Broken bones after car accident

Broken Bones and Personal Injury Cases

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This post discusses the things injury attorneys consider when a new client say they broke a bone in a car accident or slip and fall.  If you were in a car accident or had a slip and fall and suffered a broken bone, consult a lawyer to determine if you have a case.  Whether you in Long Beach, Seal Beach, Huntington Beach, Newport Beach, Rossmoor, or Los Alamitos, there are many local personal injury law firms in Orange County.  This post also discusses some of the factors an injury attorney will consider before filing a lawsuit.  If you are concerned about your medical bills, lost wages, and pain and suffering that resulted make sure you discuss each of the below topics with an attorney before speaking to any of the insurance companies.  In order to maximize the value of a personal injury lawyer, you must discuss with them all of the facts regarding your broken bones as soon as possible.

Broken Bones Generally

Auto accident and premises liability cases result in all types of fractures.  We have seen clients with broken arms, broken legs, broken orbital bones, broken clavicles, and bones broken off the spinal column.  Each of these types of bone breaks can lead to excruciating pain.  It is crucial that any person with a fracture get to a hospital right away so that the hospital can diagnose and treat the injured area.

Once an injured person has been able to speak to a doctor at a Southern California health care provider, the injured individual can begin the bone healing process.   Medical News Today states that in addition to a traditional or functional cast, the bone healing process may consist of surgery.   Broken bones fixed through surgical means such as open reduction with internal fixation surgery (“ORIF”), are often seen by our law firm.  A broken bone set with a cast vs. ORIF surgery can significantly change the long term pain and suffering associated with a break.

If an individual files a lawsuit before discussing their bone fracture with an attorney they run the risk of not receiving maximum compensation for their pain and suffering.  In addition to economic damages, a bone break that has healed may warrant a personal injury claim for past pain and suffering.  A break that required surgery such as ORIF may justify further damages in the form of past and future pain and suffering. Therefore, make sure that you provide your attorney with as much information as possible regarding your broken bone to maximize your compensation.

Personal Injury Cases & Broken Bones

For an injury attorney to determine if you have a personal injury case for your fractures, the attorney will need you to tell them how the incident that caused your fractures occurred. Premises liability cases, commonly referred to as slip and fall accidents require that the responsible property owners breached their duty of care to the injured victim.  You should be prepared to explain to your attorney why you believe that your injuries are the fault of the property owners.  Similarly, if your broken bones occurred as a result of an auto accident, tell your injury attorney all the facts that tend to prove who was at fault for the car accident.

After your attorney has gathered facts proving that your fractures were the fault of another party, they will move on to proving the incident caused your injuries.  Fortunately, most fractures are more easily shown to have occurred as a result of a traumatic incident than other injuries such as spine disc herniations.  Nonetheless, bring your medical records from the event to the meeting with your attorney so that they can see the necessary medical documentation.

Once your attorney has all the information that they need, they can either begin the insurance claims process or proceed with a lawsuit on your behalf.

What Compensation Can I Recover for my Fractures?

Hospital bills and medical debts are rightfully among the biggest concerns for car-accident and slip and fall injury victims.  The last thing that an injured person who has just broken bones or gone through ORIF surgery needs are phone calls from collections agencies.  If medical bills are left unaddressed, they can lead to an adverse credit report event that negatively affects your credit score.  Therefore, you must tell your attorney about all medical bills that you are aware resulted from the incident.

An injury attorney will be able to discuss with you how to go about recovering money for medical costs. Recoverable costs may include money for outstanding medical bills and other medical bills which have already been paid by you or your health insurance.  If all medical bills have been incurred, then an injury attorney will want to discuss the total amount of past medical expenses. If fractures require that you have future medical treatment, an attorney will consider the potential recovery of future medical costs.

Similarly, an injury attorney will want to discuss any income you have lost or anticipate losing as a result of your injuries.  If your broken bones caused you to miss work, an injury attorney would discuss how they might recover the money you lost.  If your future medical care requires you to miss work, an attorney will consider the recovery of future wages.  Therefore, it is essential that you inform your attorney of all income you believe you have lost or will lose.

An injury attorney will also want to discuss the pain and suffering you have endured as a result of your injuries.  Just like your economic damages, pain and suffering can be broken down into past and future pain and suffering.  If your fractures have completely healed, then you likely have a claim for past pain and suffering.  If your fractures healed improperly or have led to arthritis, then you may also have a case for future pain and suffering. It is vital that you tell your attorney every way that your broken bones have affected your life and caused your pain or suffering.  Your injury attorney will use this information and determine the best way to convey your pain and suffering damages.

Contact an Attorney Now

This post has hopefully conveyed how important it is to contact an attorney as soon as possible.  Regardless of who you choose to represent you for your broken bones, make sure to tell them as much as possible. The more information your attorney has, the better they will be able to determine what is essential and what is not.  With all the necessary information, an attorney will be able to maximize your claim for compensation.  Therefore, if you have suffered slip and fall injuries or a car accident that led to broken bones, contact an attorney right away!

The information contained in this post is for general information purposes only. For more information on slip and fall injuries go to our slip and fall accidents page.  For more information on car accident injuries go to our car accidents page. Nothing on this post, or website, should be taken as legal advice for any individual or case situation. This information is not intended to create, and receipt or viewing does not constitute an attorney-client relationship.  If you have lost a loved one in a wrongful death action or have pain and suffering from a personal injury case, we are available to assist.  For a free consultation, please reach out to our attorneys to arrange a time to discuss your matter.  All you have to do is go to our site map or hit the big blue button labeled Contact Us!  

