Can I Sue for Car Accident Face Injuries?
Suffering car accident face injuries can completely change your life. From broken bones to severe lacerations and scarring, crashes can leave you permanently disfigured. The physical and emotional trauma takes an immense toll. But does enduring serious facial damage qualify as grounds to sue the at-fault driver? Absolutely. You can and should pursue legal action to recover damages.
Common Types of Car Accident Face Injuries:
- Nasal Bone Fracture (Broken Nose): Among the most prevalent facial injuries, a broken nose can result from the impact of a car accident.
- Burn Injuries: Fires and explosions in accidents can cause severe facial burns, often requiring skin grafting and leaving lasting scars.
- Facial Deformities: Blunt facial trauma can cause damage to facial bones leading to permanent deformities, affecting the victim’s appearance.
- Lacerations: Deep cuts on the face from the accident can result in permanent scarring.
- Eye Injuries: Debris and flying objects in crashes may cause eye damage, potentially leading to blindness.
- Soft Tissue Injuries: Injuries to ligaments, tendons, and muscles, accounting for about 10% of all ER visits, can impact facial functions and aesthetics.
Causes of Car Accident Face Injuries:
Facial injuries can occur due to various factors, including:
- Debris or flying objects, such as broken glass.
- Motorists being ejected from the car.
- Motorists going through the windshield.
- Contact with rapidly inflating airbags.
- Shattered glass.
- Contact with the steering wheel, dashboard, or side window.
Why Facial Injuries Warrant Legal Action
Facial wounds hurt far beyond surface levels. Multiple complex bones sit underneath the network of muscles that enable speech, smiles, and other expressions. Additionally, faces represent our identities and sense of self. Disfigurement shakes self-confidence and body image. Ongoing medical complications like sinus infections or numbness detract from quality of life. Victims deserve compensation for these hardships.
By holding negligent motorists financially responsible, lawsuits also help prevent future accidents. Facing increased insurance premiums and potential license suspensions teaches reckless drivers to improve safety awareness. Securing settlements further motivates municipalities to enhance infrastructure elements like lighting and signage when they share accident blame. Ultimately, seeking legal repercussions helps everyone drive more attentively while promoting better roadway conditions.
Documenting Damages
Building a facial injury claim starts with fully documenting your symptoms, treatment, and recovery time. Photograph visible wounds from multiple angles under consistent lighting immediately following ER visits. Maintain thorough medical paperwork including doctor and specialist evaluations, hospital discharge summaries, operative reports, medication lists, receipts, and healthcare expenses. Track all transportation costs plus work time missed for appointments. Documenting losses establishes a claim’s foundation.
Figuring Out Fault
The next step involves investigating accident specifics to determine fault and liability accurately. Police accident reports generally provide the best starting point. However, gaps often need to be clarified regarding the factors causing the collision. Analyzing vehicle damage helps reconstruct what occurred. Witness accounts further solidify conclusions. Consulting traffic engineers, signage experts, and accident reconstruction specialists may strengthen arguments pinpointing blame.
Evaluating Potential Defendants
Lawsuits arising from car accidents typically name the driver responsible as a defendant. However, blame can extend to others. Local governments maintaining roadways share fault if missing signage, poor lighting, or other deficiencies lead to crashes. Manufacturers of faulty vehicle components face allegations if defective parts played roles. Bars over-serving drunk drivers who later cause collisions also draw liability.
Estimating Total Damages for Car Accident Face Injuries
Successfully conveying facial wound severity requires putting a monetary value on all physical, emotional, and economic harm. Documenting surgery expenses, missed wages from work absences, and estimated future healthcare costs tabulates critical monetary damages. But injuries also create non-economic suffering that deserves compensation. These unique impacts are difficult to calculate. Juries will link dollars to grief, trauma, depression, and reduced living standards stemming from disfigurement. Expert testimonies help juries appropriately value psychological trauma.
Compensation for Car Accident Face Injuries:
Victims of facial injuries in car accidents caused by negligence deserve compensation for the harm suffered.
This compensation may include:
- Payment of all medical bills and associated costs.
- Compensation for lost income or wages, especially if the injuries reduce earning potential.
- Payment for pain, suffering, and emotional distress resulting from ongoing physical and emotional problems.
Poynter & Bucheri- Indianapolis Car Accident Attorneys
If you or someone you love endured facial damage in an Indiana traffic accident, contact our experienced injury law firm immediately regarding pursuing financial recovery through a lawsuit. We handle these extremely complex legal matters routinely. At Poynter & Bucheri, our experienced car accident attorneys carefully explain your rights and options. Gaining proper insights empowers moving forward positively. Reach out to our team to set up a free case review.
There is no risk to meeting with us; we will answer your questions, look at the circumstances of your accident, and give you straight answers about whether or not you have a case for collecting compensation from the other driver. Contact us today at 1-800-265-9881 to set up your consultation appointment.