The driver that buys a car insurance policy expects to be compensated for any accident-caused injury. The same driver does not realize what the policy’s details say about any lawyer that might be working for a potential defendant. Such an injury lawyer would see the policy holder as a plaintiff, the defendant’s opponent.
How do those stated facts relate to the subject of pre-existing injuries? They tend to hide one other fact: The defendant’s lawyers will devote a generous amount of time to reviewing the plaintiff’s medical records. If those records contain the mention of any pre-existing injury, then that mention can lower the value of any offered compensation package.
What the law sees as the purpose of any money awarded to an injured accident victim
According to the law, that money should return an awarded victim to his or her original position. The award’s size does not have to be so great that it can be used to fix a body region that no longer functions effectively.
Details on what the law says about the size of the award package
The defendant cannot choose his or her victim. Defendants have no right to make a plaintiff’s condition worse. The size of the compensation package should correspond to the degree to which an existing injury has been aggravated. Injury lawyers in refer to that combination of statements as the thin skull rule.
Comparing that rule to the crumbling skull rule
That second guideline applies to a situation in which the plaintiff would have suffered the injuries in any event, regardless of whether or not he or she got involved in an automobile accident. Hence, the driver that hit a car with such a plaintiff cannot be held liable for the resulting injuries. It is not clear who determines whether or not the plaintiff would have sustained the accident-caused injuries in any event.
The rule’s existence can be used by a judge and jury that must make a decision in a case where a victim had a history of psychological, rather than physical problems. If the psychological problem had been identified earlier, consequences of that particular disorder cannot be linked to occurrence of the accident.
How the two rules should influence a victim’s choice, regarding a hired injury lawyer
The ideal injury lawyer can be counted on to present a case that causes the judge and jury to apply the thin skull rule. That means that the plaintiff’s compensation package should reflect the degree to which a pre-existing injury has been aggravated. A good injury lawyer in Spruce Grove would not allow the defendant’s lawyers to suggest that the plaintiff’s “skull” was already “crumbling,” and would have suffered damage eventually, even if the collision had not taken place.