If you've been in a car, slip and fall or other kind of accident, you must decide whether to make a claim. Several factors must be analyzed when making this decision, including whether the law allows a recovery from the person who caused the accident, and whether that person has enough money, property or insurance to make the claim worth pursuing.
Another key factor in deciding whether to make a claim is estimating the amount of damages you may receive for your injuries and losses. Though no one ever knows in advance exactly how much he or she will receive, certain guidelines apply in most cases. Here are some guidelines to estimate how much you may be able to recover for an accident claim.
Categories of Damages
Courts recognize various kinds of damages in deciding how much money to award, including:
• Medical expenses. You can receive the amount of money already spent for treatment as well as the amount estimated for your future medical costs. Medical expenses covers a broad range of costs, including costs for doctors and other health care providers, hospital bills, costs for medicines (both prescription and over the counter) and even travel costs to and from health care providers.
• Pain and suffering. Despite medical treatment, there may be ongoing pain that can’t be cured. The court can try to place a value on this and award you money for it.
• Disfigurement and loss of function. Many accidents result in a person suffering disfigurement or the partial or total loss of use of a body part. Scarring, disfigurement and the loss of a body part will be compensated.
• Income and earnings. This covers income you lost plus money for any reduced earning capacity in the future.
• Loss of enjoyment. Many injuries force people to change their lifestyles. For example, the accident may result in them missing family and social events, trips and other enjoyable activities. Money can be awarded for this.
• Loss of consortium. Injuries to a married person can affect the companionship he or she provides. The spouse can recover damages for this.
• Property damage. Damages can be awarded to fix or replace property damaged in the accident, or to reflect its reduced value.
One way to estimate a recovery is to add up the dollar amounts described above. This provides a first rough estimate of an amount you might recover. Further analysis may show the estimate should be raised or lowered depending on other factors, including the strength of the evidence and whether you were partly at fault for the accident.
How Non-Economic Losses Are Valued
It’s easier to calculate some types of damages, like lost wages and medical expenses. But how are other damages — like pain, suffering and scarring — valued? When placing a value on these, your lawyer looks to jury awards and previous cases to help determine how much you may receive.
Why Recoveries Differ
Some accident victims look at the damages received by another person who had similar injuries and expect to receive the same amount of money.
This is rarely the case. One reason why is that many factors go into valuing an injury, so a change in just one factor can affect the amount received. Another reason is that in some communities, juries make smaller awards.
Remember Insurance
When estimating a recovery, don’t forget about the availability of insurance. The other side may have liability insurance. You may have health or other insurance that will pay you some of the money the other side cannot. This can also be considered when evaluating how much you may be able to recover for an accident.
The categories and steps discussed above are guidelines for estimating how much accident victims can recover for their injuries and losses. The damages to be awarded depend on all the ways the injury affects the person involved. Our law firm can help you perform this important estimate in the event you are in an accident.
Contact an attorney at DeMarco & Triscaro today. Please call us for all your legal needs. We offer a full range of legal services to individuals, families and businesses, including personal injury, estate planning, real estate, family law and business matters. We are dedicated to providing the highest quality legal services at a reasonable cost. |
