way they can pay you $0. We expect them to be aggressive when laying all the blame on your prior injury.
We approach aggravated injury settlement objectively. Our goal is to find out how much of your pain and financial loss stems from your pre-existing injury and how much stems from the second, aggravating injury. We need to divide it in a way that is supported by evidence.
We work with a team of medical experts to go through all your records. They help us understand how an accident can make a medical condition even worse.
Sometimes, a new accident aggravates a pre-existing injury only slightly. In that case, you might not request much compensation. In other situations, you might have been almost healed when you were hurt again. In those situations, we will aggressively seek compensation from the defendant.
How to Help Your Case
There are steps accident victims can take to improve their chances of receiving fair settlements:
- Be upfront with your lawyer about any prior injury or pre-existing condition: The defense will likely request all your medical records for the last 10-20 years, so they are likely to find out about it. There’s no reason to hide a pre-existing condition from your legal team.
- Get immediate medical help after an accident: This care bolsters your claim that you were seriously hurt in an accident.
- Document your pain and mental anguish: You might keep a daily journal where you write down your emotional state and where you feel pain. This type of journal can help strengthen a personal injury claim with a pre-existing condition. Our clients often keep notes on their phones to make keeping track easier.
- Find an experienced Lafayette, LA personal injury attorney: These are complex cases to bring. You shouldn’t rely on a novice lawyer to advocate for you. Get experienced legal help.
- Avoid accepting any settlement until your lawyer has reviewed it: Some defendants quickly make a settlement offer, and it is inevitably too low. Don’t say “yes” until our firm has reviewed the offer.
Call Inzina Law Injury Lawyers to Schedule a Free Consultation!
Our legal team at Inzina Law Injury Attorneys is passionate about victims’ rights. We have seen too many people bulldozed by aggressive insurance adjusters, who sometimes use underhanded tactics. Get experienced legal assistance by calling our firm and scheduling a consultation with a Lafayette personal injury lawyer today.