Car accidents are scary and traumatic experiences that can result in serious injuries. Often, these injuries can rack up hundreds of thousands of dollars in medical expenses, both for immediate treatment and long-term care. Because of the cost of medical treatment and countless other reasons, victims of car accidents often go to court in order to bring those who wronged them to justice.
One of the concerns that frequently comes up when people file car accident lawsuits is whether any previous injuries they have incurred will affect the outcome of their lawsuit. Unfortunately, there is no clear-cut answer to this question. The defense will most certainly try and use any prior injuries to try and lower their level of liability or the damages they have to pay. However, prior injuries are far from a deal breaker when pursuing a car accident claim in court.
For a free analysis of your situation, call our New York City car accident lawyers from The Carrion Law Firm at (718) 841-0083.
What Constitutes a Preexisting Injury?
A preexisting injury, sometimes called a preexisting condition, is something that affects you and that you are dealing with prior to a car accident or other injury. Prior injuries and conditions can take many different forms, ranging from a bone you broke years ago to a recent injury that is in the process of healing when an accident happens to you.
Preexisting injuries most often come up in car accident lawsuits when the defense tries to argue that they did not hurt the plaintiff as much as the plaintiff claims because the injury was already there.
However, there are other ways that prior injuries can come up in car accident claims, and they are not all detrimental to your case. In fact, our Albany, NY car accident lawyers may be able to use a prior injury to help you make a stronger claim under the right circumstances.
The Effects of Prior Injuries/Conditions on New York Car Accident Lawsuits
The reality is that a preexisting injury or condition can have a significant effect on how your car accident lawsuit plays out. It is simply another piece of information that either side of the lawsuit can, and should, use to try and further their case.
While the fact that you were injured previously can be weaponized against you by opposing counsel, it can also be used to help your case. Knowing the details of how a prior injury interacts with a car accident lawsuit can help to take some of the fear and apprehension away from the proceedings.
The Eggshell Skull Rule
If a car accident makes an injury you already had worse, the fact that you had a previous injury can actually increase what the defense will need to pay in damages, primarily out of necessity. There is an idea in law called the “eggshell skull rule.” Essentially, this means that the defendant takes the plaintiff as they find them and is responsible for any injuries they cause.
The name comes from a made-up situation where the defendant hits the plaintiff in the head, but their skull is like an eggshell.
Predictably, the plaintiff will get seriously injured in such a situation. In the eyes of the law, it does not matter that the defendant was unaware that the plaintiff had an eggshell skull; they are still responsible for their conduct.
Making a Prior Injury Worse
The same goes for any preexisting injuries that are made worse by a car accident the defendant causes. If, for example, you broke a bone in the past and that area of your body is more prone to getting injured, and then the defendant hits you with their car and causes an injury to that area, they will be held responsible for your injuries.
Another way that a defendant could be held responsible for this kind of injury is by making a preexisting injury worse. For example, suppose you have a minor muscle tear in your leg that you are getting treated with physical therapy. The next time you get in your car to go to work, the defendant crashes into your vehicle, and you go to the hospital, where now the ligaments in your leg are totally torn and will require surgery to get you back to normal.
In this hypothetical scenario, the plaintiff can claim damages for the increased severity of their leg injury but not for the prior injury.
It is in that distinction where much of the fighting will happen. Canny defense lawyers will try and argue that the negligence of their client did not make your injury much worse at all, thus lowering the damages their client will have to pay.
Considerations for Your Car Accident Case if You Have a Prior Injury
The other side of this coin is that you will need to prove that your prior injury would have healed on its own or stayed in the same condition were you not in a car accident
An important consideration for prior injuries is how serious they were before the accident. For example, if you have a torn ACL before a car accident, and the tear is only slightly worse because of the car accident, your damages may be quite limited.
Other Preexisting Conditions and Disabilities that May Influence Your Injury Claim
Sometimes health conditions that might affect your case might not come from a prior injury or accident. Sometimes conditions you were born with or developed over time could still affect your case, too.
