After an insurance company has received a personal injury claim, it wants to know what that same claim is worth. For that reason, it works on evaluating the claim’s worth. What factors does it consider during that evaluation?
Was any party negligent?
• What level of negligence did the defendant demonstrate?
• Is there reason to allege that the plaintiff was partly to blame?
• For instance: Did a pedestrian text while crossing the street? Did a bicycle rider come off of the sidewalk and ride into the street?
How serious were the victim’s injuries?
• Did the plaintiff become disabled? Did the plaintiff’s injuries represent a cause for disfigurement?
• Did those same injuries also cause pain and suffering? What treatment was provided for any psychological or emotional problems?
Does the plaintiff have reason to feel concerned about future costs?
• Has the doctor indicated the need to plan for future treatment, such as physiotherapy or massage?
• How long will the recovering victim need to rely on the services of a caregiver? What are the costs for such services?
• Did the recovery force the victim to lose a certain amount of wages? Did that same recovery reduce the number of future earning opportunities that were available to the claimant/victim?
Why the claimant must work closely with a lawyer, when seeking the answer to that last question?
Different claimants have differing jobs and different skills. Personal injury lawyer in Edmonton know that a client with a personal injury claim needs get explanation on how any aspect of his or her injury has reduced the level of skill that the injured client can deliver to a potential employer.
Some injuries reduce a worker’s visual senses, or tactile senses. Others cut-into the amount of time that a potential hire can promise to be at the job site. For instance, some people with cystic fibrosis need to work daily on keeping their lungs strong. An employer might need to allow them time for performance of that daily, lung-strengthening routine.
Sometimes doctors prescribe a surgical treatment for a specific condition. For instance, if a traumatic brain injury (TBI) goes untreated, and triggers development of hydrocephalus, then the doctors would call for installation of a long tube called a shunt. If a shunt later gets damaged or infected, it needs to be replaced.
In other words, a worker that relied on a shunt’s operation might need to take time off for an operation every 6-9 years, on average. Over time, those repeated surgeries could create “holes” in a resume. That would reduce the number of job opportunities for the man or woman that needed to present such a resume, when applying for a job.