Prior Injuries and Your Auto Accident Claim
All of us come to accidents with a compromised body. To some degree, we’re all already a bit messed up. But that doesn’t mean that your NC auto accident claim isn’t worth anything. Here is the best tip I can give you about your prior injuries as they relate to your NC auto accident claim:
The First Rule of Pre-Existing Injuries: The first rule of pre-existing injuries is that we do not talk about pre-existing injuries. That’s a little strongly worded, but the Fight Club reference was screaming to get out. My point is that there’s no need to spout on about your medical history when you’re reporting your accident. I had a client once who had some back pain 5 YEARS prior to her accident, and when she reported the accident (before hiring me) the first thing she said was, “Now my back hurts, but I also had back pain 5 years ago…” WHY WOULD YOU DO THAT? Look, I’d never tell a client to be dishonest. But bringing up conditions that you had (past tense) when discussing injuries that you just received is not being honest, it’s TMI (too much information). It’s just not relevant. Keep it simple. Did your back hurt when you were driving? No? Good. Then if your back hurts after the accident, it must have been caused by the accident. Right? Of course, it’s different if you just had surgery. I’ve had that case, too: A client had back surgery and a few months into his recovery was in an auto accident. That’s fine. Disclose that. It’s going to come out anyway so it’s best to get ahead of it.
Of course, every situation is somewhat unique, so there’s not a lot of one size fits all kind of advice to give here. Maybe the best advice is to call a lawyer after your accident. Call me at 919-929-2992.
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