When you or your loved one sustains injuries from an unexpected accident, there are several factors that can affect the value of your personal injury claim. The goal of a personal injury claim is to recover compensation for your medical expenses after an injury, but there are many variables at play.
What Factors Affect the Value of Your Personal Injury Case?
The following questions can assist in understanding the potential value of your claim, according to personal injury lawyers in Orange County.
How Badly Injured You Are?
The severity of the injuries proves to be a great factor in affecting the value of your personal injury claim. Did your joints get fractured? Did the accident break your neck or spine? If your injuries have stopped you from living life normally, leading to extravagant medical bills, this will contribute to strengthening your case. It’s best to collect lots of data in the form of documents, expert opinions, and medical records. Your attorney can help you gather expert opinions to strengthen your case.
Medical Treatment and Cost
Your medical expenses will include all the services that you had to receive, such as ambulance rides, hospital admission, surgery, and rehabilitation. The total price of these medical bills will influence the value of your personal injury claim. That’s why it’s incredibly important to keep track of every single bill and document.
Loss of Wages
If you were injured so badly that you need to take time off work, then you have the right to claim compensation for your lost wages. The good news is that it involves past and future wages, too. Your claim will be approved once you provide documentation supporting the amount you have lost. It can be in the form of a letter from your manager or pay stubs. If the accident left you incapable of working for a temporary or permanent amount of time, you will be able to recover compensation for the wages you have missed.
Emotional Damage
Terrible accidents leave people emotionally damaged, especially if they lost their loved ones in the accident. This leaves them traumatized, and such injuries cannot be calculated as they depend on particular factors of the case. The severity of the harm you incurred, followed by the emotional suffering, emerges as a prominent factor that affects your daily life. These will be looked into to determine the degree of your suffering, damages, and pain.
No Desire To Have Fun Anymore
Accidents can significantly change an individual’s life and can eliminate the person’s desire to enjoy life like they used to. Here, the victim can be compensated for whatever activities they enjoyed before the accident since their injury has stopped them from doing these activities.
Permanent Injuries
Some serious injuries become permanent, and can adversely affect one’s value of life. If you sustained permanent injuries in your accident and will need treatments regularly for the rest of your life, this will increase the value of your claim. Your medical documents will show that your treatment will be ongoing, and this information will be considered when determining your compensation.
Were You At Fault Too?
If you shared some fault in the accident, then the concept of comparative negligence will be used to determine liability in your case. Every state differs in how it utilizes this concept, so your location matters.
In most states, your percentage of fault will reduce the amount of compensation you receive. Be honest with your lawyer in explaining how the accident occurred, but if the insurance company calls and asks for a recorded statement, don’t give one. Consult with your lawyer before speaking with the insurance company, because they may try and use your words against you.
Hopefully, this article provided you with a solid understanding of the factors that will affect the value of your personal injury claim.