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Compensation for Disfigurement in Chicago

Written by Jared Staver

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Jared Staver is a Personal Injury Lawyer based in Chicago, Illinois and has been practicing law for over 20 years.

Jared Staver

CATEGORY: Auto Accidents, Personal Injury


Car accidents can leave behind both obvious and invisible wounds. While the initial injuries like lacerations and broken bones heal, they often leave behind scars, marks, discolorations, and other disfigurements. These are constant reminders to victims of car accidents of the pain and suffering they went through. They are also visible flaws to others. From meeting romantic partners to being promoted at work, a disfigurement due to a serious crash can greatly alter a person’s daily life and future.

If you were disfigured in a collision, you deserve to hold the driver who caused the crash responsible for your injuries. With the help of an experienced car accident lawyer at Staver Accident Injury Lawyers, P.C., you can fight to receive compensation for disfigurement.

You Can Financially Recover for Disfigurement

You may be well aware that you can ask for your medical expenses and pain and suffering through a personal injury claim. But did you know you can also be compensated for disfigurement? When you seek to recover after a car accident, you can ask for damages to reimburse and compensate you for a variety of physical, mental and financial injuries, including any observable malformations caused by the collision.

The Importance of an Experienced Lawyer

The first barrier to recovering for a disfigurement is proving you suffer from a permanent and visible malformation. This may not be difficult depending on your appearance following the accident. Your injuries may be visible to the judge or jury, or your attorney can provide video and picture evidence. However, an insurance company or defendant will want to fight for a lower settlement or jury award, so they may try to argue you do not have a disfigurement or it is not a serious flaw.

Once you and your attorney have demonstrated that you have a disfigurement from the collision, you will next need to argue for the amount owed to you due to this change in your appearance. Like your recovery for pain and suffering, compensation for disfigurement is not a clear and objective amount. No one can simply look at receipts and come up with a figure. Calculating damages for a disfigurement is highly subjective, which makes having an experienced lawyer by your side all that much more important. You and your attorney must argue for an amount that is fair to you in light of what you have suffered and what you must continue to endure due to your physical appearance.

Factors Within a Disfigurement Damages Claim

When you are negotiating an amount to compensate you for your disfigurement, there are many factors that may call for a higher or lower amount, including:

  • Whether the disfigurement is permanent, long-term, or temporary
  • The location of the scarring or disfigurement
  • The size and extent of the disfigurement
  • The effect on your professional, social, and romantic relationships
  • The effect on your mental state, including resulting anxiety and depression
  • Loss of mobility or flexibility
  • Medical costs associated with disfigurement
  • Medical aids and devices made necessary by the disfigurement

The more the disfigurement effects your life, the higher amount of damages you can request. For example, scarring and burn tissue on your hands may greatly affect your mobility. You may need to undergo physical therapy, use medical aids in everyday life, have live-in assistance, and alter your career. Your overall earning potential could be deeply impacted. Your attorney will take all of these factors and more into account in order to seek a fair amount for you.

Staver Accident Injury Lawyers, P.C. Can Help

When you deserve to be compensated for a disfigurement caused by a car accident, you need a highly experienced no win no fee attorney who is willing to tenaciously fight for your rights and recovery in court. The other side of your case will work hard to pay you a lower figure. They will always look out for themselves and not for what is fair and just. At Staver Accident Injury Lawyers, P.C., we will aggressively advocate on your behalf with insurance companies and in court. We will negotiate a beneficial settlement that incorporates compensation for your disfigurement or we will seek an advantageous jury award.

Our car accident attorneys serve clients throughout the Chicago area, including Aurora, Elgin, Hinsdale, Joliet, Naperville, and Waukegan. Call Staver Accident Injury Lawyers, P.C. at (312) 236-2900 right away.

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(312) 236-2900
(312) 236-2900
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