Recovering Compensation After an Accident
If you have been injured in an accident, you likely have a lot of expenses. Costs related to medical care, time away from work, and property damage can add up quickly. In many situations, you can assert a personal injury claim to recover most of these costs. Although it may take some time to actually receive the funds, reimbursement can significantly help with financial distress after an accident.
How Much Money Can You Recover After an Accident?
There is no set amount of money that you can recover after an accident. Recovery of compensation will depend on the seriousness of the mishap and your related damages. Your recovery will depend on several factors, including:
- Medical treatment
- Loss of income from work
- Your pain and suffering
- Emotional distress
- Property loss
- Loss of enjoyment of life
- Loss of consortium
The rationale behind receiving compensation after an accident is that the person at fault is reimbursing you for expenses you have already incurred. The idea is to put you back in the same place; from both the financial and emotional standpoint, as you were before the accident occurred. It should also deal with future losses because of the accident as well.
Because your compensation depends on your losses, it is critical that you keep meticulous records of every expense related to your injuries. Collecting this information will help you ensure that you are requesting a settlement amount or an amount from the court that fully reflects all of your expenses.
Compensation While Your Case is Pending
It is not uncommon to experience financial distress while your personal injury case is pending. However, you generally will not receive payment until you obtain your full settlement, or your case is otherwise concluded. This can be tough on your pocketbook because creditors will not wait for your personal injury case to conclude.
Compensation for Unqualifiable Losses
Many of your losses after an accident are not tied to a monetary loss. For example, it is virtually impossible to put into monetary terms the emotional distress or anguish you have felt after an accident. However, there is no real way for the law to compensate you for this type of loss other than to provide monetary compensation.
Other losses that are difficult to quantify include “loss of consortium.” This loss is related to the affection, comfort, companionship, assistance, and sexual relationship between spouses. Again, there is no real way to put a number on this type of loss, but the law recognizes that it is there and it attempts to provide some compensation to account for the loss.
Another type of harm that is not easily quantified is loss of enjoyment of life. These losses are associated with the inability to engage in activities that you used to enjoy before the accident. This could include hobbies, playing with children, or even the ability to perform daily household tasks on your own.
Although these losses are difficult to quantify, an experienced personal injury attorney will be able to explain to you what other victims have recovered in similar cases. This will give you an idea of how much you may be able to recover based on your losses. Nonetheless, every situation is unique, and your case may have special circumstances. Call Williams Elleby Howard & Easter at 833 – LEGALGA for more information about potential recovery options after an accident.
