personal injury attorneys

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.

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.

Fortunately, most negligent acts do not result in an injury. It is also fortunate that even where an injury occurs to an innocent person, and even where that injury was caused by someone else’s neglect, the injury is often minimal. Most injuries that are inconsequential are not worthy of bringing an Arizona personal injury claim.

To have a valid personal injury claim, it is not enough that a negligent act caused an injury. Instead, the victim must be able to prove that he/she suffered an injury as a result of another’s negligence. While the allegation of a new injury (or aggravation of prior injury) must be true, it must also be able to be proven with evidence.

We frequently get calls from people that were involved in an Arizona auto accident caused by the negligence of someone else. Though these individuals were not injured, they are understandably angry that their lives were impacted by another’s carelessness or, sometimes, outright recklessness. We are asked by these people whether they can bring a personal injury claim. The answer is no.

Of course, to whatever degree their lives were impacted by the event, they have a theoretical right to make a claim. The defendant or insurance company for the defendant may be willing to offer a small settlement in order to close the claim to and eliminate financial exposure for a belated injury claim. However, to have a personal injury case one must be able to prove an injury resulting from the initial incident. If someone cannot prove they suffered an injury, they have not met this necessary element of a personal injury claim.

This type of question from someone who was not injured in an incident most often takes the form of someone who was involved in a Phoenix car accident. The people who raise this question are usually relieved that they were among the lucky ones who were not hurt. However, they may need their car repaired, or need a rental car, or have a need to get the car declared a total loss so they can purchase a new car. Of course, the law does provide protection to someone with car damage or any type of property damage, due to another person’s negligence; however, this is not really a “personal injury” action, but a “property damage” claim.

The insurance industry – both in the insurance policies they write and in the way they process the claims – usually treat property damage separate from an injury claim. Anything related to a rental car, items damaged in a car at the time of an incident, loss of value to a vehicle, and so forth often are handled as distinct claims from an injury claim.

From a practical standpoint, it is usually lawyers that handle personal injury claims that also take care of these property damage claims for their clients. The legal issues are similar, the factual issues are similar, and it simply makes the most sense for one law firm to handle these issues for their clients.

However, it is important to understand this distinction between a personal injury claim and the related property damage claim: if no injury can be proven, no “personal injury” action exists.

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.”