How Do I Prove Medical Expenses In Houston Accident Injury Case?

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How Do I Prove Medical Expenses In
Houston Accident Injury Case?

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The Workings of Texas Accident & Injury Case Claims
» As we discussed in another article (read our
'Do I Really Need a Personal Injury Lawyer for my Accident & Injury Case?'
article), the question about recovering medical expenses in a personal
injury case in Texas is governed in part by the Texas Constitution, in part
by statute, and in part by court cases.
» The importance of this fact is discussed in the referenced article and
won’t be repeated here, but we suggest you read that article in
connection with learning the answer to the question that is addressed in
this article.
» With this preamble in mind, we are almost ready for a discussion of how
medical expenses can be proved in your Texas personal injury case. But
first, a disclaimer: Keep in mind that this article is a general discussion
only, and that you should seek the advice of your Texas accident injury
attorney about your individual case.


"Causation"; An Important Word in Texas Personal Injury & Accident Law
Let’s begin with a general proposition of Texas law on the subject. An injured
person can recover past, present and even future medical expenses in a
personal injury case, but only if the medical expenses were necessarily
incurred to treat the injury that was caused by the party that the injured
person is seeking to hold responsible, and only if they are reasonable in
amount.


» So breaking that general proposition down, it isn’t sufficient to prove that
you incurred or paid a lot of medical expenses after you were injured.
» There is another important word to consider: “caused.” In legal terms, we
convert the word “caused” to the word “causation” when talking about
holding someone responsible for an accident or injury. The focus of this
article is on how you must prove that causal connection in order to
recover your medical expenses.


» It might be helpful to give an example of an actual Texas case where the
jury found that the injured party should recover more than a million
dollars in medical expenses. In that case, which was decided in 2007, the
trial judge disagreed with the jury verdict and entered a take nothing
judgment.
» The court of appeals disagreed with the trial judge, however, and sent the
case back to the trial court for entry of judgment based on the jury
verdict. The plaintiff, who was an heir of the injured party who died not
long after the accident, was undoubtedly happy with that ruling.
» Ah, but the defendant appealed and the Texas Supreme Court disagreed
with the court of appeals and directed that it consider whether a
remittitur (that is, a reduction in the amount of the judgment) could be
ordered based on the evidence that was presented at trial, or if not,
ordered that the case should be sent back to the trial court for a new trial.


What did the parties learn, and what can we learn, from this case?
» Well, the only evidence presented at trial about causation (that is, is
essence, what caused the need for all that medical treatment) came from
the daughter and son-in-law of the 86 year old injured party.

» That doesn’t work, the Supreme Court said, because only a medical
expert could testify about causation given the facts of this case. It would
not be within the common knowledge and experience of a layperson to
connect up the conditions in question, the causal relationship between
those conditions and the accident, and the need for the medical
treatment for which damages had been awarded, the court reasoned.


» The specific holding of the court was as follows: We conclude that expert
medical evidence is required to prove causation unless competent
evidence supports a finding that the conditions in question, the causal
relationship between the conditions and the accident, and the necessity
of the particular medical treatments for the conditions are within the
common knowledge and experience of laypersons.
» The court’s holding might be easier to understand if you consider that the
pre-accident condition of the injured party is usually an issue at trial,
along with evidence about the accident itself, plus evidence about the
injured person’s physical condition and progress after the accident. The
court used an example to explain this.


» If the injured party had suffered broken bones and other injuries that
undisputed evidence showed were not present before the accident, then
the physical condition and causal relationship between the accident and
the conditions might well be within the general experience and common
knowledge of laypersons.
» Temporal proximity alone, however, or in other words closeness in time,
between the accident and subsequently manifested physical conditions of
the injured party does not prove causation, the court stated. It may
create a suspicion of the causal link, or allow one to surmise the causal
link, but that is not allowed because that is not evidence, said the court.
» Referring to the holding in another case that it had decided previously,
the Texas Supreme Court held that non-expert evidence alone is sufficient
to support a finding of causation in limited circumstances where both the
occurrence and conditions complained of are such that the general
experience and common sense of laypersons are sufficient to evaluate
the conditions and whether they were probably caused by the
occurrence.

Does Texas Accident & Injury Law Sound Complicated to You?
It often is very complicated, and we therefore believe that decisions about
what evidence should be presented and how it should be presented are
best made by an experienced Texas accident injury lawyer who represents
you and knows all the facts of your particular case.


CALL US NOW FOR A
FREE PERSONAL INJURY CLAIM REVIEW
Houston: 713-957-2030
(TOLL FREE: 888-777-6391)

Kennedy Hodges & Solomon Personal Injury Lawyers
510 Bering Drive, Suite 300,
Houston, Texas 77057
info@texasaccidentinjurylawyers.com


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