Understanding Physical Impairment in Personal Injury Claims

What’s the most important element of damages in your personal injury claim? Physical Impairment.

What is Physical Impairment?

Under Texas law, physical impairment damages compensate you for your inability to do or enjoy activities that you were able to do before your wreck or other incident.

There are a huge variety of activities that could qualify you for physical impairment damages.

On one end of the spectrum, the activities could be things as simple as the daily small things you do around the house – things that doctors and injury lawyers call “activities of daily living”. These things can range from bathing, getting dressed, to brushing your hair or teeth. They can extend to things like your daily chores or cleaning that you do around your house.

But the activities go far beyond that. Do you have any hobbies or recreational activities that you are no longer able to do or that are much more difficult to do following the wreck? Those would qualify for physical impairment injuries. And these activities are almost limitless.

A typical example occurs when your injuries make it difficult to play with your kids or grandkids or engage in hobbies like gardening or exercise. But there are specific examples.

I once had a case where my client’s injuries from a car wreck caused her to miss her daughter perform in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade.

I had another case where my client was an avid road cyclist, and she was no longer able to cycle alone after being the victim of a dog bite.

There are other cases where my clients have sustained serious injuries and can’t leave their home.

As I said, the specifics in your case are almost limitless.

Why Physical Impairment is Critical in Personal Injury Cases

There are two big reasons why physical impairment damages are important. First, this is real measure of how an injury affects your quality of life. This is often the most important (and overlooked) part of your damages. When we’re telling the story of how you were affected by a wreck, these activities are the biggest parts of your story.

Additionally, these things are important to the jury. We value a case by asking the question, “How much do we think a jury would award in the case?” Over the years, I’ve had multiple opportunities to talk to juries about their attitudes and beliefs. Many potential jurors are quick to say that they may have a difficult time awarding damages for pain and mental anguish, the two other big non-economic damages. But it is rare to get a potential juror to say they would have a difficult time awarding compensation for physical impairment injuries. Jurors also understand that these are the most important parts of the case.

How to Document Physical Impairment

There are several things that you can do to help document your physical impairment injuries and help your case. First, we tell our clients to keep a journal or notes for us documenting when they miss out on activities that they would normally be doing. If clients keep notes as they go along, that will be much more accurate than trying to remember things months down the road.

Can you take pictures or videos to show the impact of your injuries? You can’t document every physical impairment with pictures or videos, but there are many that you can. For example, are you having a difficult time brushing your hair because of shoulder injuries? Consider a video of that. Can you no longer bike after an injury? Take a picture of all your bikes and bike gear to help show how important biking was to you.

Other times, you’ll have records that show the physical impairment. Do you have receipts for a trip that you had to cancel? Do you have records from a gym showing you worked out multiple times per week before the wreck and quit showing up after the wreck? These kinds of records can help document your injuries.

Finally, ask your friends and family how you’re affected. Loved ones often see how we’re affected by injuries very different than how we see ourselves. Getting input from folks around you can help you paint a more accurate picture of how a wreck affects you.

The Key to Fair Compensation

Physical impairment is not just about monetary compensation—it’s about acknowledging the full impact of injuries on a person’s life. Make sure you hire an experienced attorney who understands how important these injuries are and how to help you document these losses to help tell your story.

If you’ve been injured and want to ensure every aspect of your case is documented and valued, contact us today. We’ll help you maximize your recovery and get the compensation you deserve.

For more information, you can read:

Damages that may be recoverable in personal injury claims

Personal Injury Cases: How Do Juries Decide Cases