Soft Tissue Injuries

Soft tissue injuries are often the result of a sudden, unexpected movement. For example, if you are rear-ended while driving home on a congested highway, you may wind up with a soft tissue injury in your back. In most cases, in order to recover damages for a soft tissue injury, you will need to establish another person’s negligence. This means you will need to show that another person owed you a duty of reasonable care and failed to meet that obligation, resulting in soft tissue injuries and other damages to you.

In some cases, you may need to prove additional elements to recover damages. For example, if you suffer soft tissue injuries due to a dangerous condition on someone else’s property such as a broken step, you will probably also need to establish notice in order to recover on a premises liability theory. The notice may be actual or constructive. Often, constructive notice is established by showing that the dangerous condition that caused soft tissue injuries existed for so long a reasonable property owner should have inspected and known it was there. This may be shown by presenting video surveillance evidence or testimony of store employees.

One of the challenges of soft tissue injuries in a personal injury case is that they may not be able to be caught on a diagnostic test such as an X-ray or MRI. They can be extremely painful and adversely affect your lifestyle, but establishing that they exist can be challenging. Broken bones, on the other hand, can be proven by taking an X-ray. It is important to get medical care for your soft tissue injuries right away and follow your doctor’s instructions. Medical records can serve as important proof of injuries.

If you can establish someone else’s liability for soft tissue injuries, you may be able to recover the full spectrum of economic and noneconomic losses that flow from them. These may include medical bills, lost wages, lost earning capacity, household services, pain and suffering, and loss of enjoyment of life.