Personal Injury Lawyer Virginia Beach
If your personal injury accident left you with a permanent disability, you could be eligible for financial compensation for your medical bills, lost earnings, and other damages. In order to fully understand your rights and how much compensation you may be entitled to collect, it is important to seek advice from a reputable and experienced personal injury law firm.
The physical and mental toll of adjusting to a whole new way of life can be scary and overwhelming. At times like these, the support and guidance of a Virginia Beach personal injury lawyer can be indispensable. Attorneys play a central role in navigating the complicated personal injury process and ensuring your rights are protected.
At Shapiro, Washburn & Sharp, we are dedicated to helping victims who face these kinds of challenges. If you or a loved one were recently injured due to someone else’s negligence, call us to schedule your free consultation.
What Are Permanent Injuries?
Numerous injuries are commonly associated with accidents, including burns and whiplash. When a lifelong disability arises from an accident, it substantially and permanently alters the course of a victim’s life. Permanent disabilities include:
- Cognitive Disabilities: These include decreased cognitive function and memory loss
- Physical Impairments: Such as chronic pain and the loss of a limb’s function
- Psychological and Emotional Trauma: These can lead to conditions such as depression and post-traumatic stress disorder
- Sensory Loss: Such as the impairment or loss of hearing or vision
Anytime a personal injury accident results in a permanent disability, it can considerably impact your future. In these situations, knowing your rights and understanding all of your legal options is paramount.
How Does Virginia Define Permanent Injuries?
Where the law is concerned, an injury’s permanence relates to your state of fitness and health after you have received medical treatment and reached what is known as Maximum Medical Improvement. MMI is achieved once your doctor feels that you have recovered as much as possible. Simply put, once you have reached MMI, that is as good as it’s going to get.
Your doctor’s decision that MMI has been achieved is, unfortunately, not necessarily enough to convince the insurer to pay the damages you and your attorney have requested. Working with a skilled Virginia Beach personal injury lawyer is necessary because the adjuster is likely to claim that you are as fit and healthy as you were before your accident.
Your attorney will collect and present evidence, such as your medical records and your doctor’s testimony, to persuade the adjuster that this isn’t the case. If this is not enough to convince the insurance company of the severity and permanence of your injury, you might have no option but to file a lawsuit and pursue the case in court.
When building a case for your permanent injury, think about the adverse impacts it has had on your life and the way you accomplish tasks. It is best to be as detailed as possible. For most victims, it is helpful to keep a thorough, written account of:
- Activities in which you are no longer able to participate
- If you are unable to go back to work, work the same number of hours as you used to, or perform the same job you had before your accident
- Any tasks you are still able to perform but they now cause you pain or take significantly longer than they used to
When describing these changes, try to be as detailed as possible. For instance, you might write something like, “Just getting the trash out to the curb is a struggle because of my back pain. I have to stop and rest multiple times on the way, and by the time I’m finished, I’m in so much pain that I can’t do anything else for the rest of the day. Sometimes, I have to leave the bags by the door and wait for a friend or neighbor to take them out for me, which isn’t always an option. On really bad days, I can only carry one small bag at a time, turning a simple chore into an exhausting ordeal. My other option is to simply let the trash bags pile up”
Is Valuing Permanent Injury Claims Challenging?
The primary challenge with these types of claims is estimating what your future medical bills are going to look like and how much you would have earned had it not been for your accident. After your lawyer has negotiated a settlement, your health insurance carrier will no longer be liable for covering your medical bills. Regrettably, medical cost inflation is a somewhat murky and dubious phenomenon and the insurer could take a very different view of how much money you would have earned in the years to come.
Furthermore, pain and suffering is a very subjective component of your personal injury claim; one you can expect the insurance carrier to undervalue during settlement negotiations. They will work hard to downplay your injuries and the lifelong consequences that extend well beyond physical pain.
How Can Our Attorneys Help With Your Case?
The Virginia Beach personal injury lawyers at Shapiro, Washburn & Sharp can assist you in preparing and filing your insurance claim. If you sustained a permanent injury, we have the knowledge and experience to help you prove it by:
- Helping you obtain an assessment of your condition from a healthcare expert
- Consulting with medical professionals
- Gathering evidence that clearly establishes fault for the accident, such as pictures, eyewitness testimonies, police reports, and videos
- Reviewing your medical records and bills
- Communicating with the insurance company on your behalf
- Negotiating to reach an equitable settlement for your permanent injury and other related losses
If your case cannot be fairly settled, we will represent you in court. In Virginia, you typically have two years to pursue a personal injury lawsuit. However, depending on the facts of your case, your specific filing deadline could be shortened or extended.
All We Do Is Injury Law
The Virginia Beach personal injury lawyers at Shapiro, Washburn & Sharp have over 100 combined years of experience helping those injured due to someone else’s negligence by compiling compelling evidence and building strong cases for significant economic recoveries. One recent example of this is the $2.3 million jury verdict we obtained for a child who sustained permanent damage to their shoulder during a mismanaged delivery.
If another person’s negligence resulted in your injuries, permanent or otherwise, discuss your case with one of our respected attorneys and discover what legal avenues are open to you. You can schedule a free case review by calling us at (833) 997-1774 or by filling out the contact form on our website. To better serve our clients, we have offices located in Virginia Beach, Norfolk, Portsmouth, and Hampton.