West Palm Beach Florida car accident Damages evaluation check list call 1-800-74-TRIAL

In preparing the initial evaluation of the neck and back or soft tissue injury case for settlement or trial, evaluate all possible items of damage. In many cases, damage items applicable to neck and back injury and soft tissue injury cases somewhat overlap, but for purposes of evaluation, settlement or trial, they may be treated as separate and recoverable items. Following is a damage evaluation checklist which should be reviewed as part of the neck and back and soft tissue injury case.

General

What is the nature of the neck and back or soft tissue West Palm Beach Florida car accident injury?

Can the West Palm Beach Florida car accident injury be documented objectively [for objective documentation, see §§ 3:40 et seq.]?

X-ray

Computerized axial tomography (CAT) scan

Computerized tomography (CT) scan

Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)

Tomogram

Arthogram

Discogram

Myelogram

Epidural venogram

Diagnostic arthroscopy

Electromyogram

Video fluoroscopy

Radio nuclide bone scans

HLA-V27

Thermogram

Functional status tests (FSTs)

Are there any lay or expert witnesses who have observed and can testify to the client's physical limitations?

Has the client participated in any vocational therapy or undertaken other costs necessary to perform his or her job?

Have the client's injuries been evaluated pursuant to the AMA GUIDES TO THE EVALUATION OF PERMANENT IMPAIRMENT (4th Ed. 1994)?

Have the client's injuries been evaluated pursuant to the DIAGNOSTIC AND STATISTICAL MANUAL OF MENTAL DISORDERS (4th Ed. 1994)?

Has the client's West Palm Beach Florida car accident injury changed his or her personality or outlook on life?

Has the client taken up or changed his or her habits regarding alcohol or drug use since the West Palm Beach Florida car accident injury?

Are there witnesses (lay and expert) who can testify to such changes?

Has the client had difflculty maintaining personal relationships since the West Palm Beach Florida car accident injury?

Has the client's marriage deteriorated?

Has the client's relations with family members changed or deteriorated since the West Palm Beach Florida car accident injury?

To what extent has the client's life been diminished?

Physically

Emotionally

Economically

With respect to familial relations

Has the West Palm Beach Florida car accident injury made the client more susceptible to disease, medical problems, or additional West Palm Beach Florida car accident injury?

Has the West Palm Beach Florida car accident injury shortened the client's life expectancy?

Is there expert testimony available to document the client's shortened life expectancy as a result of the West Palm Beach Florida car accident injury?

What is the economic value of the loss of life expectancy?

Is there an economist available to testify on the economic impact on the shortened life expectancy of the client as a result of the West Palm Beach Florida car accident injury?

Have all problems with comparative or contributory negligence, comparative fault, assumption of risk, last clear chance or other defenses been analyzed?

Pain and Suffering

Does the pain and suffering have an emotional as well as physical basis?

Have all aspects of past, present and future pain and suffering been analyzed, evaluated and documented?

Are there any lay or expert witnesses who have observed and can testify to the client's pain and suffering?

Are there medical records, histories or test results to document the client's pain and suffering?

Will physicians' testimony document the client's pain and suffering?

Are there any photographs, videotapes or films available to document the client's pain and suffering?

Is there a personal West Palm Beach Florida car accident injury diary or journal available to help document the client's pain and suffering?

Is there an electronic diary to help substantiate objectively the client's pain and suffering?

Are there other functional status tests (FSTs) to help objectively demonstrate the client's pain and suffering?

Are there any methods or means available to improve the client's pain and suffering?

Physical therapy [for physical therapy, see §§ 4:110 et seq.]

Cryotherapy: application of ice or cold

Heat

Massage

Exercise therapy

Epidural steroid injections (see § 4:170)

Generally for nerve root entrapment as well as irritation secondary to disc disease

Facet joint injections (see § 4:160)

Lidocaine injected into facet joint area under X-ray image intensifier

Transcutaneous nerve stimulation (see § 4:150)

Patient wears small battery powered stimulator emitting constant or intermittens low grade electrical shocks

Drug therapy (see §§ 4:60 et seq.)

Anti-inflammatory drugs (aspirin, pyrules, pyrazoles, phenylalkanoic acids, sulindac, phenamates)

Chymopapain (reduces size of swollen intravertebral discs)

Chiropractic medicine and treatment (see §§ 4:450 et seq.)

Biofeedback

Surgical intervention (see §§ 4:220 et seq.)

Pain clinics (see §§ 4:360 et seq.)

Has the client modifled his or her lifestyle to deal with the pain and
suffering?

Change in hobbies

Change in exercise or physical activity

Has the client changed jobs, job functions or duties as a result of the pain and suffering?

Has the client's pain and suffering required any purchase of special medical support equipment or devices?

Does the client's pain and suffering require any limitations in activities?

Has the client participated in any special or physical rehabilitative therapy to alleviate the pain and suffering?

Are physician, psychiatrist or hospital reports and records available to document the client's emotional pain and suffering?

Are physician, psychologist/psychiatrist or hospital records available to indicate that the client's symptoms are causally related to the trauma of the accident?

Is it necessary for the client to take medication/analgesics to ease physical pain and suffering?

Is it necessary for the client to take any medication to alleviate the stress, anxiety or frustration of emotional pain and suffering?

Is there expert medical testimony available to characterize, document and treat the client's pain and suffering?

