Biloxi: 228-435-3000 | Ocean Springs: 228-872-6000 | Hattiesburg: 601-583-5000
Biloxi Car Accident Back And Neck Injury Lawyer: The Insurance Company Has A Pre-Existing Condition Argument Ready And The TV Lawyer’s Secretary Is Not Going To Stop It
Back and neck injuries after a Biloxi car accident are the cases the insurance company fights hardest with pre-existing condition arguments and low-impact claims strategies. The TV lawyer's secretary is not equipped to dismantle those arguments. Here is what a Biloxi car accident back and neck injury lawyer who actually tries these cases does differently.
A car accident on Highway 90 through the Biloxi casino corridor, on I-110, on Pass Road, or anywhere in Harrison County puts forces on your spine and the soft tissue around it that your body was not built to absorb. The result is back and neck injuries that range from herniated discs requiring surgery to soft tissue damage that produces chronic pain for years. If you need a Biloxi car accident back and neck injury lawyer, you need to know what the insurance company is already planning. pre-existing condition, degenerative disease, minor impact, inconsistent treatment. Those are not medical conclusions. They are claims strategies. The TV law firm who took your call has a secretary who does not know how to dismantle them and is not going to try. She is who is going to be assigned to your case.
I am Jay Foster. I have been handling back and neck injury cases in Harrison County for decades. I know every argument the insurance company uses to minimize spinal injuries after a car accident and I know how to counter each one with evidence. Get the free book before you give any adjuster another word about your treatment or your symptoms.
Biloxi Car Accident Back And Neck Injury Lawyer: What The Insurance Company Says About Your Spine And Why They Say It
The insurance company’s first move in a Biloxi back and neck injury case is to pull your prior medical records. They are looking for any prior complaint about your back or neck, any prior imaging, any prior treatment. If they find any of it, the word “pre-existing” goes into every document they produce. Their argument is that what you are experiencing now existed before the accident and that the collision did not cause or worsen it.
Mississippi law allows recovery for aggravation of a pre-existing condition. If your back had a degenerative disc at L4-L5 that was asymptomatic before the accident and the collision made it symptomatic and surgical, the at-fault driver is responsible for that aggravation. The eggshell plaintiff rule applies in Mississippi: you take the plaintiff as you find them. A Biloxi car accident back and neck injury lawyer who understands spinal injury medicine knows how to present the before-and-after distinction to a Harrison County jury in terms that make the aggravation argument concrete and recoverable.
The second move is the low-impact argument. Property damage estimates, vehicle crush data, and accident reconstruction get deployed to argue that the forces involved in the collision were not sufficient to cause the injuries you are claiming. This argument is used most aggressively in rear-end and low-speed cases. There is an established body of medical literature on the disconnect between property damage and soft tissue injury severity. A Biloxi car accident back and neck injury lawyer who works with the right experts dismantles the low-impact argument with that literature and with the right medical testimony.
Back And Neck Injuries After A Biloxi Car Accident: What Your Imaging Actually Shows
A herniated disc occurs when the outer ring of the disc ruptures and the inner material pushes outward, compressing nearby nerves. Cervical herniation in the neck produces radiating pain, numbness, and weakness into the arms and hands. Lumbar herniation in the lower back produces radiating pain, numbness, and weakness into the legs. These injuries show on MRI. They are objective. The insurance company cannot argue they do not exist on the film. What they argue instead is that the herniation is degenerative, that it pre-existed the accident, that the accident did not cause it.
Facet joint injuries, ligament tears, and muscle tears may not show on standard MRI. They are diagnosed through physical examination, symptoms, and response to treatment. These are the injuries the insurance company attacks most aggressively because they are harder to see. A Biloxi car accident back and neck injury lawyer who works with the right medical experts presents these injuries in a way that Harrison County juries understand and credit.
Spinal cord injuries at the cervical level are the most severe back and neck injuries a car accident can produce. Incomplete cord injuries produce partial loss of function below the level of injury. Complete cord injuries produce total loss. These cases require life care planning to quantify future medical needs across a lifetime. For detailed information on spinal injury outcomes, see the NHTSA road safety resource. For the full picture on Mississippi car accident injury law, see the Mississippi car wreck lawyer page. For all Biloxi car accident resources, see the Biloxi car wreck lawyer page.
