Case Weaknesses: Property Damage, Soft Tissue
Posted Wednesday, April 16, 2014 by Chris Thayer
If your claim involves minor property damage or your injuries are low impact or soft tissue, it is getting considerably harder to win your claim in court.
A Seattle personal injury law firm is keenly aware that insurance carriers are raising their main defense of low impact soft tissue damage in thousands of cases across the country. The American people have been influenced in recent years by the insurance industry and the millions of dollars they have spent advertising that people with pre-existing conditions and alleged injuries from low-impact collisions are trying to scam insurers out of billions of dollars with excessive and phony claims. Their approach has been backed up by stories produced on popular news TV programs such as “Dateline,” “20/20” and “60 Minutes” as well as articles in Time and USA Today regarding the “lawsuit crisis in America.”
Because of this influence, many verdicts in these low-impact, low property damage collisions result in only a low portion of medical bills or just the medical bills. Potential jurors are angry with TV advertising by lawyers as they believe the lawyers are creating the lawsuit. Often, after a verdict, jurors tell lawyers that their decision is meant as a warning to television advertisers.
There are other factors that a Seattle personal injury lawyer thinks you should know when it comes to assessing these cases. For example, when people drive past a serious automobile accident with significant damage, they believe there may have been serious injury. Conversely, when the there is no visible damage they believe there isn’t serious injury. Because of modern car technology, property damage is lowered even if the impact is great.
Insurance companies teach their representatives how to assert the defense of low-impact or low-visibility damages, and judges now believe that these cases are a strain on the system. Therefore, the judges are recommending a lower value in settlement conferences.
The challenge for a Seattle personal injury law firm is to convince the judge and jury that the injuries are serious, even if the property damage is light. It is their job to convince medical providers, insurance carriers and a mediator if the case goes to mediation. The defense has the advantage because they don’t have to do anything when the damage is not as apparent.
For more information on how a lawyer can assist you in a case with low property damage and soft tissue injury, contact attorney Chris Thayer at (206) 340-2008.