Compensation for Pre-Existing Injuries

I’m Griff Tonkin. I’m a partner here at the Arthofer and Tonkin Law Offices. Today I want to chat with you about one of the main arguments an insurance company is likely to make when you’ve been involved in an accident. Insurance companies will assume that your injuries are the fault and responsibility of almost anyone besides their insured, including you.

Let me give you an example. We recently resolved a case where our client had been in a really terrible accident about a year before the accident she was coming to see us for. The insurance company for the second accident said everything was related to the first accident, and all our client’s complaints of neck pain, and even an eventual need for neck surgery, were the responsibility of the first accident. Fortunately, California law doesn’t do exactly what insurance companies want. These books behind me are the civil jury instructions for California. We call them the CACI instructions for short. And there’s a specific jury instruction dealing with pre-existing injuries. Our client had a pre-existing injury. Now, the driver in the second accident wasn’t responsible for our client’s pre-existing injury, but the driver was responsible for the aggravation of those pre-existing injuries. So while our client had been hurt before, she didn’t need neck surgery. However, after the second accident, she did need neck surgery. Let me give you an example of why it’s so important that you have skilled personal injury trial counsel on your side. In this case, the insurance company offered our client only $5,000 to resolve her case.

After she came to our office, we were able to resolve her claim for the full amount of the available insurance policy limits of $250,000. We were able to prove that while our client had pre-existing injuries, her need for surgery was caused by the second accident, and the driver in the second accident was responsible for the worsening and that aggravation of those pre-existing injuries that ultimately caused her to need such invasive, serious medical treatment. If you’ve been involved in an accident, you will be faced with arguments like this from the insurance company. You need someone on your side who’s skilled at handling just this sort of situation. So give us a call today. Our consultation is free.