Fibromyalgia Injury Determined to Be Caused By Automobile Accident.
After a car accident, many injuries can occur to any of the passengers involved in the accident, leaving the injured in a “heap of debt” from medical costs. In most cases, the Pennsylvania Motor Vehicle Financial Responsibility Law provides as little as Five Thousand Dollars and medical coverage and the rest is left to be borne by the injured, either through through medical insurance, the responsible party or the government. Health car costs begin with the costly bill from an ambulance and an emergency room visit and then follow treatment and procedures. After life is preserved, the costs continue to grow, at this point, to rehabilitate the injury incurred. Rehabilitation may take weeks or months or be permanent. Disability may be short term or permanent. The impact on your ability to enjoy life may be short term or permanent. The impact on your ability to stay employ or regain employment may be permanent.
A recent client who was the victim of another’s driver’s negligence faced both the struggle to rehabilitate and regain her lost quality of life and an insurance company that claimed that her injuries and symptoms were not related to the accident. A common strategy of insurance companies and their agents in pure liability cases is to acknowledge responsibility for the accident but claim that the injured victim’s symptoms are not related to the accident and that they should not be responsible for the financial cost and pain and suffering related to those cases. In this case, the insurance company was willing to acknowledge that our client had bumps and bruises and strains to her neck back and leg but was adamant that the nerve damage or fibromyalgia, she was experiencing was completely unrelated to this case.
The insurance company’s denials, did not deter us from prosecuting this case to a successful outcome. Our team found the necessary medical expert to examine, review and explain the nerve issues as being related to her underlying accident. In this case, we used the services of a rheumatologist, who was able to diagnose her with traumatically induced fibromyalgia as a result of the car accident. To be a direct and proximate cause of an injury means it means the injuries sustained during the accident would not have occurred but for the careless driving of the defendant. This was a central issue around the case.
Our client had no nerve damage prior to her accident, but the nerve damage was still difficult to demonstrate. The defense never stopped denying their liability for this injury. The case was finally heard before an arbitrator. An arbitrator is an independent judge whose main goal is to settle disputes in a more efficient manner than typical courts. After considering all evidence, the arbitrator allowed the nerve damage to be admitted and agreed with the Plaintiffs that the fibromyalgia was a direct and proximate result of the defendant’s negligence and our client earned a larger than expected sum of money to compensate her for her injuries.
Some injuries that happen because of a car accident are hard to prove. Our client’s case about her nerve damage proved to be a strong example of such a case. Lee Ciccarelli and his auto accident team have decades of experience which help in cases like this, when it’s not easy to prove your injury. If you are in a car accident, Ciccarelli Law is the firm that will be able to assist you the most in such a critical point on the way to your rightful compensation. For any questions or information call 610-692-8700. We are based in West Chester PA in suburban Philadelphia and represented injured clients throughout Pennsylvania including Chester County, Delaware County, Berks County, Bucks County, Lancaster County and Montgomery County.