Can a Previous Accident Be Used Against Me In My Car Accident Injury Suit?
Posted on Jun 28, 2019 in Personal Injury
If you live long enough and you drive long enough, odds are you’ll get into a car wreck, even through no fault of your own. If and when you do, hopefully it won’t be serious, no one will be severely injured, and you won’t need the services of a New Orleans car accident lawyer.
But car crashes and injuries from those accidents are a sad reality for thousands of Americans every single day. You could be the safest driver on the road but given how much time you spend behind the wheel and how many miles you drive throughout your life, it wouldn’t be unusual to get into a second collision or even a third.
If you do have a second car accident, get hurt, and want to seek compensation for your injuries from the other driver who caused the crash, that driver’s car insurance company is going to do everything it can to defeat your claim or pay you as little as possible. Insurers deploy many tactics to get injury victims to settle quickly for pennies on the dollar or deny any liability at all. This includes using your prior accident against you.
Insurers Know Your History and Will Hold It Against You
If you file a car accident injury lawsuit against the other driver, the insurance company lawyer who represents them will know about your driving history, will know about any previous injuries you’ve had, and will know the details that came out in any lawsuit you filed arising from that prior incident.
There are several different ways that the insurance company will try to use your previous accidents, injuries, or lawsuits against you. First, they may try to argue that the injuries for which you are seeking compensation now were really preexisting injuries that arose from the prior accident or another incident. They will comb through your medical records, take the deposition of your doctors and hire a doctor of their own to offer an opinion about the cause of your injuries that will no doubt support their position that it wasn’t their insured’s fault.
If you filed a lawsuit after your prior accident, or have filed multiple injury suits, workers’ compensation claims, or disability claims in the past, the defense lawyer may also try to paint you as a greedy opportunist who looks at accidents as a chance to hit the jackpot. They will try to make you seem like the person who screams “whiplash!” and slaps on a neck brace after a feather-like tap against your car.
Unfair as it may seem, the insurance company will do everything in their power to make you look bad, or negligent, or untruthful, or worse in front of a jury. And if nobody stands in their way, they may be able to get away with it.
But an experienced New Orleans car accident lawyer will know how to stand in their way. A good attorney will know the tactics used by insurance companies to tarnish those injured by the negligence of their insureds and will do everything they can to keep any improper insinuations or evidence from reaching a jury.
He or she can argue and present evidence that there is absolutely no connection between what happened in the past and the damage and injuries at issue now. This is just one of many reasons it’s essential to have a car accident injury lawyer in your corner who can help you obtain the compensation you need and deserve after a devastating car accident – regardless of whatever misfortune you may have experienced before.
Call Bloom Legal Today for a Free Consultation to Discuss Your Car Accident Injuries
With fierce advocacy and unwavering dedication, the New Orleans car accident lawyers at Bloom Legal will fight to get you what you deserve when you have been injured because of another driver’s negligence or reckless conduct. Contact us today through our contact form to arrange for your free consultation to discuss the details of your claim.
