Personal Injury Disclosure
Personal injury law is not as simple as it used to be. Thousands of personal injury claims are made every year. Injury attorneys are inundated with work. Many are settled between claimant and insurance company direct, but some reach will reach the court system and involve personal injury attorneys. If you fall into this category, you should familiarize yourself with personal injury law and how the system works. Small mistakes can cost you money. Be aware of time restraints within certain state systems. Many people take too long to file their case. There is also certain information that you must disclose to personal injury attorneys, failure to do this could seriously hinder your claim.
The Disclosure Trap.
Jane* lives in Michigan and was involved in a three car pile up in 2007. She broke both her left arm and leg and suffered minor head injuries. She immediately contacted several injury attorneys to see if she had a case. For three months Jane was unable to work and reported to her accident attorney she would no longer be able to play high impact sport as a result of her long term injuries. Jane related this to her accident attorney who in turn reported it to the insurance company during discovery. Jane was spotted a few weeks later swimming laps in her local pool. Photographs were presented by the insurance company and while Jane still received a settlement it was significantly decreased.
‘Since my car accident last year my life has been turned upside down,’ says Jane, ‘I lost out and only had a few of my medical bills covered.’ People think that personal injury law is pretty simple, that you can open up the phone book and call personal injury attorneys and they will do everything for you. This is not the case, you really need to research your own case well and know what your rights are, as well as what the state laws are.
Jane didn’t purposely keep her swimming a secret; in fact her doctor suggested she take it up. She just was not specific enough with what she disclosed to her accident attorney.
Pain and Impairment.
State law dictates you must be able to prove impairment. This means that reporting pain is not enough for a settlement, you must demonstrate how you have been impaired and your daily function impeded on. A good way to describe this is lifestyle impact; think about how your work life been affected? What about your sporting habits or social activities? Be specific about how your life has changed since the accident. The greatest thing you can do to harm your own case is to lie to your accident attorney, even if it is unintentional.
Be honest with the amount of pain you are in. Be specific about what activities you can or can’t do with injury attorneys. Don’t claim you cannot do any physical activity at all to be spotted by an insurance investigator jogging your dog in the park the next day.
Rules and Regulations.
It is a good idea to be aware of the rules and regulation surrounding personal injury law in your state. While most personal injury attorneys will be able to verse you in this, keep your own tabs on what claims have been made and that you are meeting the allotted deadlines. In most states you will only have one year to file a claim, there are some exceptions where there are three years. A claim can be for obvious things like your medical expenses and wages for lost time at work, but also you have a right to compensation for the impact on your lifestyle. Don’t leave filing your claim until the eleventh hour, as there is much administrative work that must be done in the time allotted. The right medical documents must be available and any legal documents must be filed immediately.
*Names have been changed to protect privacy.