The human body contains many types of soft tissues. Various situations can injure these tissues, causing conditions ranging from mild, temporary discomfort to painful long-term or permanent damage. Some people with soft tissue damage require medical treatments, physical therapy, and time away from work during the healing process.
If your soft tissue injuries are the result of an accident caused by someone else, you may be entitled to receive soft tissue injury settlements. These injuries are often challenging to prove, but our experienced personal injury lawyers at Honolulu’s Recovery Law Center can help you obtain the compensation you deserve.
What Are Soft Tissue Injuries?
Soft tissues surround organs and bones, supporting and connecting other tissues. Your body has numerous soft tissues, such as:
- Blood vessels
- Fat
- Muscles (the heart is a muscle)
- Nerves
- Tendons and ligaments
Sudden trauma can cause soft tissue injuries, including:
- Bursitis
- Contusions (bruises)
- Sprains, strains and tears
- Tendonitis
- Whiplash
The treatment for soft tissue injuries varies. In many cases, doctors may recommend the RICE protocol: rest, ice, compression and elevation. However, you may need to wear a brace for moderate soft tissue injuries; some severe injuries may require surgery.
Do You Qualify for Soft Tissue Injury Settlements?
Athletes and exercise enthusiasts often suffer soft tissue injuries. Everyday activities may also cause damage. Unless someone else is responsible for causing your injury, you don’t qualify to receive compensation.
Acute soft tissue injuries typically result from sudden trauma, such as blunt impact, falls and twists. Car accidents commonly cause this type of injury, but each injury varies in severity and type.
Compensation amounts vary, depending on multiple factors. While you can seek financial damages if someone else causes your car accident, there isn’t a set payout for a soft tissue injury. If a car accident caused your soft tissue injury, Hawaii’s no-fault insurance law may also affect your ability to seek compensation.
No-fault insurance
Hawaii law requires drivers to have at least $10,000 of personal injury protection (PIP) insurance coverage. This policy will pay your medical and certain other expenses resulting from a car accident, regardless of who is at fault, up to your coverage limit.
PIP policies don’t pay for non-economic damages such as pain and suffering, and your policy limit may not cover all of your expenses. You can file a personal injury claim against the at-fault driver in cases reaching specified thresholds. Recovery Law Center can explain your options and how they may affect your soft tissue injury settlement.
How Are Soft Tissue Injury Settlements Calculated?
In Hawaii, several factors affect how much compensation you may obtain after a soft tissue injury, including whether the injury is temporary or permanent, its effect on your life and the amount of related expenses. You may receive reimbursement for your economic damages and additional compensation for non-economic damages, but every settlement is unique based on your specific case facts.
The knowledgeable attorneys at Recovery Law Center can assess your claim and tell you how much it’s worth during your free initial consultation.
Economic damages
You’ll likely have various expenses incurred by your injury. Economic damages reimburse you for these costs, such as:
- Medical treatments
- Lost wages
- Certain replacement services
- Property damage
Keep your bills and receipts because this reimbursement is dollar-for-dollar.
Non-economic damages
You may develop conditions alongside your soft tissue injury that adversely affect your life afterward. Non-economic damages compensate you for things like:
- Pain and suffering
- Anxiety, PTSD and depression
- Losing your enjoyment of life
- Inconvenience
Insurance companies often balk at paying these damages and may state that you don’t suffer from these conditions. Hiring a competent personal injury lawyer is critical to obtaining the maximum compensation you deserve in soft tissue injury settlements. People with legal representation typically receive significantly higher payments than those without.
Punitive damages
In very rare cases, you may receive punitive damages. To qualify, the person who caused your soft tissue injury must have acted in specific, reprehensible ways. Ask your attorney if you are eligible.
What Is Modified Comparative Negligence?
Suppose your soft tissue injury results from a car accident. If you are partially to blame for causing the wreck, the modified comparative negligence rule comes into play.
If your fault is less than 51%, you can seek damages; however, your percentage of fault reduces the amount you may receive. If you are over 51% responsible for your accident, you don’t qualify to seek compensation through a personal injury claim.
Why Are Soft Tissue Injury Cases Sometimes Challenging To Prove?
Insurance companies don’t want to pay soft tissue injury settlements and may attempt to deny your claim. Unfortunately, people sometimes make fraudulent injury claims. This history often makes insurance companies skeptical when presented with claims that include soft tissue injuries.
Broken bones show clearly on X-rays, providing proof that the condition exists. With soft tissue damage, diagnostic tests and tools usually don’t highlight these injuries. Although this type of injury typically produces pain and swelling and may have lifelong consequences, tests can’t necessarily prove your claim is valid.
Visiting a healthcare provider after the accident causing your soft tissue injury is vital. Your physician will create medical records documenting your symptoms, injury, treatments, and complications. You can also keep a journal that details when and how your soft tissue injury causes problems in your everyday life. Your attorney will use these records as proof in your personal injury claim.
How Can Recovery Law Center Increase Your Soft Tissue Injury Settlement?
Whether you are a Hawaii resident or visitor, Recovery Law Center will advocate fiercely for your rights. We use our more than 25 years of experience handling personal injury claims to seek maximum compensation through settlement negotiations or litigation.
We will thoroughly investigate your injury and its cause, hiring specialists or expert witnesses if needed. Contact our firm 24/7 to request your free consultation, and we’ll explain how we can maximize your soft tissue injury settlement. Call us today or submit our consultation request form online.
