What Can I Claim for a Soft Tissue Injury From a Car Accident?
It is difficult to assess the average settlement for soft tissue injuries in Alberta personal injury cases. The settlement an injured person might receive for soft tissue injuries will vary greatly from one injured party to another. Evaluating your case will include considering the extent of your injuries and how they challenge and change your life. That alone varies significantly from person to person.
Soft tissue injuries sustained in motor vehicle accidents or slips and falls can be difficult to quantify. It can be equally difficult to assess the potential value of your financial compensation when you seek monetary damages from the responsible party.
When an Alberta personal injury lawyer represents you, they can assess the value for you. Their goal is to fight for the best possible outcome on your behalf and to value your claim based on evidence that is pertinent to you.
Causes of Soft Tissue Injuries
Many different types of accidents can leave you with serious and damaging soft tissue injuries. When a lawyer represents you, they start by listening to your recollection of the accident and resulting injuries. For your injuries to be compensable, the accident that caused them must be negligence-based.
Potential negligence-based accidents that lead to soft tissue injuries include:
Soft tissue injuries can lead to visible bruising and invisible pain and tenderness. They can also lead to more severe injuries. If you suffer an injury, you should seek medical attention as soon as possible, followed by a free consultation with a trusted personal injury lawyer.
When your representatives listen to your story, they carefully gather any details that prove the cause of your suffering. Your legal team adds your statements to those of the witnesses to bolster your fight for financial recovery.
Damages You Can Recover From Soft Tissue Injury Cases
The bulk of injured persons suffer soft tissue injuries. These injuries can vary greatly in terms of severity, chronicity, and impact on a person’s life. Some soft tissue injuries can lead to serious physical harm, permanent and chronic injuries, and long recovery periods.
Your healthcare team will assess your injuries and prescribe a treatment plan to aid in your immediate comfort. Beyond emergency care, your treatment plan can also include follow-up and long-term care.
Because they infringe on your ability to care for yourself and to return to work, the damages a lawyer can help you recover from soft tissue injuries include:
- Pain and suffering
- Income loss, including past and future income loss when your injuries prevent you from returning to work to support yourself and your family, they force you to make adjustments at work, or cause long-term earning capacity issues
- Cost of future care you may need
- Loss of housekeeping ability
- The cost of repairing your property to its pre-accident condition, compensation for its diminished value, or the cost of replacing your destroyed property
- The cost of the in-home assistance you require during recovery, including medical and domestic support
- Out-of-pocket expenses
Your legal team can collect your medical records and help you secure the ongoing reviews of your condition to support your right to compensation. Your lawyer can also fight hard for fair compensation.
Common Types of Soft Tissue Injuries
When you are afflicted with multiple soft tissue injuries, treatment, and recovery can be lengthy and costly. Beyond the costs of required medical care, their costs can also extend to lost productivity and increased assistance you require throughout your recovery.
When a lawyer handles your soft tissue injury compensation, the legal team can assess, among other things, the value of your injuries. This value is based, in part, on the toll they take on your overall health and the chronicity and severity of those injuries. Your lawyer can also assess the length of your recovery and the role of your prescribed treatment plan in such recovery.
Diagnosing and Treating Soft Tissue Injuries
Law firms can work with you to assess the value of your soft tissue injuries and the strength and effectiveness of your treatment plan.
You may have a strong case for financial compensation against the at-fault party when your tissue damage is severe enough to impede you from:
- Doing your job
- Managing your required and preferred daily activities
Common Treatments for Soft Tissue Injuries
Diagnosing your injuries can be painful in and of itself because it can involve a thorough physical exam. Your exam will look for swelling, tenderness, and lack of motion. In severe cases, you may also undergo ultrasound and imaging exams.
Your healthcare team will uncover the affected areas and determine the best range of treatment solutions for you.
These may include:
- Avoiding movement and weight-bearing — prolonged periods of immobility give your body components time to rest and recover
- Compression treatments are designed to limit and decrease painful swelling as you recover
- Physical therapy to help you regain strength, stability, and an increased range of motion
- Prescribed strengthening and stretching exercise regimens designed to provide gentle muscle restoration and a gradual return to full mobility, where possible
- Anti-inflammatory or pain medication as prescribed by your doctor to help alleviate symptoms and swelling
In cases of severe injury, such as a herniated disc, your post-accident treatment plan might also include surgical procedures. Your healthcare team can also include carefully designed pain control and management that helps increase your physical comfort.
Can Soft Tissue Damage Be Permanent?
The answer is more complex than a simple yes or no. Soft tissue injuries can range from minor sprains and strains to severe damage that can lead to chronic pain or limitations in movement. In some instances, what starts as a seemingly minor injury can become a lingering issue, leading to long-term discomfort and impairment.
