Scarring and Disfigurement

Catastrophic Injury Attorneys for Victims in Grand Rapids, Traverse City, and Detroit

Accidents can have many devastating outcomes. Among the possible consequences are scarring and disfigurement. A scarred or disfigured victim may need extensive medical care, including expensive reconstructive surgery. Additionally, it can be emotionally painful to experience other people’s reactions to the disfigurement and to see oneself as physically, permanently altered due to someone else’s negligence or misconduct. If you suffer scarring and disfigurement as a result of an accident, you should consult the Detroit, Traverse City, and Grand Rapids catastrophic injury lawyers at Neumann Law Group. Each year for the past several years, our principal, award-winning trial lawyer Kelly Neumann, has secured more than $3 million in personal injury cases.

Liability and Damages for Scarring and Disfigurement in Michigan

A plaintiff trying to recover damages for scarring and disfigurement that resulted from an accident usually will need to establish four elements by a preponderance of the evidence: the defendant’s duty, a breach of duty, causation, and damages.

Scarring and disfigurement can permanently change an accident victim’s life. The possible treatments are often extremely expensive, may need to be repeated, and may not result in significant improvement. Even with medical care from top-rated doctors, an accident victim may suffer permanent changes to his or her appearance. Treatments for scarring include pressure scar modification, surgical excision, reconstructive surgery, and dermabrasion. The appropriate treatment for a scar depends on various factors, including the patient’s medical history and skin type.

Sometimes it may be necessary for a disfigured victim to receive counseling for his or her emotional distress, mental anguish, and pain and suffering. Scarring and disfigurement are among the kinds of serious and permanent injuries that may allow a car accident victim to seek noneconomic damages in civil court, rather than recovering only economic losses through their own no-fault benefits.

The settlement or trial value of a scar or disfigured body part may vary depending on the characteristics of the accident victim. For example, insurers and jurors may treat young women who suffer facial scarring differently from people who suffer scarring on other parts of the body. It is assumed that young women will experience more significant distress as a result of the alteration in their appearance. Moreover, the face can be more difficult to treat because the tissues and muscles are more complicated there. Additionally, an accident victim whose career hinges on her appearance, such as an actress or model, can usually recover a greater amount of noneconomic damages than a more reclusive, older, or male accident victim.

Both economic and noneconomic damages may be available to address scarring and disfigurement. The economic portion of the damages award would include costs of treatment, such as surgery, and lost income resulting from time off work that is necessary for treatment.

Noneconomic damages, such as pain and suffering and mental anguish, are more subjective and can vary dramatically depending on what jurors believe is a natural reaction to the quality and location of the scarring or disfigurement that a particular accident victim has suffered.

Discuss Your Rights With a Catastrophic Injury Lawyer in Traverse City, Grand Rapids, or Detroit

It can be humiliating to suffer scarring and disfigurement. If you are hurt as a result of someone else’s negligence, the Detroit, Grand Rapids, and Traverse City catastrophic injury attorneys at Neumann Law Group may be able to help you recover any economic and noneconomic damages to which you may be entitled. Neumann Law Group represents victims in Petoskey, Warren, Holland, Midland, Muskegon, Saginaw, Wyoming, Kalamazoo, Lansing, Flint, Ann Arbor, and communities throughout the Upper Peninsula, as well as in Massachusetts and California. Contact us at 800-525-NEUMANN or via our online form for a free consultation with a car accident attorney or guidance with any other personal injury claim.