Q: Can injury from an auto accident from 4 years ago have a bearing on my current auto injury case even though I was healed

A: A Georgia attorney could advise best, but your question remains open for a week. Until you're able to consult with a local attorney on any state-specific rules, the GENERAL approach applied nationwide in the type of situation you describe is that the plaintiff relies on the opinion of a medical professional to support their position connecting injuries to the more immediate accident. I can't speak for Georgia law on whether SOLs are applicable - a local attorney would need to advise on that - but in GENERAL, timeframes could be relevant in comparing current and prior injuries. Good luck

A: Addendum - To be more responsive to the point you ask about regarding SOLs, I have not seen situations where statutes of limitations were used on the issue of relevance/irrelevance of prior injuries. It's usually a case-by-case analysis, depending on the quality of the medical opinion presented. But again, a Georgia attorney could advise best. Good luck

A: It is possible for an insurance adjuster to reference previous injuries in their evaluation of a claim no matter how old the previous injuries are. However, there are steps that a skilled plaintiffs lawyer can take to combat their attempt. First, prior to filing a lawsuit, you or your attorney could provide medical records from the doctor you treated with previously to show that you were completely healed and released from care for the injury in question. However, having the discussion with the insurance adjuster without filing a lawsuit usually does not produce results.

The better way to handle the situation would be to go ahead and file a lawsuit. Then produce the documents from the prior doctor showing that you were released from care. Next, allow the defense attorney to take your deposition wherein you can explain to him what the prior injury was, how you had healed from it, and how it was not causing you any problems at the time of the current wreck. After that, your attorney could depose you family members and friends so that they could testify as to how you were not affected by the old injury at the time of your crash. Finally, your attorney could depose your current doctor who could testify about the difference in your new and old injuries and maybe, depending on the specifics of your injury, even testify that your prior injury made you more susceptible to sustaining the new injuries from the wreck.

While there is not a time limit as to how far back an adjuster can look in your medical history, there are a host of options to deal with this tactic to mitigate its harm.