What A Biloxi Car Accident Back And Neck Injury Case Is Worth And Why The TV Lawyer Undervalues Every One
Compensatory damages in your Biloxi back and neck injury case include every medical bill at Merit Health Biloxi or Gulf Coast Medical Center or any treating facility, every dollar of physical therapy, every pain management visit, every surgical bill, every dollar of lost wages during treatment, lost future earning capacity if your injuries affect your ability to work, and full past and future pain and suffering damages. Chronic pain cases, cases involving surgical intervention, and cases involving permanent functional limitations require damages presentations that go beyond the medical bills. They require expert testimony about how the injury has changed the plaintiff’s life.
The TV lawyer’s secretary applies a multiplier to the medical bills and calls the adjuster. That formula was never built for a case involving a multi-level cervical fusion or a lumbar disc herniation that has prevented the plaintiff from returning to physical work. The adjuster knows the secretary is not prepared to try the case and makes an offer accordingly. The settlement mill takes it because closing the file is the metric.
His billboard says he fights for you. His secretary’s quota says she fights to close your file. Those are not the same thing and the difference shows up in the number on your settlement check.
▼ Get Your FREE Book Right Now ▼
Fill Out The Form Below And I Will Send It Immediately
The TV Lawyer’s Back And Neck Strategy In Biloxi: Take The Bills And Fight About Pre-Existing Conditions Later
The TV lawyer’s formula for a Biloxi back and neck injury case is to wait for treatment to finish, collect the bills, apply a multiplier, and call the adjuster. He does not retain a spine expert to address the pre-existing condition argument before the insurer deploys it. He does not commission biomechanical analysis to counter the low-impact argument. He does not retain a vocational economist to quantify what the injury has cost the plaintiff in future earning capacity. He takes whatever number comes back and calls it a result.
Harrison County Circuit Court at 730 Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd in Biloxi is where your case goes if the insurance company refuses to pay fair value for what your back and neck injuries have cost you. The TV lawyer cannot walk through that door. He is not licensed in Mississippi. He has never stood in front of a Harrison County jury and explained the difference between a pre-existing degenerative condition and an acute traumatic injury that changed someone’s life. I have. That matters to what the insurance company puts on the table when my name is on the file.
Biloxi Car Accident Back And Neck Injury Questions
The Insurance Company Says My Back Pain Is Pre-Existing. Does That End My Claim?
No. Mississippi law allows full recovery for aggravation of a pre-existing condition. If the car accident worsened a condition you already had, the at-fault driver is responsible for that worsening. The eggshell plaintiff rule applies: you take the plaintiff as you find them. A Biloxi car accident back and neck injury lawyer who understands the medical and legal distinction between pre-existing and aggravated presents that argument clearly to a Harrison County jury.
My MRI Shows A Herniated Disc. How Does That Affect My Case?
It helps significantly. A herniated disc on MRI is objective evidence of injury. The insurance company will argue it is degenerative rather than traumatic. A Biloxi car accident back and neck injury lawyer who works with the right spine experts presents the before-and-after distinction clearly: no symptoms before the accident, symptoms and imaging findings after. That distinction is what the aggravation argument is built on.
My Car Was Barely Damaged But My Back And Neck Injuries Are Severe. Will The Insurance Company Use That Against Me?
They will try. The low-impact argument is one of the most commonly deployed claims strategies in back and neck injury cases. There is an established body of medical literature on why property damage does not predict soft tissue injury severity. A Biloxi car accident back and neck injury lawyer who works with biomechanical and medical experts counters the low-impact argument with that science before the insurer gets traction with it.
My Back And Neck Injuries Require Surgery. How Does That Change My Case Value?
It increases the value significantly. Surgical cases involve higher medical bills, longer recovery periods, greater lost wage claims, and more significant pain and suffering damages. Future medical costs for post-surgical care, physical therapy, and potential revision procedures require expert testimony to quantify. A Biloxi car accident back and neck injury lawyer who builds the full future damages picture justifies a number the insurance company does not want to pay voluntarily.
How Long Do I Have To File A Back And Neck Injury Claim After A Biloxi Car Accident?
Three years from the date of the accident under Miss. Code Ann. Section 15-1-49. Back and neck injuries sometimes take time to fully manifest. Do not let the statute run while you are still in treatment. A Biloxi car accident back and neck injury lawyer files the lawsuit to protect your rights while treatment continues.
P.S. Your back and neck were the only protection you had when that car hit you. The insurance company’s first call after the accident was to their claims team. The TV lawyer’s secretary is about to let the pre-existing argument close your case for a fraction of what it is worth. Get the free book first.
▼ Get Your FREE Book Right Now ▼
Fill Out The Form Below And I Will Send It Immediately