Physicians

Chiropractors

Psychologists

Psychiatrists

Neuropsychiatrists

Neuropsychologists

Physical Rehabilitation Specialists

Have you reviewed the client's previous medical history, including past injuries, as it can be important in determining the effect that past West Palm Beach Florida car accident injury may have had on the client's pain threshold and tolerance? See Dar, et al., "The Effect of Past West Palm Beach Florida car accident injury on Pain Threshold and Tolerance," 60 PAIN 189 (1995) (an individual's pain threshold rises where there has been a prior West Palm Beach Florida car accident injury; although this does not mean that the pain is not affecting the client, it means that the effects of pain are lessened); Jones & Subar, "Proving What Seems Unprovable," 32 TRIAL 12 at 47, 49 (December 1996) (article describes a variety of ways to prove the client's pain and suffering at trial as well as the importance of obtaining the client's complete medical history and in dealing in a cooperative and forthright manner with the client's treating physicians; article suggests how the West Palm Beach Florida car accident injury can manifest itself not only in physical symptoms, but also psychological symptoms, mood and behavior changes, and chronic and debilitating pain).

Medical Expenses

What are the client's past, present and future medical expenses?

Nurse, rehabilitative or home care staff?

Is there expert testimony available on the cost of likely future medical expenses/rehabilitative expenses?

Is there expert testimony on the present value of the medical expenses the client will likely have to incur in the future?

Loss of Consortium

Are there claims for loss of consortium?

Loss of companionship
Loss of services

Loss of care and society

Loss of, interference with, or diminution of sexual relations

Have the client's spouse or children been deprived of services or
companionship?

Does the particular jurisdiction recognize a claim for loss of spousal consortium?

Does the particular jurisdiction recognize a claim for loss of parental or filial consortium?

Property Loss

Has the client sustained any property damage as a result of the accident?

Automobile

Clothing and personal items

Other

For how long a period of time was the client deprived of the property?

Is there expert testimony on the value of the property?

Employment

Is there expert testimony available on the client's actual loss of earnings
or earning capacity?

Has the client suffered a loss of earning capacity as a result of the West Palm Beach Florida car accident injury?

Has the client been denied any prospects or possibilities for advancement in his or her job as a result of the West Palm Beach Florida car accident injury?

Has the client incurred any costs for vocational retraining as a result of the West Palm Beach Florida car accident injury?

Is there expert testimony available (ergonomist or biomechanical engineer) to document the cost of vocational retraining?

Punitive Damages

What is the applicable jurisdiction's law on punitive damages?

What is necessary to state a claim for punitive damages?

What pretrial discovery can be obtained from the defendant to support claims for punitive damages?

What factors or standards will the fact finder (judge or jury) be required to review in determining the appropriateness of any punitive damage award?
Can the defendant's conduct be characterized as an intentional tort?

Was any defendant's conduct reckless, wanton, willful or malicious?

Was any defendant under the influence of alcohol or drugs at the time of the accident or incident?

Was any defendant charged with criminal conduct as a result of the accident or incident?

What impact will a claim for punitive damages have on any potential insurance coverage available to the defendant?

Recovery of Damages

What is the financial worth of the defendant?

What assets does the defendant own?

What are the defendant's liabilities?

Does the defendant have insurance coverage available to satisfy claims for West Palm Beach Florida car accident injury based on:

Negligence theories

Strict liability theories

Intentional tort theories

Punitive or exemplary damage theories?

Will any jurisdiction's "damage cap" be used to restrict the client's rights to recover? See Wenel & Brizzolara, "Survey of the States," 32 TRIAL at 20 (May 1996) (article discusses how damage caps and other methods of tort reform that have been advocated by insurance and medical industries have been used to restrict claims of injured clients); see also J. Tarantino & P. Rocha, ESTIMATING AND PROVING PERSONAL WEST PALM BEACH FLORIDA CAR ACCIDENT INJURY DAMAGES ch. 12 (1988 & curr. rev.) (discussing damage caps and other methods of tort reform and their effects on the evaluation of personal West Palm Beach Florida car accident injury claims).

Estate as Client

Was the decedent's death caused by the West Palm Beach Florida car accident injury?

What was the decedent's background?

What bills and expenses were incurred by the decedent's estate as a result of the death?

What was the decedent's marital status?

What was the decedent's general health prior to the accident or West Palm Beach Florida car accident injury?

What was the decedent's employment history?

How old was the decedent at the time of death?

What was the decedent's income record for ten years prior to death?

What was the decedent's income likely to be if he or she lived an additional ten years?

What evidence is available to prove the decedent's income (e.g., tax returns, employment records, social security records)?

Was the decedent's yearly income increasing or decreasing?

What evidence is available to prove the likelihood of increase in decedent's income (e.g., job reviews, promotions, etc.)?

What was the decedent's net worth?

What expenses were incurred as a result of the West Palm Beach Florida car accident injury and subsequent death?

Did the decedent die instantly, or did decedent experience pain and suffering prior to death?

What services did the decedent perform for the household?

What is the value of the decedent's spouse's deprivation of decedent's companionship?

What is the value of the decedent's children's deprivation of decedent's companionship?

Is there expert testimony available to establish what the decedent's future income would have been, minus the cost of self-maintenance?

What is the present value of the decedent's future income?

Have you properly analyzed claims that belong to the estate and those that may belong directly to the beneficiaries of the estate?