age-personal-injury
A personal injury case is normally a straightforward affair. Someone gets injured because of another person’s negligence and the injured person files an injury claim against the insurance company of the responsible party. They then collect the compensation they need to take care of their injury related expenses. If it becomes necessary to file a lawsuit, then they will go through those procedures as well.
There can be complications when it comes to personal injury cases, however, and one of those can involve the age of the person who suffered the personal injury. If the person is a senior, then their age could affect certain aspects of the case. That does not mean that they should not pursue the case though, they should still hire a personal injury lawyer to represent them because they will still need to be compensated for their losses.
Why a Senior’s Age Can Affect Their Lawsuit
When a person gets hurt as a result of a personal injury, they are entitled to compensation that covers their accident related injuries. That means that they cannot collect any compensation for pre-existing conditions, i.e. injuries or medical conditions that they had prior to the accident. The insurance companies of the defendants in these cases will often try to make the argument that most or all of the person’s injuries were pre-existing since that means they will pay a lower amount.
When a senior experiences a personal injury, the insurance company and the lawyers will try to claim that all of their conditions were pre-existing. That is because an elderly person is likely to have more pre-existing conditions than a younger person. But they are also likely to have more serious injuries than a younger person as well; an accident that might cause relatively minor injuries in a young person might cause catastrophic injuries to an older one.
The combination of a greater chance of both pre-existing conditions and a higher chance of more serious injuries means that insurance companies and lawyers will try to claim that an elderly person’s injuries were there before the accident so that they do not have to pay a higher settlement amount. That does not mean the ploy is guaranteed to succeed because an experienced personal injury attorney can make the case that the senior’s injuries were in fact caused by the accident. There can also be cases where a senior citizen does have pre-existing conditions but the accident made them worse. In those cases the injured person can still receive damages for the worsening of their condition.
Other Ways Age Can Affect a Personal Injury Case
Pain and suffering are among the damages for which an injured person is allowed to receive compensation. Younger plaintiffs tend to get awarded more for pain and suffering than older people because of the perception that they will be experiencing it for a much longer time. The loss of income or wage-earning capacity is also something that is taken into consideration with personal injury cases.
If a person is retired, or has a lighter work schedule because they are older, then they will not get rewarded as much as someone with a full-time job. With all that being said, juries tend to be sympathetic to older people so there is still a chance that a senior could receive a substantial reward if their personal injury case ends up in court.
Contact an Attorney if You Suffered a Personal Injury
No matter your age, you should get in touch with a personal injury attorney as soon as possible if you suffered an injury due to someone else’s negligence. If you are an older person, then you should not worry about how your age will affect the case, you should still let your attorney help you to file your injury claim so that you can get the compensation that you deserve.