Permanent Scarring

In personal injury cases, certain types of harms are easier to calculate than others. After an automobile collision, it can be simple in some cases to calculate your past medical expenses and lost wages. It is much more difficult to place a monetary value upon your other elements of damages, including permanent scarring.

Motor vehicle accidents, explosions, fires, and other incidents caused by a negligent defendant’s conduct can have a lasting impact on your life. Aside from any physical disability, an injured claimant may also be left with unsightly and emotionally distressing physical scarring. While money damages cannot make these scars “go away,” they can help with obtaining scar revision treatment and provide some measure of compensation for the harm done to you.

While there is no exact method to calculate fair compensation for permanent scars, there are certain facts jury members routinely place emphasis upon. Perhaps the most important factors are the age and life expectancy of the injured person. Sustaining permanent scars at age 70 is much different than sustaining those same scars at 17. A 70 year old has to live with the permanent scars for a shorter period of time and likely has already found his or her spouse.

Life expectancy is also important because many injury attorneys, including Maginnis Law, frequently argue for a “per diem” amount of monetary compensation for permanent scarring. For example, we might ask the insurance company for X dollars per day for the remainder of your life. The total damages are obviously going to be higher with a younger client.

Gender and location of the scars are also critically important. For whatever reason, juries do tend to award higher compensation for females than males. Additionally, scars that can be hidden with clothes do not tend to result in verdicts as high as those where scars are readily visible at all times, such as facial scars.

Another important factor in scarring cases is whether there are is any keloiding. A keloid is additional scar tissue that develops after a wound has healed.

Maginnis Law handles cases involving permanent scars on a contingency basis. This means that you pay no attorneys’ fees unless we win the case or obtain a settlement.

To schedule a free consultation, give our Raleigh office a call or use our contact page to send the details of your case. We assist clients with permanent scarring throughout the state of North Carolina.