They pin the spine down on two points while the rest of the spine bends and twists during a car accident. This results in flexion and extension muscle tears, ruptured spinal discs, and can cause sudden fractures. These injuries are identified with medical terminology which references the different parts of the spine, discussed below.
When we talk about back injuries, we are usually talking about injuries to the thoracic and lumbar spine. In a typical car accident, it is very rare for someone to injure their sacrum or coccyx. If the injury is to one of the vertebrae or to a spinal disc, then the diagnostic films, medical records, doctors and lawyers will refer to the specific level of the spine as referenced by the vertebrae number where the injury occurred.
Those levels are:. The spinal discs are in between these vertebrae. During a car accident, damage to soft tissue ligaments and tendons in the muscles surrounding the vertebrae may happen. This may be called a back strain or sprain in your medical records. During a car accident, the impact between the vehicles involved can cause the back muscles to stretch or tear, and in some cases, to cause damage to the nerve endings.
The average back injury settlement is often linked to this kind of information. If a muscle, ligament or tendon is torn, then there has been a partial or complete rupture of the soft tissue. This could be where your back pain is coming from after an accident; knowing this can help you, or more likely your lawyer, determine accurate soft tissue back injury settlement amounts for your claim.
Symptoms of sprains and strains and their damage to the back range from very mild, right up to severe and debilitating. Yes, a sprain or strain can be permanent. How severe the injury is can vary greatly depending upon the severity of the crash and the force of impact. A settlement for a lower back injury should therefore take this reality into account.
If an adjuster argues this is too speculative, it may be appropriate to wait several months and continue getting your recommended medical treatments before accepting any settlement. When a lower back sprain or strain is permanent, it will have a substantial impact on your settlement payout and should be considered in your back injury settlement calculator variables.
However, most insurance companies will see your case as just another soft tissue injury case, and will not make an honest settlement offer without a lawsuit being filed. This is why often the average settlement for car accident back injury is lower than it should be for those without an attorney. A lawyer can help you prove these losses — by developing client stories, using demonstrative evidence, and utilizing third-party witnesses — to the insurance company to get a fairer settlement offer for you.
In some cases, injuries to soft tissue in the back may be catastrophic, with permanent consequences such as chronic numbness , chronic pain, limited mobility, loss of function and limited muscle strength. These symptoms help increase payouts, assuming they can be corroborated.
If you have permanently restricted mobility, or range of motion, you should be entitled to a larger payout for the negative impact that will have on your life.
Proving those losses in a recoverable fashion goes well beyond simply telling the insurance company that these are your symptoms. Should pain persist, the condition will likely be diagnosed as chronic by a medical professional, who will adapt a treatment and therapeutic schedule to help you recover, or learn to live better with your injury.
There are substantial limits to this, but generally speaking, more treatment results in more medical bills which results in more settlement money and is often therefore linked to how much of an insurance settlement for your back injury you will get. Again, that general statement has substantial limitations. Back pain treatment for lower back strains and sprains caused by a car accident often includes:. Some of these treatments may help increase your settlement more than others, and some of them are oftentimes overdone by medical facilities which results in unrecoverable medical expenses.
It is important to speak with a lawyer right after your car accident so she or he can keep an eye on your progressing treatment and provide up to date advice on how your treatment will help or hurt your settlement payout. Although sprains and strains are the most common type of lower back and middle back injuries, these are other common back injuries you may see noted in your medical records or hear a doctor say you have:.
Extreme force can cause a herniated disc. Less common, but very serious and can result in the need for surgical hardware. A spinal cord injury is not common following a typical car accident. What is much more common is spinal cord irritation from the other types of back injuries, such as a herniated disc. Substantial spinal cord rehabilitation is often needed for these injuries.
The other two injuries are fairly equally balanced in their ability to get you a large settlement. This is because a substantial herniation resulting in surgery is likely more than a non-displaced, non-surgical spinal fracture.
