Any injury to the body, mind, and/or emotions is termed in legal parlance as a Personal Injury. It is contrasted with an injury to the property. Whereas the former refers to physical harm, emotional trauma, or psychological damage; the latter simply relates to damage to the property in any form. The physical harm could be the result of an accident, like broken bones, fractured limbs, bruises, and other physical injuries to the body. The emotional or psychological injury could be the result of trauma arising from a life-threatening experience or when someone publicly insults an individual.
An injury qualifies as “personal injury” when it is the result of someone else’s negligence and not due to the victim’s fault. For instance, an accidental injury is a case of personal injury if the other person is at fault, and not when the victim is himself walking in the wrong lane; thus, inviting trouble. The aggrieved person is entitled to claim damages/compensation from the other person if personal injury is proved.
How Best To Handle Personal Injury Claims?
The personal injury claims are settled by insurance companies. Therefore, the victim needs to get in touch with the insurance company officials via phone calls, personal visits, and written communication.
One way of handling personal injury claims is by the victim themselves without the involvement of an attorney. The insurance companies will assign an Insurance Adjuster for each case, who will require the victim to record a statement of their version of the events that led to the personal injury. The statement must be given with extreme diligence as it can easily weaken the victim’s case and the insurance companies will find an excuse to avoid paying the compensation amount.
The amount of compensation varies depending on various factors, such as the nature of injuries you sustained, the kind of accident, whether the personal injury affects your ability to work in the future and if yes, by how much. The victim can claim different types of compensation amounts from the insurance company, like medical care, disfigurement, permanent physical disability, loss of wages, emotional or psychological damages, loss of experiences (family, social, educational, recreational, etc.), etc.
The other way is, of course, to hire a personal injury attorney who can quickly settle the claims with the insurance company and help the victim avoid endless visits and calls to the insurance company. In case the victim personally visits the insurance company, they will seek to settle the claim for as low an amount as possible.
The unfortunate part, however, is that they succeed in tricking most victims because of their inside knowledge and experience of turning the case in their favor. Moreover, it makes business sense to hold on to the money because they are in it for money! However, an experienced attorney knows the ins and outs of the tricks played by insurance companies to delay and deny the legitimate claims of the victims of personal injury. They understand the complex issues involved and how best to overcome the hurdles if any.
Disclaimer: Every effort was made at the time of publication to ensure the accuracy of this publication. Individual circumstances will vary, and the law may have changed since publication, thus it is not intended to provide legal advice or imply a certain outcome. Readers considering legal action should seek legal advice from an experienced attorney to learn about current laws and how they can affect their case.
