arizona personal injury cases

Mark Breyer, Arizona personal injury attorney, continues his discussion of requirements that are incumbent upon any personal injury plaintiff to prove to win their case.

Proving the extent and duration of an injury can be the most complex part of a personal injury claim. Often times, the biggest effect an injury has on a person is the physical limitation caused by the pain they experience.

As Phoenix personal injury lawyers, we have grown to hate the words “pain and suffering” because this phrase has come to have a negative connotation to describe a person who has filed an injury claim as a money-hungry, lawsuit happy plaintiff. Yet pain is often very real and can be devastating to the injured person.

What is difficult in proving an injury claim is that pain cannot be seen, cannot be heard, and cannot be measured. Two people can have identical injuries, but one person is able to still work and live their life, while the other person remains bedridden. Whether this differing result from the same injury is due to pain tolerance, luck, determination, or exaggeration varies tremendously. Yet, somehow, an Arizona personal injury plaintiff must prove that his/her loss of enjoyment of life is the result of the injury, not a lack of determination to get better or, far worse, a desire to use a lawsuit to get money that is undeserved.

In addition to proving the extent of the injury, the duration of the injury must be proven. In other words, it is our job to prove how long an injury will last and what affect it will have on our client’s life. This is more difficult when you consider the trial of every client’s case is a one-time event. There is no mechanism in our system of justice to return in the future and see how the victim is handling the injury years later. Thus, we must prove something that cannot be known with certainty: the future. We “prove” the future outcomes for our clients by comparing them to others who have previously suffered similar injuries and examining medical documentation. If you think this can often be difficult, and sounds like an inexact science, you are correct.

More often than not, it is the most honorable, sincere, compassionate, law-abiding citizens that find themselves being denied justice by our current legal system in Arizona personal injury cases. Why? It is because usually it is the honest, trusting citizens that wait the longest to consult with an attorney. These are the people who do everything that the insurance adjuster working on behalf of the at-fault defendant asks of them, not realizing that their trust is misplaced. They often start with no intention of even considering hiring a lawyer or filing a lawsuit, and they often suffer greatly as a result of this otherwise admirable mindset.

If victims knew how our legal system worked and understood the process of pursuing an injury claim, these well-intentioned victims could increase their likelihood of a fair settlement or favorable jury verdict. If people were simply provided valuable information and warned of the potential pitfalls, they are more likely to increase the chances of a just result for their injury claim.

We know, from our many jury trials and successful settlements for our Arizona personal injury clients that a fair jury verdict in favor of the injury victim can provide needed medical bills, reimbursement of money from a job that can never be performed again, and an overall return to something approaching the quality of life experienced before the injury. A jury verdict for the plaintiff, in particular, is something that announces that the injury victim – our client – has overcome all of the hurdles and built-in impediments to recovery, survived all of the challenges, and come out with a fair result.

There are times when, due to our frustration with the hurdles that are placed in front of deserving people, we voice disgust at rulings, laws, and verdicts that favor defendants in Arizona personal injury cases. However, we strongly believe that an innocent defendant should prevail. A false claim of injury or exaggerated claim by an alleged injury victim should be rejected. We are in favor of justice in the legal system. In our view, however, justice is often denied to the person who was injured and to whom fair compensation should be awarded under the law.

A defense verdict for a seriously injured Plaintiff, who is an innocent victim of the recklessness of another, is neither justifiable nor fair. Unfortunately, our current legal system often rewards the negligent party and punishes the injured victim. We hope to help injured parties avoid making crucial mistakes in pursuing their injury claim so that if their case goes to trial, they hear:

“We the jury duly empaneled and sworn, upon our oath do find in favor of the Plaintiff.”