Seattle Car Accident Lawyer Preet Kode Helps Victims With Shoulder Injuries Get the Compensation They Deserve
A sharp pain shoots through your shoulder every time you reach for something or try to lift your arm. What started as soreness after your car accident has become a persistent problem that affects simple tasks like getting dressed, carrying groceries, or picking up your children.
At Kode Law, we understand how a shoulder injury from a car accident can impact every aspect of your life. Experienced Seattle personal injury lawyer Preet Kode helps accident victims pursue the compensation they need to recover and move forward.
Common Shoulder Injuries From Seattle Car Accidents
When your shoulder strikes the door, dashboard, or steering wheel, or when your seatbelt suddenly restrains you, the force can damage multiple structures within your shoulder. Even the act of bracing for impact can lead to serious shoulder injuries.
Some frequent car accident shoulder injuries we see include:
- Rotator cuff tears. A torn rotator cuff can make it difficult or impossible to lift your arm above your head or reach behind your back. Many patients report a dull, deep ache in the shoulder that worsens at night and interferes with sleep.
- AC joint injuries. The acromioclavicular joint connecting your collarbone to your shoulder blade can become separated or dislocated during an accident, causing intense pain and limited mobility. You might notice a visible bump on top of your shoulder, along with sharp pain when trying to lift your arm or carry objects. Even after the initial healing period, AC joint injuries can lead to chronic pain and arthritis.
- Shoulder fractures. Direct trauma in a crash can break bones in the shoulder, including the clavicle and scapula. These fractures typically need immobilization and sometimes surgical repair using plates, screws, or pins to properly align the bones.
- SLAP tears. Superior Labral Anterior to Posterior tears affect the ring of cartilage (labrum) that surrounds your shoulder socket. These injuries often occur when you brace for impact with your arms outstretched. SLAP tears can cause catching sensations, reduced range of motion, and pain with overhead movements.
- Shoulder impingement. The violent motion of a crash can cause soft tissues in your shoulder to become pinched between bones. This leads to inflammation, swelling, and pain when raising your arm. Without proper treatment, shoulder impingement can progress to more serious conditions like rotator cuff tears.
- Shoulder dislocation. The impact can force the ball of your upper arm bone out of the shoulder socket. Besides causing immediate, severe pain, a dislocation can damage surrounding tissues and nerves.
- Bursitis. Trauma from the accident can inflame the small, fluid-filled sacs (bursae) that cushion your shoulder joint. This inflammation causes pain, especially when lying on the affected shoulder or making overhead movements. While not as structurally serious as other injuries, bursitis can cause significant discomfort and limitation of movement.
Insurance Company Tactics to Watch For
"The insurance adjuster said I should be better by now." We often hear this from frustrated clients. The reality is that insurance companies prioritize their profits over your recovery. Their adjusters receive training to use specific tactics designed to minimize or deny shoulder injury claims.
Disputing the Cause of Your Injury
Insurance adjusters often try to blame your shoulder pain on:
- Preexisting conditions or age-related degeneration
- Prior sports injuries or workplace incidents
- Regular wear and tear from your occupation
- Activities you performed after the accident
Downplaying the Severity of Your Symptoms
The insurance company might:
- Claim your injury is "just a sprain" that should heal quickly
- Suggest you're seeking unnecessary medical treatment
- Question why you need physical therapy or surgery
- Use surveillance footage or social media postings of you performing daily activities to argue you're not really hurt
Pressuring You to Settle Quickly
Watch out for adjusters who:
- Contact you immediately after the accident offering a fast settlement
- Warn that their "generous offer" has a short deadline
- Discourage you from talking to an attorney
- Tell you this is their "final offer" when negotiations have barely begun
Questioning Your Medical Treatment
To keep costs down, insurance adjusters might:
- Argue your treatment wasn't medically necessary
- Claim your doctor ordered unnecessary diagnostic tests
- Dispute the need for surgery or ongoing physical therapy for your shoulder
- Suggest you should have recovered faster
Using Your Own Words Against You
Insurance adjusters are trained to:
- Ask leading questions about your shoulder injury
- Record your statements without your knowledge
- Take comments out of context
- Look for inconsistencies in your descriptions of pain or limitations
Exploiting Gaps in Your Medical Care
The insurance company will scrutinize your medical history to find:
- Delays between the accident and your first doctor visit
- Missed appointments or gaps in treatment
- Failure to follow medical advice regarding your shoulder injury
- Inconsistent complaints to different health care providers
Misusing Your Medical Records
Adjusters often:
- Cherry-pick information that supports denying your shoulder injury claim
- Take medical terminology out of context
- Focus on unrelated prior conditions
- Ignore documentation of your current symptoms and limitations
How We Build Your Shoulder Injury Case
Our Seattle legal teams take a comprehensive approach to documenting your damages. We start by gathering extensive medical documentation from every health care provider involved in your care. This includes records of your emergency room visits immediately following the accident, results from all diagnostic tests like MRIs and CT scans, documentation of treatment procedures, notes tracking your physical therapy progress, and expert opinions about your future medical needs.
Beyond the medical aspects, we carefully calculate the economic impact of your shoulder injury. This involves determining your lost wages and employment benefits during recovery, analyzing how your injury might affect your future earning capacity, tracking all out-of-pocket expenses related to your treatment and recovery, and projecting the costs of any future medical care you may need. For clients who can't return to their previous occupation, we work with vocational experts to understand the full financial impact of career changes or limitations.
We also recognize that shoulder injuries affect more than just your physical health and finances. Our team documents your injury’s impact on your daily life, including how the injury affects simple tasks like getting dressed, preparing meals, or driving. We gather evidence about changes in your family relationships, such as being unable to pick up your children or participate in family activities, and testimony from family members, friends, and coworkers to paint a picture of how the injury has affected your overall quality of life.
These three components—medical documentation, economic calculations, and life impact evidence—form the foundation of a strong shoulder injury claim. By thoroughly documenting each aspect, Kode Law builds compelling cases that help our clients receive fair compensation for their injuries.
