ATTORNEY DETERMINE

HOW CAN AN ATTORNEY DETERMINE THE VALUE OF YOUR CASE IN COLORADO?

Clients often want to know the value of their case at our first meeting. If an attorney says he knows the value of your case at the first meeting, then he is fabricating it. It is nearly impossible to set a monetary value on your case at the beginning of your case as your injuries need to progress and you need medical treatment before a value can be discussed.

WHAT ARE COMMON CAR ACCIDENT INJURIES?

Commonly, a client of mine may have soft tissue injuries to the neck and back, sometimes referred to as whiplash. Whiplash injuries are commonly treated by chiropractors and physical therapists. Other common injuries are concussions from the force of a collision, memory loss, difficulty concentrating and headaches. These fall under the realm of a minor brain injury or TBI.

Other common injuries are to the knee and shoulder. The knee may hit the steering wheel or some other part of the interior of the car and cause deep bruising and contusions. Your head can also hit something in the car and cause a brain injury. Even the force of the neck against the back of your head rest can cause more serious whiplash and head injuries.

The gold standard for assessing injuries to your neck and back is an MRI. We call these cervical MRI for the neck and lumbar MRI for the back. MRI’s are great tools to show what type of soft tissue damage or muscular damage has occurred in your spine due to your car crash or car accident. Frequently, injured clients may have bulging discs or herniations from the forces generated upon one’s spine during a collision. MRI’s will show whether or not you need neck or back surgery.

Mostly, after chiropractic care is terminated and/or physical therapy treatment has ended, if there is still spinal pain, an MRI can be ordered to rule out a disc bulge or disc herniation. Cases with herniated discs are worth more money than only a “whiplash” type car accident case.

If a client needs spinal surgery, then a car accident case in Colorado can be worth much more than $100,000. It also depends on the liability portion of your car accident case. If you are rear ended, then 9 times out of 10, the rear striking driver is totally at fault.

PROVING FAULT IN A CAR ACCIDENT IS CRUCIAL

If we cannot prove that the other driver is at fault for causing your injuries, then your case is over before it starts. Fault is usually placed at the scene by the investigating police officer. Typically, a police officer is called to the accident scene and performs his own personal investigation.

POLICE OFFICERS ARE VERY EXPERIENCED AT PROVING FAULT OR LIABILITY

Police officers are trained to determine who is at fault for a car accident in Colorado. It might be the local police department that arrives on scene or could be the Colorado State Highway Patrol depending on where the car accident takes place. They will talk to both drivers, any eye witnesses, make measurements, take photos and then issue a traffic citation to the at-fault driver. This proves the liability portion of your case. Thus with liability proven, I can move on to prove that your particular injuries were caused by the negligence of the other driver.

I have to prove that your injuries stemmed from your car accident. If you had a particular injury before your car accident took place, then of course it is not caused by the car accident and I cannot recover money from the at-fault driver’s insurance company for those particular injuries. If your injuries were caused by the car accident, then I can recover money damages for those particular injuries directly caused by the at-fault driver.

AFTER YOUR MEDICAL TREATMENT IS FINISHED, WE CAN MUTUALLY DETERMINE THE VALUE OF YOUR CAR ACCIDENT CASE

We always want to wait until the termination of all your medical treatment, to sit down and determine the value of your car accident injuries. I will often consult recent jury verdicts as well as using my 32 years of experience handling car accident and personal injury cases. Then, I can come up with a first offer to propose settlement to the insurance company. I will start high and the insurance company will start low. It is sort of a back and forth “game” between us and the insurance company adjuster.

If all goes according to plan, we will eventually reach a fair settlement with the at-fault driver’s insurance company. That happens 9 times out of 10. 99 percent of car accident or motor vehicle accident cases are settled out of court. Maybe 1% of car accident cases will require the filing of a lawsuit. A lawsuit is a game of chance. You could win or you could lose. It is always best to settle your injury case as long as the insurance company is being reasonable. Sometimes insurance companies do not play fair and there is no other recourse than to file a lawsuit.