Getting into a car accident is always a stressful experience. Even if you’re thankful that there were no fatalities, you have to deal with so many variables — aches and pains, missed time from work, car repairs, and trying to get the other party’s insurance company to accept your claim, to name a few. Then there are the burdens that often come with litigation — providing sworn testimony, photographs, documents… What happens if one of those documents show that you’ve been involved in a previous car accident? Is that relevant? Can it affect your current case in any way?
How will a previous car wreck affect my current claim?
In civil litigation, both sides of a case gather evidence of their claim through a process called discovery. During discovery, each side can request any of the following from the other party:
- Medical records
- Car repair records
- Answers to a list of interrogatories
- Sworn statements — through a deposition
- Witness testimony
- Expert testimony
During this process, it’s possible that the other party’s attorney may ask you if you’ve ever been involved in a car accident. If your answer is yes, the date of the accident then becomes relevant, as well as any injuries you sustained, and whether those injuries still affect your overall health. The reason they will want to know this is to limit their own liability. For example, if a previous accident caused you to suffer from chronic back pain due to herniated disks or post-traumatic arthritis, opposing counsel will argue either that they shouldn’t have to pay for your injuries if they were the result of an unrelated accident. In the alternative, they may argue that even if the current accident resulted in injuries, the extent is lesser because you were already injured from the previous accident.
This doesn’t only apply to car accidents. Say, for example, that you are asking for damages to your spine. If you’ve recently injured your back due to a fall, bar fight, playing sports, or any other type of trauma, that injury will still be relevant to the current case.
What if you just don’t mention the previous injury?
This is never a good idea. In fact, if discovered, it will make your case much more difficult to prove, since your credibility would be pretty much non-existent. It’s much better to have opposing counsel claim that your current injuries are really the result of the previous accident — and proving them wrong through medical records and expert testimony — than to have them convince a jury that you hid information, and that you must have done so for a reason. Even if you think the previous accident wasn’t relevant, it very well could be, since sometimes, new accidents worsen previous conditions. If that’s not the case with you, let the medical records and doctors show it. It will make your case that much stronger.
Another scenario would be opposing counsel asking you directly during a deposition or interrogatories whether you’ve been involved in a car accident in the past two or three years. You are under a legal obligation to answer truthfully. Not doing so would mean that you’re committing perjury (lying under oath). This is a crime, and the last thing you need in addition to a civil litigation case is a criminal one.
Will admitting to a previous injury prevent you from recovering damages in the new case?
Not necessarily. It’s common for someone who’s been in a prior accident to re-injure or worsen their injuries from previous accidents. If such is the case with you, you can still get compensated for the damage caused by the new accident. In addition, Texas follows what’s known as the eggshell skull rule. What this means is that a negligent person takes a victim as they find them. Let’s say you have brittle bones, and this current accident was a lot more harmful than it would’ve been if you had healthy bones. The person responsible for the accident can’t evade responsibility by saying that your pre-existing health condition is the cause of your injuries.
Auto Accident Attorneys in Texas
Auto accident cases can be complicated. If you’ve been involved in a car accident and want to know how to move forward, the auto accident attorneys at The Weycer Law Firm can help.
Discuss your case for FREE today by contacting us online or by calling (713) 668-4545.