- Determining the Value of Your Case
- How to Seek a Fair Settlement Amount
- Contact a Car Accident Attorney For a Free Consultation
The compensation someone could receive relies heavily on the losses they endured. For example, someone who sustained severe injuries that could impact them for the rest of their life could most likely receive more than someone with minor injuries.
Car accidents can cause physical and psychological damage, and you might not have the ability to work while you recover. However, you could recover compensation for those losses. To determine how much you can get from a car accident settlement, an attorney can help you calculate your damages.
Determining the Value of Your Case
The value of a car accident settlement varies from person to person. The most important factor in determining the value is to calculate the damages. Damages are the amount of money the courts require someone to pay for injuring someone else. In a car accident case, the at-fault driver must pay those who sustained an injury caused by their negligence.
Injury victims can file a claim or lawsuit to recover damages. For example, typical damages in a car accident case include medical bills, lost income, diminished earning capacity, property damage, pain and suffering, emotional distress, loss of life’s pleasures and if applicable scarring.
Non-economic damages, such as pain and suffering and emotional distress, are typically harder to calculate because there is no exact monetary value associated with their loss. However, a car accident attorney can add up the economic and non-economic value of your damages to better estimate how much you can get from a car accident settlement.
Medical Bills
The injuries sustained in a car accident can cause substantial medical bills. Any medical treatment you had to pay for out-of-pocket could get recovered in a claim or lawsuit. Examples of medical treatments you could need after a car accident include:
- Emergency room care
- Ambulance or Emergency Medical Response Team services
- Long or short-term hospitalizations
- Diagnostic tests, including x-rays or bloodwork
- Ongoing doctor’s visits
- Surgeries
You can also include the estimated costs of future medical bills in your claim or lawsuit. This can help to ensure you get compensated for everything you have to pay out-of-pocket in the past, present, and future.
Lost Income
Many injuries could require a long recovery that could cause you to miss a lot of work. In addition, if you don’t have short-term disability insurance or sick days saved up, you could lose a considerable amount of income.
Injuries could cause your earning capacity to diminish. You might not have the ability to perform the same job duties as you did before the accident. If this happens, you can include your diminished earning capacity costs to your claim.
Property Damage
During a car accident, your vehicle likely sustained damage. You could include the property damage costs to your claim if your insurance didn’t cover the costs to fix your vehicle (or if a total loss, the value of your vehicle) and to get a rental car.
Within property damage costs, you could also include the diminished value of your property. For example, when a car has gone through an accident, it is worth less than it was before the accident. If someone else caused the accident, you could include this loss in your claim.
Pain and Suffering
Injuries from car accidents can cause significant pain that could last a long time or for the rest of your life. If you’ve dealt with any pain, you could recover compensation for pain and suffering damages. You could recover compensation if you experienced any of the following:
- Pain
- Discomfort
- Anguish
- Inconvenience
Emotional Distress
If you suffered from negative emotional impacts because of the accident, you could recover compensation for emotional distress damages. People who qualify to recover emotional distress damages could experience the following:
- Anxiety
- Sleep issues
- Post-traumatic stress disorder
- Fear
In severe cases, people could experience signs of depression related to the accident.
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Start A Free EvaluationHow to Seek a Fair Settlement Amount
There are several steps you can take that can help secure the fair compensation you could recover after a car accident. The steps include:
- Collect evidence: Any evidence you can collect after the car accident could help with an insurance claim. Evidence could include photographs of the vehicle’s damage or injuries and any surveillance footage which caught the accident.
- Identify witnesses: Check to see if any witnesses stopped after they saw the accident. If so, get their contact information. Their statement could help corroborate your version of events.
- Receive medical attention: Regardless of the severity of your injuries, get checked out by a medical care provider. They can administer the proper treatments and provide documentation of your injuries.
- Contact our car accident attorneys at Berger and Green: A car accident attorney can help you fight for the compensation you deserve after an accident. They can also ensure you don’t miss any timelines to recover compensation.
Following these steps can give you a better chance of getting fair compensation for your losses.
We know you’re hurting. We can help. Free case evaluations, home and hospital visits.
Contact Us Now For HelpContact a Car Accident Attorney For a Free Consultation
If you’ve sustained injuries in a car accident, a car accident attorney could help you immensely. At Berger and Green, we can help you get the compensation you need to move forward with your life. We know how a car accident can dramatically change your life, and you deserve compensation.
Contact our firm today for a free consultation with a car accident attorney. We can explain your legal options and let you know how we can help.
