English: A motor vehicle crashed after losing control on the M25 in Durban. Car accidents are the most common reasons for several fatal injuries, and sometimes deaths. Car accidents do not only have direct effect on the persons involved but they can also cause certain injuries to show up after years. One can demand compensation of such kind of injuries. In law, this situation is commonly referred to as Proximate cause. Proximate cause means that you must be able to show that the harm was caused by the tort you are suing for. Usually a car accident lawyer presents the case on plaintiff's behalf. The defense may argue that there was a prior cause or a superseding intervening cause. A common situation where a prior cause becomes an issue is the personal injury car accident, where the person re-injures an old injury.