If Your Injuries Later Get Worse, Can You Seek Additional Compensation?

It can be really difficult to know what to do when you’ve been hurt in a car accident, slip and fall, or other situation in Georgia where someone else’s negligence is at least partially to blame for causing your injuries. Sometimes, the insurance company for the other driver or property owner will offer you compensation right away, and it’s hard to turn down the “bird in the hand” option in the hopes that you might get more if you work with an attorney and proceed with an insurance claim or lawsuit.

But before you accept anything or even make a statement to an insurance company, it is important to understand what you are giving up. What happens if your injuries turn out to be worse than you thought? Will you be able to go back and ask for more help or are you out of luck? Remember that insurance companies are out to make money, and they do that by paying out as little as possible. If they can encourage you to say or do something that reduces the amount they have to pay out, they win.

The Fine Print is Extremely Important

You can enter into a contract and be bound by the terms of an agreement without understanding those terms or even being aware that you’ve accepted those terms. All it takes is a single action. Sometimes, you sign a long document and have the opportunity to read the terms in print. But it is not necessary to sign a piece of paper to create a contractual agreement that restricts what you are legally allowed to do in the future. 

For instance, if you accept a check from an insurance company, once you deposit the funds, you may have agreed to a list of terms written somewhere, possibly only online, and those terms may affect what you can and can’t do in the future. Virtually all of the time, when you accept something of value from an insurance company or someone connected with an individual or company who can be held responsible for your injuries, your action indicates that you are accepting that money or other valuable asset in exchange for ending your claim. By your actions, you are agreeing that you have been paid in full and that you will not seek additional amounts.

This is a big deal and it can be tremendously unfair to people who are used to dealing in an upfront and honest fashion with others. Insurance companies can essentially trick you into accepting far less than you should be receiving by pressuring you to accept money early before you’ve had a chance to review your case with a personal injury attorney.

In an ordinary situation, if someone damaged something belonging to you, they might offer you some money to get started with repairs, and expect to pay more if additional work was needed. But insurance companies don’t work that way. Whatever you accept initially is all you’re going to get. So it is absolutely essential to understand what you are agreeing to when you accept or sign something and it is also a good idea to know the value of what you’re giving up.

Assessing the Value of Your Claim After an Injury

There are many factors to consider when determining how much you should receive after someone causes an injury through negligence, recklessness, or deliberately wrongful behavior. You need to think about:

• How much pain you suffered
• How long it will take you to heal
• Whether you are likely to be left with permanent limitations or scars
• How much special medical care you will need in the future
• How the injuries could impact your earning ability in the future
• How your life has been disrupted and limited so far
• What you may miss out on in the future
• Whether pain and disabilities are likely to increase as time goes on
• Whether mental and emotional impacts will continue in the future

You will generally be eligible to receive compensation for economic losses and noneconomic losses. Your economic losses can be calculated based on monetary factors, such as the cost of replacing a vehicle or estimated doctor bills and medical expenses for the future. Your noneconomic losses are intangible effects that don’t have a direct monetary value but still have a huge impact on your life, such as pain, mental anguish, and loss of enjoyment of your favorite activities. An experienced attorney can establish a value for these factors based on legal precedent.

In some cases, a lawsuit would enable you to seek punitive damages to punish someone who has acted with reckless disregard for your safety or who has deliberately tried to hurt you through criminal actions. If your attorney makes a persuasive argument to the insurance company, your settlement from the insurance company might potentially include additional amounts to make up for what you could receive if you took your case to court.

Anticipating What May Happen in the Future

Even the most experienced attorney does not have a crystal ball that allows them to see into the future. But decades of experience can give your attorney a good idea of the range of possibilities and the likelihood of particular outcomes. If you suffered neck and back injuries in a truck accident, for instance, your attorney might explain the likelihood that pain will increase as you get older and that you may be limited in your ability to work at a job that requires you to sit at a desk for a certain number of hours or move in particular ways. 

Your attorney could also explain the potential need for ongoing medical care and what that might cost in the future. Since you can’t go back and ask for more compensation from the same incident, it is important to have a reasonable idea of what you will need before you put forth your demand or accept anything to settle your claim.

Michael M. Day Works to Ensure You Get the Compensation You Deserve

When you’ve been hurt because someone didn’t behave responsibly when driving or taking care of their property or pet, Michael M. Day Law Firm is ready to fight effectively to ensure you get full and fair compensation for all of your losses. We know the tricks of the insurance companies, and we know how to keep them from cheating you out of your rightful damage award. However, it is important to act quickly to gather evidence after an accident, so if you’ve been injured, we urge you to contact us for a free consultation and case evaluation as soon as possible. Just call us at 404-480-4284 or reach out online to get started.