Age should not determine the value of an injury claim. And yet, in practice, it often does, because of assumptions built into how insurers evaluate damages for older adults and because of mistakes older claimants and their families make that allow those assumptions to go unchallenged.
The attorneys at Presser Law, P.A. handle personal injury cases involving older adults with an understanding of how differently these claims need to be approached. A car accident lawyer working with an elderly injured client will tell you that the legal standards don’t change with age, but the strategy for presenting a claim absolutely must. Here is what most families don’t realize until it’s too late.
Insurers Often Apply Age-Based Assumptions That Aren’t Legally Valid
This is the starting point for understanding why these claims require deliberate attention. Insurance adjusters sometimes approach claims involving older adults with a built-in assumption that the person’s life has less economic value, that their injuries are partly attributable to age rather than the accident, or that their remaining quality of life is already diminished.
None of these assumptions are legally sound. An older adult who was active, independent, and engaged in daily life before an accident has a legitimate claim for the loss of that life and those capabilities, regardless of their age. The before-and-after contrast is what matters. Documenting it clearly is what changes outcomes.
Attributing Injuries to Age Rather Than the Accident
This is one of the most common insurer tactics in older adult injury cases. When a 72-year-old breaks a hip in a slip and fall, the insurer may argue that osteoporosis or age-related bone density loss caused the severity of the fracture, not the fall itself.
The eggshell plaintiff doctrine addresses this directly. A defendant takes the injured person as they find them. If an older adult’s condition made them more vulnerable to serious injury from a fall that would have been minor for a younger person, the at-fault party is still responsible for the full extent of what actually happened.
According to the CDC, falls are the leading cause of injury and injury-related death among adults 65 and older, and the consequences are frequently severe. The prevalence of fall-related injury in this population doesn’t make any individual case less legitimate. It makes proper legal representation more important.
Undervaluing Non-Economic Damages
Pain and suffering, loss of independence, emotional distress, and diminished quality of life are all compensable damages for older adults, just as they are for younger claimants. But families sometimes don’t press these categories because they assume a shorter remaining lifespan makes them less relevant to the calculation.
That reasoning doesn’t hold up legally, and it results in lower settlements. The loss of the ability to garden, walk independently, engage with grandchildren, or maintain an active social life is a real and compensable harm that belongs in the damages picture.
Overlooking the Economic Impact of Caregiving Needs
When an older adult is injured and requires assistance they didn’t need before, those caregiving costs are recoverable. That’s true whether the care is provided by a professional service or by a family member who gives up work or time to provide it.
Common caregiving-related damages that get omitted include:
- Home health aide or nursing services required because of the injury
- Adult day services needed as a result of new limitations
- Transportation to medical appointments that the injured person can no longer manage independently
- Family members’ lost wages attributable to providing care
- Home modification costs including grab bars, ramps, or shower seats
These aren’t peripheral items. In serious older adult injury cases, they can represent a substantial portion of the total damages.
Not Challenging Pre-Existing Condition Arguments Aggressively Enough
Older adults almost universally have some pre-existing medical conditions. Insurers use those conditions broadly to argue that injuries aren’t as serious as claimed or weren’t caused by the accident. The response requires medical evidence showing the specific condition that existed before the accident and the specific worsening or new injury that occurred because of it.
According to the National Institutes of Health, injury recovery in older adults frequently involves longer timelines and more serious outcomes than in younger populations, which actually supports higher damage claims, not lower ones.
If an older family member has been seriously injured and you’re concerned their claim isn’t being valued appropriately, we encourage you to connect with a personal injury law firm and get an independent assessment of what the claim actually deserves.