If you’ve recently suffered an injury that you believe was the fault of another party’s negligence for which you might be due compensation, you might be worried about being able to collect damages based on a pre-existing condition. Those who have dealt with insurance companies in the past know they will try to find any excuse to avoid paying out damages, and one such area is pre-existing conditions in patients that they will claim were the cause of their issue rather than a personal injury situation.
At the offices of William Rawlings & Associates, we’re here to ensure your liability claim does not get denied based on a pre-existing condition that was exacerbated or worsened due to someone else’s negligence. We handle a wide variety of personal injury cases, from car and truck accident injury lawyer services to wrongful death and numerous other case types. In this two-part blog, we’ll go over everything you need to know about pre-existing conditions and the role they may play in your case, including a vital area known as the Eggshell Plaintiff Rule that often applies.
Sadly, as we noted above, most insurance companies are not really here to help plaintiffs or those injured in these cases receive their just compensation. Rather, they’re looking for any and all potential reasons to avoid paying out such settlements.
In cases where the plaintiff in a personal injury case has a pre-existing medical condition, this is often the primary area the insurance company will seize onto as they try to fight the charges. They will attempt to claim and prove that injuries suffered in the case were only due to the pre-existing condition, and not due to anything that happened during the incident in question.
However, in most such cases, you as a plaintiff will have an important rule on your side, one known as the Eggshell Plaintiff Rule. This states that any defendant in a personal injury or liability case must take the victim in question “as they are found” – this means that if the victim happens to be someone who is at a higher risk for injury than average, including those who have pre-existing conditions, the defendant remains liable for all damages.
It’s important to note here that this rule holds true even if it’s highly likely the defendant would have paid far less in an identical case where the victim did not have increased injury risk. Damages covered by the Eggshell Plaintiff Rule can include medical bills, lost wages, pain and suffering, and often even punitive damages or damages for emotional distress.
In part two of this blog, we’ll go over examples of the Eggshell Plaintiff Rule, plus examples of pre-existing conditions and how to ensure they don’t create an issue in your case. To learn more about this or any of our personal injury attorney services, speak to the staff at the offices of William Rawlings & Associates today.