Car accidents are often life-changing, but facial injuries (including neck lacerations) are some of the most devastating injuries faced by victims.
Even after victims overcome the physical pain and suffering of the accident and subsequent reconstruction and recovery, significant facial scarring remains. Because they are highly visible, facial scarring injuries negatively affect a person’s physical and emotional well-being.
If you or a loved one suffered significant facial scarring due to a car accident, call McCoy and Sparks today at 1-844-4KY-WINS or reach out online for a free initial consultation.
Common Facial Injuries In Car Accident Cases
Car accidents, even at relatively low speeds, can result in devastating injuries due to the face’s exposure and lack of protective structures.
Some common facial trauma injuries and facial scarring caused by auto collisions include:
Lacerations/Cuts: The force of impact can cause shattered glass, loose objects, or even plastic and metal from the vehicles themselves to strike the face, resulting in deep lacerations or cuts. These injuries can lead to permanent facial scarring and disfigurement if not treated properly.
Fractures: The many bones that make up the facial structure are vulnerable to fractures in a car crash. Breaks in the jaw, nose, cheekbones, eye sockets, and other areas are extremely painful and may require surgery to realign and repair.
Tooth/Dental Injuries: The mouth and teeth are also highly susceptible to injury, whether from direct impact or having the victim’s face smashed against the steering wheel or other surface. Chipped, cracked, knocked-out, and dislodged teeth are common along with tooth nerve damage.
Eye Injuries: From black eyes to light sensitivity, vision problems to complete vision loss, the eyes and surrounding ocular structures are at high risk for traumatic auto injuries. The eyes can be struck by debris or make harsh contact with parts of the vehicle.
Neck/Spine Injuries: Whiplash and other neck/spine injuries can also occur that impact the face, such as causing lockjaw, numbness, muscle weakness, and other issues. The force of a collision can overextend and damage the neck area.
Scarring/Disfigurement: Virtually any facial injury has the potential to cause permanent facial scarring, physical disfigurement, and lasting cosmetic changes in appearance depending on the severity. A facial scar can have a profound psychological impact on the victim’s quality of life.
Facial Trauma and Its Impact on Kentucky Personal Injury Compensation
Facial lacerations and other injuries can introduce complications like infections and profound permanent facial scarring, necessitating costly medical interventions, prolonged hospital admissions, multiple surgical procedures, and ongoing medical appointments.
The enduring consequences if you’ve suffered facial lacerations and other facial injuries from a car accident can include:
Disability: Eye injuries can drastically alter a person’s life, leading to various issues, from total blindness to minor irritations like dry eyes or blinking difficulties. Victims propelled through a windshield might endure deep cuts or brain injuries, resulting in enduring cognitive or physical disabilities.
Facial Scars: Techniques to close wounds, such as stitches or medical glue, can leave permanent scars. Keloid scars, hypertrophic scars, and contracture scars are particularly painful and visible. Burns may cause skin discoloration or a coarse texture. Beyond physical discomfort, a permanent scar can cause emotional distress due to altered self-perception. PTSD is also common with car accidents resulting in a facial injury and a permanent scar.
Disfigurement: Severe damage to the facial structure can cause irregularities, including asymmetrical features, collapsed cheekbones, restricted mouth movement, or hair loss due to burns, deeply affecting an individual’s confidence and physical identity.
Nerve Damage: The aftermath of nerve injury might manifest as weakness or loss of sensation alongside the neurological challenges stemming from significant brain injury. Continuous diagnostic tests, like X-rays or CT scans, are crucial for monitoring potential recovery in those with brain swelling or nerve impairment.
Facial traumas profoundly disrupt victims’ lives, affecting social interactions, employment opportunities, the victim’s life, and even marital status. Moreover, the financial toll from extensive facial scarring and dental injuries can be staggering.
Kentucky has strict legal time constraints for claiming compensation which makes recognizing and acting upon your legal rights promptly essential for those affected by facial scar injuries.
Given the significant stakes involved, understanding your legal avenues and finding an experienced attorney early can be crucial.
Treating Facial Scarring from a Car Accident Or Dog Bite Cases in Louisville
Facial injuries are a frequent consequence of vehicle collisions, with 75% of those involved in accidents experiencing some form of facial damage.
Objects flying through the air, like debris and broken glass, commonly cause cuts and bruises, whereas the abrupt impact with an airbag, steering wheel, or dashboard might result in lost teeth and fractures.
Treatment strategy for facial injuries varies based on the facial injury’s nature and severity and may include:
- Medications: Anti-inflammatory medications, anticoagulants to mitigate the risk of clot formation, pain relief medications, and vaccines or antibiotics to ward off infections.
- Sutures: To close and heal cuts, minimize facial scarring, and protect the area from infection while the skin heals.
- Immobilization: Severe fractures like a fractured jaw might require immobilization to ensure proper healing.
- Skin Grafting: Skin grafts are required for serious loss of skin like third-degree burns where the deeper layers of skin are damaged.
- Reconstructive Surgery: Facial fractures, particularly those affecting the nose, teeth, and cheekbone fractures, are prevalent. Facial scar revision surgery may also realign facial bones or mend damaged teeth.
- Plastic Surgery: Injuries around the face and eyes often need the expertise of plastic surgeons to stitch up wounds and reduce severe scarring. Cosmetic surgery or facial scar revision surgeries may be required to decrease the chances of permanent disfigurement.
If the injury was due to someone else’s negligence, you may be due compensation to cover medical costs, lost income, pain and suffering, and ongoing medical treatment for the same scar again.
Your medical records help prove you deserve compensation for facial scars – call 1-844-4KY-WINS today to talk with us about compensation for facial scarring.