A lot of variables go into the mix and the valuation changes on a case by case basis. The type of accident you were involved in meaning the type of impact, such as rear-end, head-on, and t-bone can cause different types of injuries. For example, a neck disc injury is more likely with a side-swipe or lane change, whereas certain lower back disc injuries are more common with a head-on or side-swipe accident.
This is powerful evidence that can be used to establish causation in your case. For example, if you are over the age of 30, you have some amount of degeneration that is taking place in the discs in spine in your lower back. The insurance company will argue that degeneration is to blame for your post-accident lower back pain.
But pain from degeneration does not occur spontaneously. With the right attorney and literature supporting your case, you can make sure that your settlement is not lessened because of any bogus insurance company arguments like this. Moreover, with supporting medical literature, your lawyer has evidence which helps bolster the strength of the relationship between your accident type and injury type.
That specific causation can sometimes get the insurance company to make a more serious settlement offer. One thing to remember as you work on dealing with your injuries is that no matter the pain you feel you are in, or the amount you feel you may be entitled to, insurance companies to not want to pay out on these injuries.
Because of this, you must be crafty in your positioning. Most people not represented by a lawyer end up giving too much information, and the wrong information, and it compromises the value of their back injury settlement amount. The key is to give the adjuster only those things that will help your claim, then working past their objections with substantive evidence. In the medical and legal world, we often refer to your spine to associate the different areas of your back injury.
Your spine has 2 areas of potential back injury that are shown in this graphic:. Despite touting their ethics , insurance companies and adjusters do not behave fairly or ethically in investigating what body part was injured and how. Their goal is to pay you as little as possible, not pay you what is fair. Are you sure you injured your upper back in your accident?
Maybe it was your shoulder or your neck which, coincidentally, had other pre-existing back problems or injuries. If you have an upper back injury, expect the insurance company to muddy the waters by blending your upper back, shoulder, and neck into one group. Then, the adjuster and defense lawyer can argue your car accident is not the source of your current symptoms.
Sometimes they are right and most of the time they are wrong. Neck and back pain can follow you throughout your life and long after the initial injury. Pursuing a settlement is your opportunity to seek legal action against the responsible party.
Ask yourself what you have to lose by pursuing litigation and what you have to lose by not taking the chance? Our personal injury lawyers can help you seek monetary damages after a car accident in Florida, or anywhere in the United States. We are a national injury law firm with considerable experience representing victims of car accidents.
Some of the most common types of damages available to accident victims include:. Hiring a personal injury attorney at Sibley Dolman Gipe Accident Injury PA is the best way to obtain these damages and reach a successful settlement with the insurance company after a car accident. We can advocate for your interests and maximize the types of damages you can obtain. Even if the insurance company fights or pushes back — we fight harder.
If necessary, we can take your case all the way to trial to secure the compensation you deserve. There are many factors that will affect the amount of your back and neck injury settlement. As such, the amount you can receive may vary greatly from the average settlement amount. Instead of thinking in terms of average settlements, it is important to consider how much YOUR case is worth. Any settlement you receive is unique to YOUR situation.
No two cases are ever the same. Many factors will affect the amount you can receive in a back or neck settlement. Some of those factors include:. Insurance companies may try to claim that you already had back or neck injuries. These pre-existing injuries may be used to try and reduce your claim. Our attorneys know how to combat these tactics. We will gather the necessary evidence to show liability and build your case. Sadly, you will only be able to recover up to the maximum policy limit unless you sue the defendant or bring a claim against another party.
Our lawyers know how to find all liable parties to maximize compensation. If filing a lawsuit is necessary, we are experienced and skilled litigators who are not afraid to fight tough battles in and out of courtrooms for our injured clients. The first step towards winning your case and reaching a back and neck injury settlement is to understand your injuries and how they will affect your life and your future.
The neck and back are parts of our body we tend to take for granted—until they hurt. The ability to turn our heads and to lift objects depends upon the health of both the neck and the back. A traumatic event can result in serious, life-long, neck and back pain. Traumatic events can include slip and falls, car accidents, and motorcycle crashes.
