What is a Serious Injury in a Limited Tort Car Accident Case?

In Pennsylvania, if you have limited tort and were injured in an accident, you must prove that you have a "serious injury" to get pain and suffering damages.
"Serious injury" is defined in Pennsylvania law to be a "serious impairment of body function". What this means is that a court will look at the injury and how the injury impacts your daily life. There is no bright line test, no magic formula to get a yes or no answer. Determining whether there is a "serious injury" is on a case by case basis. This will depend on how long your injuries last, what type of treatment you have and what affect the injuries have on your life. For example, do the injuries affect your ability to work or cause you to have limits in what you can do at work? Are you limited in the things you can do at home? Have you been limited in recreational things such as the gym, sports, hobbies?

These are all important factors in deciding whether you have a serious injury and serious impairment of body function. The injuries do not have to be permanent. Scarring can also be a serious injury. If you have scarring, it will depend on where the scarring is on your body, how visible the scarring is, whether it is discolored or raised and whether it can be revised with surgery. Proving a serious injury will require medical records. Sometimes the injuries will be diagnosed by testing such as an X-ray, MRI, or EMG. Or, a medical doctor may be able to make a diagnosis based on your symptoms and physical testing by the doctor.