How Much Is a Herniated Disk Worth in a Car Accident – Fitts Law Firm PLLC

Описание: Houston personal injury attorney, Bryant Fitts, talks about calculating the value of a herniated disk or bulging disk that’s the result of an auto accident.

Bryant Fitts
Fitts Law Firm, PLLC
4801 Richmond Avenue
Houston, TX 77027
713-871-1670
(800) 99 FITTS
https://fittslawfirm.com

My name is Briant Fitts. I'm a lawyer located in Houston, Texas. We help our clients in personal injury matters, such as car and truck accidents and industrial explosions. Quite often I get this question. "Hey, if I have a herniated disk or a bulging disk, what's that worth?" I'm making this video today to try to explain that.

There really is no one way to put the value on a herniated or bulging disk. We have to look at a number of factors. Number one, any time you're asking a defendant, or a company who has injured you, or an individual who hit you in a car accident, to compensate you for a bulging or herniated disk, we have to understand whose fault was it really for you receiving that herniated or that bulging disk? So number one, we have to establish who's responsible for your accident and your injury? And there's various ways to determine that.

In a car or truck accident setting we're going to look at who violated the rules of the road to injure who? And you know a lot of times if somebody runs a red light, liability is clearly at fault. Sometimes there's car accidents to where there's a question. Maybe two different cars share some degree of fault. If the person who injured you isn't 100 percent at fault, well then the value of your herniated or your bulging disk claim is going to be lower. But if they're 100 percent at fault, your value is going to be higher. So the percentage or the total amount of responsibility of the person who injured you is going to dictate the value of your herniated disk claim.

You also have to determine when and how your bulging or herniated disk occurred. A lot of times a herniated or bulging disk occurs through a traumatic event. Traumatic event can be a car accident, a truck accident, an industrial or petrochemical refinery explosion where you're blown off your feet. They can also be caused over time. When they're caused over time your medical records will say that you have what's called a degenerative disk, or a degenerative disk condition. What they're saying is your spine or your neck has been breaking down over time, and it's developing a bulging or herniated disk. Now there are a number of people in this world that are living with bulging disks or herniated disks and it's not affecting their life at all and they have what's called that degenerative condition but they don't know they have it. They're experiencing no pain. Well, then all of a sudden they have some sort of traumatic event such as a car accident, truck accident or an explosion and all of a sudden their back or their neck is hurting severely. They go to the doctor and learn that they've got a bulging or herniated disk.

Now, under the law, there's a theory called the Eggshell Plaintiff Theory, which means that whoever hits you or damages you must take you as you were before you were injured. And the theory is if you had some sort of an eggshell on the outside and it was cracked, and then you fell down, kind of like Humpty Dumpty, that even if you were already cracked, they got to pay you for the damages. That's the same thing if you have a degenerative condition with a herniated disk. Now, in a settlement posture, typically if you have some medical records that indicate you have a degenerative condition with your herniated disk or your bulging disk, that's going to decrease the value of your claim. And the reason why it decreases the value of your claim is because the other side knows … They know that when you go to trial, even though the eggshell plane of theory is there, you have to explain away why you didn't have back or neck pain previously. Yet, the medical records indicate you had some sort of degenerative back or neck, or issue in the herniation or the bulging of the disk ...

So in summary, there's many, many, many factors. I've touched on some of them today. But, it's very hard to put a flat dollar value on a herniated or bulging disk. It all depends on the degree of fault; the person that hurt you, what your back or your spine looked like before the accident, how well you've reported your injuries, and how well you have explained what you can do before and after, and also how well you've documented your pain and suffering and your lost wages. If you have any questions about the value of a herniated disk or a bulging disk in a personal injury setting, please ask in the comment section below, or give us a call at 1-800-99-FITTS, or contact us through our website.