Physical Impairment or Disability
A physical impairment or disability can have a serious impact on your life––in fact, it can detrimentally affect your quality of life and ability to live how you once did. Normally, when we think of disabilities, we think of people in wheelchairs who depend a lot on others. Some people may also tend to think that people with a disability were born with it, but a disability can be the result of trauma. And if it is caused by a traumatic experience, like a motor vehicle accident, you may be entitled to compensation.
These types of personal injury cases, however, can be complex. You are not only dealing with past medical expenses and lost wages but the loss of an ability to earn income and foreseeable medical expenses including possible medical complications. In addition, non-economic damages will play an important part of your compensation package. A physical impairment or disability can turn your life upside down, so depending on the extent of that, you must be compensated fully and fairly.
To get what you deserve in Los Angeles, you need to find a personal injury attorney with the skills and insight necessary to obtain full and fair compensation for you. Proving all your damages will require a lot of effort and evidence, and only a personal injury attorney with specific experience with disabilities and physical impairment will know what to look for and how to present it. That’s where we come in: we help you find the right attorney so you aren’t spending precious hours finding an attorney who doesn’t have the skillset and resources to adequately take on your case. Contact us with any questions, and in the meantime, review the below information on physical impairments and disabilities in California personal injury law.
Physical Impairment versus Disability in California
Physical impairment and disability are similar but not quite the same. What distinguishes the two is this: extent of the impairment or disability. Disability is always an impairment, but an impairment may not be a disability. Physical impairment means that some part of your body is impaired, but you can typically live a relatively normal life independent of others. Disability, on the other hand, involves an impairment that prevents you from conducting day-to-day basic tasks, like bathing, eating, or dressing. In terms of working, disability is the legal term used when a person, due to an impairment, can no longer perform the functions of the job.
Both physical impairment and disability can be short-term, long-term, permanent, or partial.
Physical impairment can involve any of the following:
- Vision impairment, e.g., partial loss of vision;
- Hearing impairment, e.g., partial or total loss of hearing
- Spinal cord impairments, e.g., temporary or permanent paralysis
- Cognitive impairment, e.g., traumatic brain injury (TBI).
Disabilities can include the above and can also include but are not limited to:
- Physical disabilities, like:
- Paraplegia
- Quadriplegia
- Hemiplegia
- Reduced limb function
- Amputation of a limb
- Intellectual or learning disabilities, e.g, difficulty taking in new information
- Psychiatric disabilities, e.g., stress-related like depression
- Neurological disabilities, i.e., damage to the nervous system leading to loss of a physical or mental function
- Sensory disability, i.e., blindness and deafness
What Accidents Can Cause a Physical Impairment or Disability in California?
Nationwide, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), around 25.6% of adults have a disability, that just over three-quarters of the population. In California, 23% of adults have some type of disabilities. Many of these disabilities are not congenital but acquired after a traumatic experience. Particularly, a person can suffer physical impairment or disability when he or she has been in an accident, like:
- Assault or another violent crime
- Bicycle accidents
- Burn injuries
- Car accidents
- Construction accidents
- Industrial or agricultural accidents
- Motorcycle accidents
- Pedestrian accidents
- Truck accidents
- Workplace accidents (like falls from heights).
Sometimes, a defective product or medical malpractice incident can cause physical impairment or disability, but these types of cases are rare. Either way, though, the stakes are high. Consider this fact from the CDC:
“Disability costs in healthcare expenditures are $38.2 billion per year in California.”
Though not all of those disability costs are related to physical impairments or disabilities caused by another person’s negligence, recklessness, or intentional act, it’s still important to keep in mind that many of them are. It’s incredibly expensive to have a disability, and so when you seek compensation, you need to make sure it covers all your past, current, and foreseeable future costs.
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Three Types of Physical Impairment and Disabilities
1. Temporary Physical Impairment or Disability. Temporary physical impairments are the most common type of disability from accidents, especially accidents involving motor vehicles. Short-term physical impairment means you are temporarily disabled but will or should get better. Examples include a minor case of whiplash and fractured bones.
2. Partial Physical Impairment of Disability. Partial physical impairment is a long-term condition. You may not be able to work or engage in social and recreational activities while you are treated and go through rehabilitation. People suffering from a partial disability will get better but will never fully recover. If your injury lasts longer than 12 months and you work, you may be entitled to additional funds through Social Security disability benefits.
3. Permanent Physical Impairment of Disability. Permanent disabilities are the most severe type and will last the duration of a person’s life. Permanent disabilities include things like spinal cord injuries, TBIs, and amputations. Permanent disabilities, however, do not have to be as extreme as complete paralysis but can include something like a severed finger. There are ways to address some permanent disabilities, like prosthetic for an amputated leg––things like this can give a person back a lot of his life, though it’ll still never be the same.
Are You Entitled to Compensation for a Physical Impairment or Disability in California?
If your physical impairment or disability was caused by another person or entity, you are likely entitled to compensation. You will need to prove the full extent of your physical impairment or disability to ensure comprehensive compensation for all your damages. When thinking about your disability, complications and other health-related matters should be considered to identify an amount that is fair and protects you.
Complications & Other Factors to Determine Compensation
Typical factors that go into determining compensation for physical impairment or disability include economic and non-economic damages as outlined in Civil Code § 1431.2, like:
- Medical expenses
- Loss of earnings
- Costs of obtaining substitute domestic services
- Loss of employment
- Loss of business or employment opportunities
- Pain
- Suffering
- Inconvenience
- Mental suffering
- Emotional distress
- Loss of society and companionship
- Loss of consortium
- Injury to reputation and humiliation.
What matters extensively in physical impairment and disability personal injury claims and lawsuits is non-economic damages––that’s where these types of injuries will have the most dramatic consequence. Consider, for example, the CDC reports that in California:
- 33.1% of adults with a disability are inactive as opposed to 17.5% of adults who do not have a disability;
- 39.6% of adults with a disability have high blood pressure as opposed to 22.9% of adults without a disability;
- 35.9% of adults with a disability are obese as compared to 21.4% of adults without a disability.
These statistics indicate the significant change in the quality of life a person suffers when he or she experiences a disability.
With regard to economic damages, it’s important to also note that people with a disability can work, and many do. According to a 2015 Disability Status Report for California, 20.1 percent of working-age people with a disability work full-time or for the full year. But the thing to know about working is this: though you can work, it doesn’t mean you can continue with the type of work you once did, and that will factor into loss of earnings.
What matters most in terms of damages is the type of physical impairment or disability you suffered.
Punitive Damages
In addition to economic and non-economic damages, you may be entitled to punitive damages. Punitive damages can be awarded when malice, oppression, or fraud was present. Punitive damages are designed to punish the wrong-doer and deter similar future behavior. As such, punitive damages can be significant. It takes a committed and resourceful personal injury attorney, however, to put forth a winning argument on your behalf.
L.A. Personal Injury Attorneys Who Seek Just & Fair Compensation for Physical Impairment or Disability
If you have suffered physical impairment or disability from an accident caused by another person or entity, you may be feeling quite overwhelmed. Finding an attorney that can best help you get what you deserve in terms of compensation may add to that feeling of being overwhelmed. You can’t choose the first attorney you find when you google. These types of injuries are significant and require real expertise and knowledge. Contact us today so that we can help you find a competent, smart, and compassionate attorney who will persevere in recovering full and fair damages for you.
