There are some times in life where it's appropriate for you to pursue a personal injury claim. If some other individual or entity is responsible for your injury or illness, then there is no real reason you shouldn't be able to hold them liable.
It's not you being vindictive. In many cases, you're trying to win a judgment that can cover your medical bills, hospital stay, surgery, or physical therapy, not to mention any pain and suffering that goes along with all that.
However, if you're going to pursue a personal injury lawsuit, then you should also understand how preexisting conditions fit into the equation. Let's go into a little detail on that right now.
What is a Preexisting Condition?
Before we get into personal injury law, you must understand what we mean when we say preexisting conditions. A preexisting condition:
Refers to a medical condition that you have before your medical coverage goes into effect
Can be something minor or serious
There has been lots of contention over the years between people and insurance companies about preexisting conditions. Many companies have not wanted to insure people who have serious preexisting conditions, because they know that they'll probably need to pay for expensive treatments.
Preexisting Conditions and Personal Injury Claims
Let's say that you're a personal injury case victim. Generally, you cannot receive compensation for conditions and injuries that the accident does not affect.
However, if the accident or exposure to the product made your situation worse, then you probably have a good shot at winning your case and getting money from those responsible.
Legally, you might hear different terms in this instance that mean the same thing. For example, a lawyer might call these circumstances:
Preexisting condition aggravation
Preexisting condition exacerbation
Both refer to your condition getting worse because of exposure to something harmful or an injury that you sustain that some person or entity could have prevented.
What Sort of Conditions Warrant Pursuing Personal Injury Claims?
There are a variety of conditions that you might deal with that would justify hiring a personal injury lawyer and seeking recompense. You might be looking at a slip-and-fall. Exposure to something toxic might give you cancer. You may lose your sense of smell or taste, or your child might have a birth defect.
Remember, though, that your mental health might also be a reason to pursue such a case. If you're depressed or anxious and can hold someone liable for that, that's certainly worth pursuing.
How the Defense Will Try to Undermine Your Case
In these cases, hundreds of thousands or even millions of dollars are sometimes on the line. Because of that, don't just expect the defendant's lawyer to roll over and agree to your terms.
They're probably going to try and cast doubt about the cause of your injuries or mental condition. They may try and establish that the injury or condition was present before your exposure to the defective product or the accident that led to your current state.
Preexisting conditions can complicate things even further. Let's say that you had an old football injury and slipped and fell in a store. Now, your situation is much worse than it ever was in the past.
It's highly likely that the defense will try to establish that the accident did not exacerbate your preexisting condition.
What Can You Do to Combat This?
This is why your preexisting conditions can set up long court battles between your legal representative and the defendant's lawyer. The best chance that you have to win your case might be to call on experts who can prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendant is responsible for your current state.
You might need to bring in multiple medical experts who can say, definitively, that your condition was not as bad until you suffered the accident or encountered the product. Your attorney will do all that they can to show that your situation or injuries are worse now than they were before.
Insurance companies often have ruthless lawyers, and they'll try to blame everything on preexisting conditions if they can get away with it.
You Might Settle Out of Court
If the defense sees that their argument is not working, and they think they're going to lose the case, they might halt the trial and offer to settle with you. You'll have to talk to your lawyer and figure out if what they're offering you is worth it.
Remember, if they want to settle, then that means they're worried about losing. You might reject their offer and proceed, winning millions rather than thousands of dollars in some instances.
At the same time, you might just want to end the trial. These proceedings can drain you, and you probably want to try and get back to your life, rather than having to sit in court day after day.
You'll need to weigh your options and decide if you want to risk losing the case if you refuse the settlement. If you have an excellent lawyer, they should give you some sound advice here.
Don't Get Discouraged
If you know that your preexisting condition was not what caused you to be the way you are, you should keep fighting in the face of argumentative defense lawyers. If someone is responsible for your pain and suffering, then you should try to hold them accountable.
Not only that but if you have medical bills piling up, then this might be a case that you can't afford to drop. If you went to the doctor regularly, then you should have detailed medical records that can back up your claims.
You might have had a preexisting condition, but if whatever happened to you made things worse, you shouldn't have that much trouble proving it.
This is one of the foremost reasons why you should see the doctor regularly, even if you feel fine. Your medical record can come in handy if you ever get into one of these tricky legal situations.