From a medical standpoint, most soft tissue injuries heal with proper care and treatment. However, if not treated promptly and adequately, they can lead to complications like chronic pain syndromes, scar tissue formation, or reduced mobility. These conditions can be long-lasting, sometimes even permanent, requiring ongoing medical care and potentially impacting a person’s quality of life.
From a legal standpoint, if you have sustained a soft tissue injury that turns out to be permanent due to someone else’s negligence, you may be entitled to compensation. Understanding the full scope of a soft tissue injury can be challenging, as symptoms and long-term effects may not be immediately apparent.
Evidence That Proves Your Soft Tissue Injuries and Their Severity
Ongoing treatment records are your best proof of an ongoing, chronic and severe soft tissue injury.
Our team will collect every piece of evidence that shows your injuries’ effect on you. Although pictures will not capture the full extent of your injuries, they will depict bruises and other symptoms that lead to skin discolourations. The photos your lawyer uses as part of your evidence file will also show distorted or broken limbs, if necessary.
A Personal Injury Team Can Help You Build Your Case
A lawyer can help injured clients who experience short-term, long-term, and permanent losses of income. The law firm can help you calculate your current and future damages accurately and ensure their value is accurate before the settlement process. They can also advocate for you in your fight with private, long-term disability insurance companies.
The legal team can also:
- Collect and organize your evidence
- Assign a financial value to your case
- Establish the at-fault party’s negligence
- Update you on the progress of your case
- Make your recovery a priority
Your law firm will be familiar with insurance and personal injury laws in Alberta and the ways they can impact your case. They can take care of all insurance matters, including claim forms and requests for evidence and information. Your lawyer can also handle legal forms and filings and ensure compliance with legal regulations.
Let a Lawyer Handle Settlement Negotiations for You
If you or a loved one suffered soft tissue injuries in an accident caused by someone else’s negligence, you could have the basis of a personal injury case. A lawyer can handle the negotiation process for you in pursuit of a fair and favourable settlement.
The legal team can work hard to get to the bottom of the cause of your accident, so they can assign a fair settlement value to your case. The at-fault party’s insurance company is likely to make a lowball settlement offer. So, your lawyer can use evidence to settle the case and get your life back on track.
They can also help you avoid the temptation of accepting a speedy settlement offer because it might be presented before the full extent of your pain and suffering is clear. Your legal team can read through your medical records and prognosis report before entertaining settlement offers. Your lawyer can also consult any medical and financial experts who can help them understand the ongoing limitations of your injuries and accurately value your case.
Understand the Limitations of Contributory Negligence
Alberta’s contributory negligence laws can have a serious impact on your potential financial award. According to the Contributory Negligence Act, if you partially contribute to the accident that caused your injuries, your recoverable damages will be reduced by your percentage of liability.
Contributory negligence can significantly decrease the monetary compensation you might otherwise receive. When a lawyer represents you, they can make sure fault is accurately assigned to the at-fault party. Your lawyer can build your evidence file, ensure it contains comprehensive proof of liability, and present it in an organized manner.
You do not have to concentrate on meeting the required proof of liability. Simply tell your legal team what happened, and let them take it from there.
Understand the Beneficial Fee Structure
After an accident leaves you with injuries and property damage, you might hesitate to reach out to a lawyer’s team for fear of incurring additional expenses.
Most law firms offer you the following two important cost-related benefits:
- They can absorb all upfront legal costs and fees, so you can start building your compensation case at no immediate cost to you.
- They can represent you on a contingency fee basis, which means they do not expect any payment from you unless they secure a recovery for you.
Do not let financial concerns force you to accept a smaller settlement than you deserve, or fight without a supportive legal team by your side. At the start of your case, a law firm can explain its fee structure and the percentage its team accepts in clear language. The lawyer working on a contingency fee basis accepts a percentage of your financial verdict or settlement amount after your case is resolved.
Make Sure Your Potential Lawsuit Complies with Alberta’s Limitations Act
You have a limited time to seek compensation for the physical and financial damages you sustained in an accident. A lawyer can help you identify the at-fault party and, if their negligence, recklessness, or carelessness led to your accident and injuries, help you pursue financial recovery.
If you do not act per the statute, you forfeit the legal right to recovery. If you forfeit the right to recovery, your lawyer could not fight to hold the at-fault party financially accountable for their actions.
When a lawyer represents you, your legal team can file your lawsuit. So, you never have to worry about forfeiting your compensation because of time. Early involvement also means they have plenty of time to investigate the accident and fight for a favourable financial resolution to your case.
Consider a Free Case Consultation Today
If a car accident, accidental fall, or other accident caused by negligence injured you or someone you love, a personal injury lawyer could help you seek compensation from the at-fault party.
They can fight by your side when you are ready to build your case for a favourable settlement for your soft tissue injuries.
Contact a law firm serving Alberta for more details.
