How Age Affects Personal Injury Cases

If you have a personal injury case, you should understand all the factors that can affect your case and compensation. That way, you can use the factors to your advantage to maximize your chance of winning and getting compensation.

Age is one of these factors, and it can affect the following aspects of your injury case.

Claim Filing

An adult injury victim can file a claim without further reference to anyone. However, a minor victim cannot file an injury claim. Instead, the child's parent or legal guardian has to file the claim on behalf of the child. The parent or guardian also acts on behalf of the child during the negotiations or in any subsequent lawsuit.

Settlement Approval

As an adult, you can negotiate your injury claim and approve the settlement without consulting anyone. A guardian or parent acting on behalf of an injured minor cannot do the same thing. Instead, the representative requires the court's approval to accept any settlement offer even after the guardian's approval. The court provides its approval or denial via a guardian ad litem.

Comparative Negligence Application

Liability is one of the factors that determine injury compensation. Plaintiffs and defendants sometimes share liability in injury. West Virginia uses modified comparative negligence laws to determine compensation in such cases. Modified comparative negligence means you can only recover damages if you are at most 49 percent responsible for the accident.

However, the law is unlikely to use comparative negligence laws in the case of minors. The younger the child is, the more unlikely the court is to find that their actions contributed to the accident.

Say someone slips and falls when running on a slippery shopping floor. If the victim is an adult, the court may agree that they contributed to their injury by running. The same determination is unlikely for, say, a six-year-old child. Thus, for the child, the negligent party is likely to compensate for the entire damages.

Damages

Age also indirectly affects the calculation of damages. Here are some damages that age is likely to affect.

Lost Income

You might be unable to work and generate your usual income if injured. You deserve compensation for these losses. However, many children are not engaged in income-generating activities. Thus, they won't receive compensation for lost wages.

Lost Earning Capacity

Lost earning capacity applies to future losses related to your inability to generate income. The damages apply to those who suffer permanent injuries or don't recover fast. For a permanent injury, your remaining lifetime determines how long your injury will affect your income. Thus, a young plaintiff with a long working life ahead of them is likely to get substantial compensation.

Reduced Quality of Life

A permanent disability can affect your quality of life for the rest of your life. For example, partial paralysis might make it difficult for you to play with your kids or enjoy your hobbies. Again, younger plaintiffs are likely to get more compensation for reduced quality of life than their older counterparts are.

Jury Perception

Lastly, age also affects the jury's perception (and hence determination) during a trial. For example, most jurors are more sympathetic to the very young or the very old. The sympathy is likely to affect some damages, such as pain and suffering damages. For example, a toddler or octogenarian with a broken limb is likely to attract more sympathy than a middle-aged person is.

Experienced lawyers understand how age, plus other factors, affects injury cases. Such a lawyer will know what to do to maximize their client's compensation. Higinbotham & Higinbotham, PLLC, has nearly 100 years of combined experience in personal injury law. Contact us for a free initial consultation to determine the best path to the compensation you deserve.