Examples
Your vulnerability to injury will increase with many health conditions. Something rare like brittle bone disease (osteogenesis imperfecta) might leave you quite vulnerable to injury. Other physical disabilities that affect your mobility or balance can also make it easier to fall or otherwise get injured, too.
Some conditions exacerbate the injury and the potential severity of it. For example, someone with a health condition that puts them on blood thinners or someone with a clotting disorder like hemophilia could face much more blood loss from a cut or puncture wound, potentially requiring additional care.
Other conditions slow down or inhibit your ability to heal. Anything from diabetes to cancer treatment to heavy alcohol use could cause a wound not to heal as quickly.
How Conditions Affect Your Case
As mentioned above, the eggshell skull rule generally means that a defendant has to take you as you are. They cannot pretend their victim does not have the condition, then compare your injuries to what a “normal” person would face. They injured you, specifically, and they have to pay for the full damages that they caused you, specifically.
This could affect your case in a few ways, depending on how your preexisting condition affects your injury:
- Conditions that make you vulnerable to injury might allow accidents that someone else might have avoided.
- Conditions that exacerbate injuries might make your effects and immediate care needs much more dire.
- Conditions that hurt your ability to heal might draw out your recovery period and increase lost wages and ongoing care needs.
- Conditions that make it harder to identify and resolve an injury might lead to medical errors or malpractice during your treatment.
- Some conditions might also make it riskier to treat you if your body cannot handle surgeries, rehabilitation, or certain drugs.
- Arthritis and other conditions causing chronic pain mean that only the increase in post-injury pain can be compensated.
In most of these situations, the damages are higher; only in a few areas are damages actually reduced.
Can I Still Win My Case with a Prior Disability?
You are still deserving of full respect and full damages when you get hurt, regardless of your disability status. It would be discriminatory if disabled injury victims could not get full compensation for their specific damages.
Defendants typically argue something along the lines of, “How should I have known someone with [your condition] would be injured?” Defendants might try to attack this on foreseeability grounds, saying they cannot be responsible because a rare disease or disorder made the condition worse.
At the end of the day, this argument is usually unacceptable, legally speaking, and the defendant should be required to pay full damages. Even rare circumstances are legally foreseeable and can still be compensated. In many cases, this is plainly wrong, and it is actually more likely that the accident at hand would have injured a disabled plaintiff.
How Prior Conditions Affect Damages
Your damages can be limited or reduced because of a preexisting condition. This is common when it comes to analyzing how your injury affects your abilities and pain compared to your pre-injury abilities and pain.
Many accidents cause ongoing disabilities. These could result in chronic pain, inability to work, and a reduction in your activities of daily living. However, if you already faced some of these issues, you would only get damages for the increase or worsening.
For example, let’s say you have a chronic pain issue and spend every day with pain at a 3/10. If you get injured and your pain goes up to a 4/10, you would only get damages for the increase. A victim without your condition would get compensation for the full 4/10 because they started at 0/10, but you can only get damages for the difference between a 3/10 and a 4/10.
How We Can Help
Our NY personal injury attorneys understand how these rules can affect your case, and we can work to protect your claim from all kinds of common attacks by defendants. Our experience helps us be on the lookout for the various ways your preexisting condition or disability could be used against you, and we can take proactive steps to stop it.
We can work to build a jury that will not be biased against you. Along the same lines, we can also help keep prejudicial information about your condition out of evidence if it would unfairly sway the jury. We can also hire medical experts to help explain your condition and the way it affects your case.
Millions of New Yorkers have prior injuries, disabilities, and health conditions, and most cases that come through our door have additional issues in this area. It is a normal part of our duties as your attorney to watch out for you and address these issues as they come up in your case.
Speak to Our New York Car Accident Lawyers
Our Buffalo, NY car accident lawyers from The Carrion Law Firm can be reached at (718) 841-0083 to go over your case.