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West Virginia Wrongful Discharge and Personal Injury Lawyers

Going to the Doctor after Accident

 

After a car accident or truck accident it is important to get examined by a doctor. You need to make sure you tell your doctor in detail about all the injuries you suffered in the motor vehicle accident. Many clients believe if they have been involved in a severe car wreck, and it wasn't their fault, they will receive a large award for their injuries, pain, and suffering. However, even if a drunk driver has severely injured you in a car accident, you will not be properly compensated unless your injuries are documented in medical records. Insurance companies require proof of your injuries before they will offer money. Even if you are suffering from terrible pain, neither insurance adjusters nor the insurance lawyers will offer the proper amount without medical documentation. This is why we often recommend that our clients be treated by specialists in order to get a proper diagnosis. If you have suffered a severe back injury you may want to request your doctor to do a MRI. Back injuries often cause devastating pain, but are hard to prove without an X-ray or MRI. However, sometimes even these tests won't show back injuries clearly.

 

Medical Evidence

 

The reason insurance companies won't pay without medical proof, even when a drunk driver has severely injured you in a car wreck, is because they know they can prevent the jury from hearing about the facts of the car accident. West Virginia laws divide jury trials into two phases. One phase is called the liability phase. During the liability phase West Virginia lawyers argue over who caused the automobile accident. If the defense lawyer knows that he can't convince the jury that his client didn't cause the automobile accident, the defense lawyer will simply admit liability. When the defense attorney admits liability that phase of the trial is skipped and the jury never hears any evidence on what happened to cause the car accident. So if you are paralyzed in an automobile accident because a drunk driver hit you, the defense attorney will no doubt admit liability. This means the jury deciding your case won't hear the words drunk driver one time. Defense lawyers in West Virginia and lawyers from other states often use this tactic when their clients have been reckless in causing a horrible car accident.

 

  Damages

 

The next phase of the trial is called the damages stage. In this stage the lawyers argue over the seriousness of the plaintiff's injury. The insurance lawyer will try to minimize the plaintiff's injuries while plaintiff's lawyer will try to explain to the jury how severe the injuries are.  The plaintiff's lawyer will also explain to the jury how much money this car accident has cost the plaintiff.  Plaintiff’s lawyer will present evidence to the jury on plaintiff's lost wages, future lost wages, pain, suffering, and annoyance and inconvenience. The defense lawyer always uses the same argument.  The defense attorney will say that the plaintiff isn't injured and is only out for money.  Even though the argument by the defense attorney is predictable, it often works when the proper medical records cannot be presented.  The jury will get to hear the plaintiff talk about how the injuries from the car or truck accident have disrupted his or her life and how he or she is in severe pain everyday.  However, without the medical evidence to back up the plaintiff's testimony, the defense lawyers constant repetition of the words faking and money can work.  Basically the damages phase is all about how much money is going to be awarded by the jury.  Remember, if the defense attorney admits liability the damages phase will be the only phase that occurs. So no matter how severe the car accident or truck accident was, you must still get examined by a doctor in order to get the West Virginia insurance companies and lawyers to pay on your claim.

 

West Virginia Insurance Summary

 

If you are injured in a car wreck you must make sure that your insurance company understands your injury. We have handled accident cases involving numerous injuries. Each case must be handled differently. It is important to explain the injury in detail to the defense lawyer or insurance adjuster so they will understand your situation. We will work with your doctor to make sure we understand how the injury has affected you since the accident and how the injuries suffered in the accident will affect you in the future. You will be entitled to damages resulting from the injury, including pain and suffering.  Here are some recent injuries we have worked with: Back Injuries (Degenerative Changes, Bulging discs, lumbar fractures) Reflex Sympathetic Dystrophy or RSD injuries, Rib fractures and contusions, Wrist sprain/strain, Knee strain/sprain, Neck strain/sprain, Bilateral sacroiliac dysfunction, Lumbar Facet Syndrome, Arthritis, Spondylosis, fibromyalgia, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease or COPD, Atelectasis (collapsed lung), Bruised Heart, Fracture or Dislocation of the left talus, Displaced left patella fracture, Radial styloid fractures, Displaced comminuted mid shaft femur fracture, Severed limbs, Severe facial scarring, broken bones, Burn injuries.

 

We Handle Accident Cases all over West Virginia

 

We have handled motor vehicle accident cases all across West Virginia including accidents that have occurred in Boone County (Madison, Van, Wharton), Logan County, Mingo County, Lincoln County (Hamlin), and Kanawha County (Charleston)