Understanding Compensation Payouts in Personal Injury Claims Involving Facial Scars
When an accident leads to facial scars, victims may be able to pursue fair compensation, the term ‘damages’ represents the financial restitution to which the injured person is entitled.
In personal injury cases, specifically under tort law, damages may be awarded to the filer of a successful claim. Claim compensation seeks to restore the economic status of the plaintiff so they can live a life unhindered by permanent scars.
Changes to this area of law, known as tort reform, are designed to either restrict the ability of injured parties to file lawsuits or to limit the amount they can receive after successful facial or permanent scarring compensation claims.
In Kentucky, facial scar compensation damages awarded to the injured party fall into three categories: economic, non-economic, and punitive.
Economic Damages: These are quantifiable financial losses (current and future costs) directly tied to the injury.
Personal injury lawyers typically fight for compensation to include:
- Medical bills
- Lost wages
- Loss of earning potential
- Property damage
Non-Economic Damages: These address the non-tangible impacts of injuries, which are inherently more challenging to quantify since they lack a direct monetary value.
- Pain and suffering
- Emotional distress
- Reduced quality of life
- Loss of companionship or consortium
Punitive Damages: These damages are awarded not for the direct compensation of the facial scarring claims victim but to punish the defendant and deter similar future conduct.
- Gross Negligence: A driver flouting safety regulations, leading to severe injuries or death.
- Deceit or Fraud: For instance, a manufacturer concealing product defects that cause serious accidents.
- Intentional Tort: Cases where the defendant’s actions were malicious, including intentional harm through a car accident that caused facial scars.
- Drunk Driving: Incidents where the defendant was impaired by alcohol or drugs, causing a severe car accident.
Call 1-844-4KY-WINS today to talk with us about your facial injury permanent scar compensation options.
Strategies Insurance Firms Use to Circumvent Fair Settlements
How much compensation victims get often depends on policy terms and conditions leading to car accidents.
Warning signs the at-fault party’s insurance company is trying to get out of a payout for car accidents include:
1. Contesting Liability: Insurers might dispute facial scar claims related to facial scarring or outright deny responsibility, arguing that their client was not at fault. This strategy aims to decrease or altogether deny compensation.
2. Stalling the Claims Process: A frequent approach involves dragging out the compensation claim by requesting an excessive amount of documentation, engaging in lengthy investigations, or employing other delay tactics.
3. Minimizing Damage Estimates: To devalue the compensation claim, attempts may be made to downplay the extent of the injured party’s damages, the impact on their life, or the necessity for ongoing or future medical care.
4. Proposing Early Settlements: Offering a rapid settlement for sustained facial scars, keloid scars, or contracture scars is another common tactic. Early offers are often significantly lower than required to fully address the damages incurred, enticing the injured party to settle for less than they need.
5. Conducting Surveillance: The insurance company might also undertake investigations or surveillance activities, including monitoring social media accounts or hiring private investigators. The goal is to find evidence that undermines the accident victims’ claims of injury effects and severity.
6. Applying Settlement Pressure: Insurers frequently try to pressure the claimant into agreeing to a lower settlement. They may use tactics that leverage time pressure, manipulative strategies, or the threat of prolonged legal proceedings to encourage a premature settlement.
Call McCoy and Sparks today at 1-844-4KY-WINS or reach out online for a free initial consultation to make sure you don’t settle for less than you deserve.
Limitations on Damages and Time Constraints for Filing Facial Scar Compensation Claims
Kentucky does not impose a statutory limit on the amount of damages recoverable in facial injury personal injury lawsuits, meaning no official cap restricts the compensation an injured individual can seek.
According to Kentucky Statute Section 413.140, personal injury actions must be filed within one year from the event causing the injury.
For incidents involving motor vehicles, Kentucky Statute Section 413.125 extends this period to two years from the accident date or the last payment of Personal Injury Protection (PIP) benefits related to a car accident.
Delaying action can severely jeopardize your facial scar compensation claim. You risk losing critical evidence, the fading memories of witnesses, the omission of timely medical evaluations, and other pivotal information necessary to strengthen your facial scar personal injury claim.
Attempts to file a compensation claim after the expiration of the statute of limitations will lead to the dismissal of the case, eliminating any chance of compensation.
An attorney will expediently compile evidence and navigate the filing process, ensuring you do not forfeit your right to the compensation you rightly deserve.
Facial Scar Compensation Claims That Exceed Insurance Limits
Occasionally, the compensation awarded through a jury verdict surpasses the defendant’s insurance coverage limits. Ideally, the insurance should cover the entire award amount, yet securing this payout can be increasingly challenging.
For instance, imagine a scenario where the plaintiff’s medical expenses total $1,000,000, but the jury awards $2.5 million, exceeding the insurance coverage. The defendant might then seek a legal declaration to limit their payout responsibility.
Should the court side with the defendant, the matter could be pushed back into negotiations or retrial.
Facing such hurdles may deter the injured party from persisting with the litigation. Skilled facial scar injury lawyers can offer expert support, guiding the plaintiff toward obtaining the rightful compensation.
Trust McCoy & Sparks with Your Facial Scar Compensation Claim
The trauma inflicted by a car accident can be expensive and overwhelming. Recovery is challenging, especially when insurance companies are resistant to paying you fair compensation for how the injury affects your life.
But Kentucky law provides a means of holding at-fault drivers financially responsible for the damages they caused to facial scar accident victims.
If you or a loved one suffered facial scarring due to a car accident, call McCoy and Sparks today or reach out online for a free initial consultation.
Our team of dedicated attorneys has over 20 years of experience helping car accident victims recover damages due to facial disfigurement and permanent scarring.