Accidents happen all the time, but when you’re at the receiving end of one, the pain and suffering you will experience could severely impact your finances and your overall well-being. It pays to know that most accidents are avoidable and often result from the actions or inaction of another party. You have the right to pursue them for the damages you suffered and recover an amount that’s more than enough to get you back on your feet.
As you work towards building a solid personal injury case, you might be wondering how much you will be receiving at the very end. Your compensation amount isn’t a random number written on a check. It needs to be based on the facts of your case, the details of the accident, and the aftermath to which you’re currently suffering. Here’s a quick guide to help you and your lawyer determine a compensation amount that best reflects your needs.
1. Medical expenses
At the core of your personal injury claim, you will need to include computations for how much you paid out of pocket to cover your treatment and continuous medication in the accident’s aftermath. Regardless of the nature of the accident and the severity of your injuries, you will need to include medical bills in your personal injury claim, especially if it’s clear that the other party is at fault.
If you’re a veteran in Los Angeles diagnosed with an asbestos-related condition as a result of staying in toxic bunks, you could have a Mesothelioma Attorney California that ex-servicemen rely on to include medical bills in your lawsuit against the manufacturer. So long as you keep receipts along with medical records to verify your expenses, you will be able to come up with a concrete case that guarantees a high compensation rate.
2. Lost wages
It’s not only your medical bills that are putting a dent in your financial situation. Especially if the injury warranted a lengthy hospital stay, you could lose money in the form of wages you should’ve earned if you weren’t injured. Whether you work hourly or are paid a daily rate, have your lawyer factor in the days you were out of work. That’s not all. You could also include other components, such as regular bonuses and employer-provided incentives that you would have been entitled to.
What’s more, you might also want to demand coverage for the wages you will lose in the future if the injury renders you disabled or incapable of performing your role like you’re used to. Whichever the case, it matters that you include these computations in your claim and back them up with evidence such as pay stubs and bank statements.
3. Pain and suffering
Material damages and losses form the core of your personal injury claim. You can further increase your demands by including the physical and emotional distress the accident has caused you. Calculating non-economic damages such as trauma can be difficult, but such cases shouldn’t be overlooked, especially if such distress has reduced your quality of life. You will know this if you feel as though you’ve lost interest in the things that used to give you a sense of joy.
Apart from that, your pain and suffering could reflect in mental health effects such as depression, anxiety, as well as irrational fears of things that remind you of the accident. All these could drastically change the course of your life, and it’s only proper that you demand an amount that can help you move on.
4. Punitive damages
Considering the full extent of the damages you’ve suffered, you may have to consider punishing the other party and making an example out of them. This is where punitive damages come in.
Adding them to your claim could not only add extra to the economic and non-economic damages you need compensation for, but it also aims to prevent the other party from committing another similar act in the future. This is true when the other party has had a history of recklessness or if they are a large institution capable of bribing their way out of a lawsuit.
Endnote
When you‘ve been the victim of someone else’s recklessness, don’t take the situation lying down and accept whatever compensation amount is placed on the table. Consider these factors and recover an amount that’s more than enough to help you rebuild your life.
