Often it’s pretty difficult to estimate what your personal injuries are worth after you have been involved in a car accident. If you really want to know their value, it’s best to discuss your case with a car accident attorney; pretty much the only person who is able to fairly accurately estimate the economic worth of your injuries.
In most instances, you would want to claim compensation for medical bills and other expenses that are related to your accident. For example, if you need therapy, a wheelchair, special equipment, more tests and lab work or require renovations to your home, you will want to be asking your car accident attorney the estimated economic value of your case.
If you still want to get a good idea of what your claim may be worth, try looking at it from the point of view of the insurance company. Put yourself in their shoes and take a look at your injuries. Say for instance you have spinal cord injuries and may or may not walk again. You need intensive therapy, experimental therapy and may have a long recovery time. You might need home care assistance to manage the daily tasks you need to do.
All of those things are fairly expensive, and it’s a safe bet that the claim value in those circumstances is going to be high. It would be high because of the nature and severity of your injuries. The other thing that is usually taken into consideration in cases like this is who is at fault for the accident in the first place. In some states, and this is something you need to discuss with your car accident attorney, if both parties are responsible for an accident, the liability/fault is apportioned. This simply means any damage award is reduced by the percentage of fault you may be assigned.
In a personal injury claim that arises out of a car accident, you might be looking to recover compensation for things like medical expenses, pain and suffering, mental anguish, lost wages and possibly punitive damages. Your car accident attorney may ask for punitive damages if the negligence involved in causing the car accident was gross negligence and it’s a good case to use as an example for others. It’s a form of punishment to deter further behavior of the same kind.
Your medical claim may be for severe or critical injuries, and as long as the injuries were sustained in a car accident and they are being treated by a doctor, they qualify for a personal injury compensation claim. The kinds of things included under that section of your claim may be things like going to the doctor’s office, rehabilitation/physiotherapy, neck braces, back braces or a wheelchair.
Your pain and suffering compensation is for precisely “that,” your pain and suffering as a result of the accident. This doesn’t just refer to personal bodily injuries that you may see, it also covers emotional suffering in the event you are permanently scarred or even disfigured to the point where you may need plastic or reconstructive surgery. Compensation in this area is usually based on how bad your pain is, and how long you are expected to be in pain.
Other things you can’t “see” may be covered in a personal injury compensation award, and that would include mental anguish. This covers things like embarrassment over your injuries, shock, grief, anxiety, fright or nervousness. In other words, a bit like post traumatic stress disorder. Along with these signs and symptoms, you may also be in anguish because you can no longer manage your daily activities, like getting out of bed and getting dressed.
Lost wages are crucial to recover, as they are a part of what you lost due to your accident and money that will go towards your care now and in the future. You may be eligible to recover money you would have made between the time of your accident and injuries and your settlement. If you didn’t have a job when you were hurt, you may still get lost wages if you prove you “could” have worked then.
As you can see, there are a great number of factors involved in what compensation for your personal injuries may be. Often the best evaluator of those expenses is a car accident attorney, because they have handled many similar cases and know from experience what just compensation should be in each case they agree to handle.
Related posts:
