If you need a Columbia back and neck injury lawyer after a car wreck on US-98, US-13, or at the US-98/US-13 intersection in Columbia, the insurance company covering the driver who hurt you has already identified your injury category and started building their argument for why your back and neck injuries are worth less than they are. Back and neck injuries are the most frequently disputed injury category in Marion County car wreck cases because they do not always show catastrophic structural damage on initial imaging, because they can involve pre-existing degenerative conditions, and because the insurance industry has trained its adjusters to minimize them as soft tissue complaints. The TV lawyer at his Colorado ski condo reviewing Q3 settlement metrics has never presented a spinal injury case before a Marion County jury. His secretary opened your file and is waiting for the adjuster’s offer based on your current treatment.

The Eggshell Plaintiff Doctrine And Your Marion County Back And Neck Injury Case

Under Mississippi law, the eggshell plaintiff doctrine holds that a defendant must take the plaintiff as he or she finds them. If you had degenerative disc disease in your cervical or lumbar spine before the crash on US-98 or US-13 in Columbia, the driver who hit you is still responsible for the full extent of what the crash did to your spine, including the aggravation of pre-existing conditions that produced symptoms you were not experiencing before the wreck. The aggravation of a pre-existing back or neck condition is a recoverable injury under Mississippi law. The insurance company knows this. What they are counting on is that the TV lawyer’s secretary does not know how to prove it.

Their adjuster will pull your medical history before he calls you. He already knows whether your imaging shows degenerative changes. He is building the argument that your pain is attributable to pre-existing degeneration rather than the crash. He will tell the TV lawyer’s secretary that your condition is pre-existing and that the settlement offer reflects the portion attributable to the crash only. She accepts that argument. A lawyer who understands the eggshell doctrine retains the right medical experts, compares pre-crash imaging to post-crash imaging, and establishes with testimony that the crash on US-98/US-13 produced a new injury or materially aggravated a dormant pre-existing condition that was not causing functional limitation before the wreck.

Why Back And Neck Injuries From US-98 And US-13 Crashes Are Chronically Underpaid

The insurance industry has spent decades training adjusters to dispute back and neck injuries with a specific set of arguments: the injury is soft tissue, not structural; the imaging shows only degenerative changes, not traumatic injury; the treatment is excessive relative to the mechanism of the crash; the subjective pain complaints are not supported by objective findings. These arguments are deployed on Marion County back and neck injury cases with the precision of a practiced system. They work on the TV lawyer’s secretary because she does not know how to counter them. They do not work on a lawyer who has retained spine specialists, pain management physicians, and radiologists who can explain to a Marion County jury what happened to your cervical and lumbar spine on US-98 at the US-98/US-13 intersection in Columbia.

Under Miss. Code Ann. Section 11-7-15, Mississippi uses pure comparative fault. The insurance company will assign fault to you on your Marion County back and neck injury case regardless of how clear the liability is. Every percentage point of fault they assign to you reduces the payout on your spinal injury claim. The TV lawyer’s secretary accepts that assignment. A lawyer who tries cases in Marion County fights it.

The Fee Betrayal Math On Your Columbia Back And Neck Injury Case

His fee is 40 percent. His itemized costs come off the top before the fee calculation. On a Marion County back and neck injury case where the pre-existing condition argument was accepted and the eggshell doctrine was never applied, his 40 percent of that reduced settlement plus his itemized costs: medical records fees, filing fees, ski lift fees from the Colorado condo when your spine specialist needed to be retained, fee fi fo fum fees, fees for fees, fees on top of fees, fees to calculate the fees, fees for the Lamborghini, fees for the Colorado ski condo he was at reviewing settlement metrics when your case needed a lawyer, fees to rob you blind, scam fees, handling fees, convenience fees, fees to make absolutely certain he walks away with more money from your Columbia back and neck injury case than you do. That math can easily leave the injured person with less take-home money than the lawyer. The lawyer ends up with more than the person who got hurt. That is arithmetic on real spinal injury cases.

Every Columbia back and neck injury case I take is covered by the Foster Fair Fee Guarantee. Written. In your contract. Before I do a single thing on your case. You walk away with more money than I receive in fees. Every case. No exceptions. No other Columbia back and neck injury lawyer advertising in Marion County will put that in writing. I will. The TV lawyer will not.

What A Real Columbia Back And Neck Injury Case Investigation Looks Like

On the day you call me about a back or neck injury from a car wreck on US-98, US-13, or at the US-98/US-13 intersection in Columbia, I immediately send preservation demands to every business with camera coverage of the crash location. I obtain your complete medical history going back far enough to establish your pre-crash baseline. I retain the spine specialists needed to compare pre-crash and post-crash imaging and testify about the nature and extent of the crash-related injury and aggravation. I retain a pain management physician if chronic pain is part of the damages picture. I build the full future care cost projection before any demand goes out.

Neurosurgical resources on spinal conditions relevant to car wreck injuries are at aans.org. The framework is on the Columbia Car Wreck Lawyer page. Get the book first.

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Can I Recover For A Back Injury That Was Made Worse By My Columbia Car Wreck?

Yes. Under the eggshell plaintiff doctrine under Mississippi law, a defendant must take the plaintiff as they find them. If your pre-existing back or neck condition was aggravated by the crash on US-98 or US-13 in Columbia, the driver who hit you is responsible for that aggravation. The insurance company will argue your pain is pre-existing. A lawyer who understands how to apply the eggshell doctrine with the right medical testimony defeats that argument. The TV lawyer’s secretary accepts it because nobody told her to fight it.

The Adjuster Says My Imaging Shows Only Degenerative Changes, Not A Traumatic Injury. What Does That Mean?

It means the insurance company is using your pre-existing imaging to minimize the crash-related injury. A spine specialist who compares your pre-crash and post-crash imaging can establish whether the crash on US-98 or US-13 in Columbia produced new injury, accelerated degeneration, or converted a dormant pre-existing condition into an active, symptomatic one. All three of those outcomes are recoverable under Mississippi law. The TV lawyer’s secretary accepts the adjuster’s imaging argument. A lawyer who retains the right spine specialist defeats it with testimony.

Does Jay Foster Handle Back And Neck Injury Cases From US-98 And US-13 Crashes In Columbia?

Yes. I handle back and neck injury cases from car wrecks on US-98, US-13, at the US-98/US-13 intersection in Columbia, and throughout Marion County. Cases file in Marion County Circuit Court at 250 Broad Street. Get the free book using the form on this page before you talk to the other driver’s insurance company or sign anything.

P.S. The insurance company on your Columbia back and neck injury case already knows what your pre-crash imaging shows. They are building the pre-existing condition argument right now while your case sits in the queue. The TV lawyer’s secretary is not preparing the medical testimony to defeat it. Get the FREE book right now before you talk to the adjuster about your Marion County spine injury case.

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