 

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Traffic Signal Phasing Diagram

Accident Reconstructionists and Car Accident Liability Disputes

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Can an Accident Reconstructionist Help Prove Your Personal Injury Claim?

This month’s blog post focuses on instances where a driver is involved in a car accident that was not their fault, and then the other driver tries to blame the car accident on them!  When we receive calls from people in car accidents that are going through this unfortunate experience often their first question is, “what can we do?” Generally, there are many ways to address a situation where the other driver in a car accident tries to shift the blame wrongfully. Sometimes, you may have photographs of the damage to each vehicle, which do not line up with the other driver’s story.  Other times, some people independently witness a car accident and can corroborate your side of the story. However, some car accidents have no witnesses or other evidence that can help.  In such cases, fault often becomes your word versus theirs. In car accidents such as these, an accident reconstructionist may be able to provide the evidence that’s needed.  The remainder of this post describes what exactly an accident reconstructionist is, and how we utilize their expertise to prove which driver in a car accident was at fault.

What is an Accident Reconstructionist?

So, what exactly is an accident reconstructionist? An accident reconstructionist is an expert at vehicular accident reconstruction.  Vehicular accident reconstruction is the scientific process of investigating and analyzing the available information from a collision to form a conclusion regarding the cause of a car accident. Accident reconstructionists undergo training and take many courses so that they can become proficient at subjects such as kinematics, work-energy methods, and conservation of linear momentum. These courses of education allow the accident reconstructionist not only to determine who may have been at fault for a collision but also things such as the speed of the vehicles at the time of the car accident.  Often when a car accident occurs in an intersection, one of the first pieces of evidence an accident reconstructionist will exam is a traffic signal phasing diagram.

What are Signal Phasing Diagrams?

Signal phasing diagrams have been instrumental in assisting juries to come to a determination as to which driver is at fault in a car accident.  An example of such a scenario is as follows:

Signal phasing diagrams are used by accident reconstructionists

An example of a signal phasing diagram used by an accident reconstructionist.

Example: It is early morning and a driver (Driver 1) is proceeding down a main road in Seal Beach, CA.  On this Seal Beach road, Driver 1 notices that all the lights in front of him are green. Driver 1 proceeds towards the intersection of a cross street.  At the same time, another driver (Driver 2) is traveling down a cross street on his way to work. As Driver 2 approaches the intersection of the well-known road, he has nobody in front of him and believes he sees a green light to proceed.  The two drivers unaware of one another, enter the intersection at the same time and collide in a violent “t-bone” car accident.  Both claim they had a green light.  So which driver is at fault?  At trial, an accident reconstructionist tells the jury that he was able to obtain a traffic signal phasing diagram for the intersection from the city of Seal Beach. The reconstructionist then states that based on his review of the phasing diagram, the main road was set to always have a green light at that time of day – unless traffic from the cross street indicated another car needed to cross.  For the cross street to have a green, a driver on the cross street would need to drive over the road loop at the entrance of the intersection, wait three seconds for the light to change from red to green, and then could proceed. Therefore, based on Driver 2’s testimony that prior to entering the intersection there was nobody in front of him, it was impossible that his light was always green as he described.  A jury is then able to use this information and conclusively determine that Driver 2 ran the red light.  Driver 2 was therefore negligent and responsible for Driver 1’s injuries.

Without the aid of an accident reconstructionist in the case mentioned above, that situation would be nothing more than “he said she said” and justice may be lost

As is apparent, an accident reconstructionist can be vital to a car accident case where two drivers each claim the other was at fault.  Sometimes if a car accident results in serious injuries or death, a local police force may employ a trained accident reconstructionist to investigate the scene. However, frequently, only an untrained officer responds to the scene and creates a basic traffic collision report. In the latter situation, it may become necessary to retain the services of your own accident reconstruction expert to prove your case.

What is important to remember is that if you’ve been involved in a car accident and the other driver wrongfully claims that you caused the car accident, do not give up hope, there may be another way to prove who is at fault!

If You Have Been in a Car Accident, Contact a Local Huntington Beach Car Accident Lawyer Right Away!

If you have been in a car accident, call a personal injury attorney right away. Make sure that you gather all of the other drivers’ auto insurance information.  No one article can cover everything that people should know after a car accident.  Additionally, car accidents with liability disputes present unique legal challenges.  There are many local Huntington Beach car accident lawyers, Seal Beach car accident lawyers, and Long Beach car accident lawyers that can help.  Most personal injury lawyers can also assist if you are a family member with wrongful death claims for a loved one.  Contact a lawyer right away to protect your personal injury or wrongful death statute of limitations.  Don’t let an insurance company lowball your demand for reimbursement of medical expenses, lost wages, or pain and suffering. Ensure that you receive full justice for your insurance claims!

The information contained in this post is for general information purposes only. Nothing on this post, or website, should be taken as legal advice for any individual or case situation. This information is not intended to create, and receipt or viewing does not constitute an attorney-client relationship.  Contact us If you have lost a loved one or have pain and suffering from a personal injury.  For more information, visit our wrongful death page and car accidents page. For a free consultation, please reach out to our attorneys to arrange a time to discuss your case.  All you have to do is hit the big blue button labeled Contact Us at the top of this page!

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