How To Recover Damages For Disfigurement In Texas Personal Injury Cases.
In serious accidents, victims experience all kinds of suffering. Some of this is permanent. In our continuing discussion of damages, we'll examine below how Texas courts and juries award compensation for disfigurement.
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Why courts empower victims to seek financial compensation for disfigurement.
After a major accident, victims are often left with damages to their appearance in the form of burns, scars, and amputations. While these damages may have medical expenses associated with them, they also have mental and emotional suffering. The emotional toll for disfigurement is actually a separate claim from normal mental anguish claims. It's based on the specific suffering stemming from the disfigurement itself. Some examples from cases over the years:
- A woman was in a terrible 18-wheeler accident. In addition to broken bones and severe back trauma, she received scars on her face from broken glass. She experienced crippling self-consciousness from her permanently-altered appearance.
- A victim of a drunk driving accident lost a leg. He felt profoundly embarrassed to have people stare at him and his prosthetic leg.
- A high school girl received some improper medical care to her ear, leading to an infection. The infection spread and caused horrendous damage to her face. Tragically, her marred appearance so distressed her that it led to her taking her own life.
Texas courts permit victims in these cases to pursue financial compensation because money is the closest thing to justice a court can compel from a defendant. The court cannot give you your prior appearance back, but can give you money to decide what your future will be like. Further, we want to deter these kinds of accidents from happening again---and nothing deters bad acts like the memory of having to pay serious compensation for the last mistake.
How we get results for victims of disfigurement.
There is no predetermined dollar amount awarded to victims. Instead, we have to prove that the disfigurement came from the accident, and its impact on you. The first part is almost always the easiest---obviously, a simple picture of yourself prior to the accident will usually suffice.
The more challenging aspect of securing you the compensation you deserve is convincing a jury that you're entitled to a money award. Many jurors may feel sympathy for you, but they might be hesitant to turn that sympathy into money. Our job is to forcefully explain what you've gone through and convince them that you shouldn't have to suffer alone.
You don't have to be vain to care what you look like. If you've been hurt, call us at (855) 326-0000 now for help.
Related Articles for Further Reading:
- Personal Injury Law: Pain & Suffering
- Personal Injury Law: Physical Impairment
- Personal Injury Law: Loss of Consortium