They can occur while working at your job, while walking through a grocery store, or while commuting to work. The spinal cord consists of a bundle of nerves that runs the length of the vertebrae that make up the spine. People that sustain a spinal cord injur y because of a car accident can suffer from a number of debilitating symptoms such as sensory problems, loss of strength or control of limbs.
Spinal cord damage can be suffered directly because of the force of a car collision, vertebrae can be moved and put pressure on the spinal cord, or the spinal cord can be damaged by slivers of broken vertebrae.
A sudden impact, like that of a rear-end collision, can cause a neck sprain. Described as a stretched ligament or muscle in the neck, a sprain is often quite painful. Sometimes referred to as whiplash , a neck sprain can result in a stiff neck, making it difficult to turn your head. The pain of a neck sprain can also travel beyond the neck.
Patients may experience patchy numbness in their hands or arms and dizziness. Shoulder pain in the upper back and ringing in the ears are other possible symptoms. Seeking immediate medical attention for suspected whiplash is important for ruling out a spinal cord injury. Sleeping with a neck sprain is difficult and patients may need assistance with daily tasks.
Treatment can involve medication, wearing a neck brace, and physical therapy. The neck contains cervical bones. Also called vertebrae, they make up the spine in the neck and have labels of C1-C7. The cervical bones perform the important function of protecting the spinal cord, supporting the neck, and allowing for movement. When there is a suspected fracture of the cervical bones, first responders must immobilize the patient.
Treatment depends upon the severity of the injury and may include a neck brace, traction, or surgery. Physical therapy and rehabilitation can last for months and some cervical fractures can sometimes result in permanent injury.
These soft, rubbery discs sit between the vertebrae of the spine. Serving as a type of cushion, the discs can rupture or herniate and push through the vertebrae.
The result is pressure on nerves and pain in the lower back or neck. Shooting pain and tingling or numbness in your limbs can affect your daily life. Herniated discs sometimes require surgery to remove the ruptured disc. A broken back is an extremely painful injury that requires immediate medical attention.
Non-economic damages sometimes called "general damages" cover non-monetary losses associated with the effects of your back injuries—losses that aren't always easy to capture with a dollar figure. These include:. Pain and suffering : A pain multiplier is often used to assess pain and suffering damages in a back injury case. That means your economic damages i. Emotional distress: When applicable, emotional distress damages may be assessed separately, or compensated as part of pain and suffering.
Loss of consortium. When back injuries are so serious as in cases of partial or total paralysis, for example that the victim's loved ones spouses and children are deprived of a normal loving relationship and companionship including the loss of a marital sexual relationship in the case of a spouse , loss of consortium damages may be awarded. In some states, these damages are included as part of a back injury victim's compensatory damages award.
Elsewhere, affected family members must sue separately for loss of consortium damages. For more on how damages and the multiplier work in the context of a personal injury insurance settlement, check out AllLaw's Settlement Calculator.
In rare circumstances, punitive damages may be awarded in a back injury case. But there must be proof that the defendant's action or inaction in causing the accident amounted to more than just run-of-the-mill negligence , and even then, punitive damages are usually only awarded after the case has gone through a full civil trial and a jury has decide that punitive damages are appropriate.
The defendant's conduct must be considered so outrageous or egregious that payment of additional damages is justified—not in order to compensate the back injury victim, but to punish the defendant's behavior. While the severity of injuries is the major determining factor in the value of a back injury claim, two other considerations can also affect the amount of compensation received via settlement or jury verdict.
In the small handful of "contributory negligence" states, you recover nothing at all if you shared any measure of fault for the accident that resulted in your back injury. In the majority of states, a different rule called "comparative negligence" applies, and you may be able to recover compensation as long as the other party was at least 50 percent or 51 percent responsible states have different rules on the required fault percentage.
Learn more about how shared fault for an accident affects an injury claim. Failure to Mitigate Damages. After an accident, you are required to take reasonable steps to mitigate your damages. For instance, let's say you suffer a back sprain and your doctor prescribes a compression brace for you to wear for up to 12 hours a day.
0コメント