The National Safety Council reported that in the year 2001 there were approximately 12.5 million traffic accidents, with about 2.3 million disabling injuries. It is a good thing that the US government along with auto makers have spent billions of dollars on testing and research to make vehicles safer. Yet even with modern advancements not all vehicles offer the same level protection and each occupant has a different risk of injury. “The insurance company often uses the cost to repair the vehicle as a gauge for determining the extent of injury to the vehicle occupants.” says Atlanta personal injury attorney Richard Griffin, of the Griffin Law Firm. The Griffin Law Firm, P.C. is a large Atlanta firm that specialized in auto and work injuries. Atlanta Personal Injury Attorney Richard Griffin goes on to say that minorities, the elderly, and the poor are often the most negatively affected by this practice of claims evaluation. “Statistically, minorities, elderly, and the financially disadvantaged drive vehicles with below average safety ratings or older vehicles. They are also less likely to have access to healthcare. When a vehicle that is less safe is involved in a car wreck, the driver and the passengers are much more likely to be injured even with property damage of less than $1,000.00. People injured in vehicles with less than $1,000.00 in property damage then are told by insurance adjusters that they could not have been hurt since the property damage was minimal. Then insurance adjusters offered a very small amount or nothing at all to these injured victims especially if they are not represented by an attorney.
Personal injury victims often are stuck with medical bills and have lost wages go unpaid if they are not represented by trained and experienced personal injury attorneys. Attorney Richard Griffin stated, "Everyone with an injury needs good legal representation, and that’s what my firm does!”
The State of Florida Department of Highway Safety studied if people could be injured in low speed impacts. In 1999 this study found that 67,602 people were involved in automobile collisions at a speed of less than 10 MPH. The study further found that 55,973 of those (the vast majority) were in fact injured and required medical treatment. Surprisingly 528 people out of the 67,602 people in these low impact collisions actually lost their life in the car wreck. Clearly, it is uncorrect and terribly unfair for insurance adjusters to conclude on their own that low property damage means that no one could have been injured.
The Highway Loss Data Institute is a nonprofit public service organization that gathers, processes, and publishes data concerning different types of vehicles. In their September 2005 publication, “Injury, Collision and Theft Loss”, the Institute rates the relative frequency of injuries in each model, year and class of vehicles. (A full listing of vehicles can be seen at www.iihs.org.) Vehicles such as the BMW L 7 series, Chevrolet Suburban, Ford Crown Victoria, Volvo V70, Buick Park Avenue and Saab 9-5 all rate substantially better than average. While the Kia (Rio, Optima, Grand Vitara), Mitsubishi (Lancer, Galant, Eclipse), and Hyundai (Accent, Tiburon, Sonata) all rate substantially worse than average. These ratings support the idea that minorities and the poor may be at a higher risk of injury because their vehicles have poor safety features or may be older with no modern protection devises. “The vehicle safety does have a major impact on occupant injury but so does the pre-injury health of the occupant and the forces generated during the collision”, states Attorney Richard Griffin. “Many insurance carriers do not understand that each occupant has a different threshold and risk for injury. An 18 year old healthy football player will have a lower risk of injury than an 89 year old female with osteoporosis and osteoarthritis. There are literally thousands of factors that are involved with an injury but the cost to repair property damage is not a major factor.” In 2001 the Supreme Court of Delaware, in the case of Davis v. Maute stated that the defense “may not directly argue that the seriousness of personal injuries from a car accident correlates to the extent of the damage to the cars, unless the party can produce competent expert testimony on the issue. Absent such expert testimony, any inference by the jury that minimal damage to the plaintiff’s car translates into minimal personal injuries to the plaintiff would necessarily amount to unguided speculation.” But the insurance companies still routinely state that “less than $1500 of damage equals no injury”. “This leaves the injured person wondering, if they are really in good hands?” says Attorney Richard Griffin.
Attorney Richard Griffin further stated, “The elderly, disadvantaged and some minority groups often do appear to be taken advantage of with lower settlements especailly when they are not represented by a trained and experienced personal injury and wrongful death attorney. That is why our Atlanta personal injury law firm investigates each claim extensively and fights to protects the rights of the injured. We see many cases where the client did not immediately seek legal advice and often have to fight very hard to turn these cases around. I recommend that any person injured get immediate legal advice from lawyers that specialize in personal injury.” Because of an extraordinary nationwide effort by insurance carriers, motor vehicle accident claims have been dramatically reduced. Insurance carriers have been particularly successful in defending minor impact cases. In California alone, according to the research arm of the California Supreme Court, motor vehicle accident filings in superior court were down 50% in just 10 years. Few industries have successfully reduced its liabilities by 50% in just 10 years. The Insurance Research Council in a 2003 reported that 10% less claimants were utilizing the services of an attorney from 2002 to 1992. This is a surprising trend since 92% of claimants whose cases were value at over $25,000 were represented by an attorney. That still leaves the question, “do auto accidents discriminate?” Do auto accidents discriminate? Yes it appears that they do indeed discriminate when adjusters attempt to under pay claims involving low property damage to cars that often have poor safety ratings. Another factor in addition to the safety rating of the car you are in is what is your age and condition of your body before the collision occurred. If you have a weak or degenerated back, drive a car with a poor safety rating, or have any of the other hundreds factors that put you at high risk for injury. Then yes auto accidents do discriminate. But one thing is 100% certain. They never taught a doctor in medical school, that when you are evaluating a patient to leave the exam room, go to the parking lot, look at the patient’s car, come back in the examination room and give the patient your diagnosis.
The personal injury lawyers and wrongful death lawyers at The Griffin Law Firm, P.C. will fight for you to make sure that the insurance adjusters do not save money at your expense by under paying your personal injury or wrongful death claim.
Call us today at 866-847-6545 or visit our website at www.griffinlawfirmpc.com for a free legal evaluation or to find out what your case is worth.
Richard S. Griffin, Attorney At Law
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