Experienced San Diego personal injury attorneys know that preexisting injuries to a body part that has been injured in an accident can be a significant obstacle to gaining the compensation you deserve. If the previous injury never fully healed‚ you have to prove either: (1) that the new injury was caused by the accident; or (2) the extent to which the new injury aggravated the prior injury.
Insurance adjusters will usually try to argue that your current injury is just a flare-up of your previous injury‚ and your injury has nothing to do with the accident. For example‚ say you injure your back in an automobile collision‚ require several doctor visits and physical therapy‚ and settle with your insurance carrier. Then‚ two years later‚ you injure your back again in another accident. Your doctor diagnoses you with a herniated disc but concludes that the condition was not caused by the second collision. Even though you might expect a significant recovery of at least $100‚000 due to ongoing complaints and high medical bills‚ the insurance carrier only offers $20‚000 under the theory that the first injury minimized the value of the second. Even if you have completely recovered from a previous injury‚ you still must establish that a new injury took place‚ and this burden can be quite difficult.
If you have been injured in an accident‚ contact San Diego personal injury attorney Ross Jurewitz by filling out the form on this page. He can help you deal with even such complicated issues as pre-existing injuries in order to obtain the compensation you deserve.
