If someone else caused a car accident that injured you, that person could owe you compensation for your medical bills, property damage, lost income, pain and suffering, and more. The legal term for this compensation is damages, and a car accident attorney can calculate how much you’re entitled to. Here’s how they do that.
Types of Damages in Car Accident Claims
In a car accident claim, you may have the right to pursue financial recovery for economic and non-economic losses arising from your injuries and property damage. Economic losses are those with an immediate financial value, such as:
- Costs of repairs to fix accident damage sustained by your car or reimbursement for your totaled vehicle’s actual cash value
- Medical treatment and rehabilitation, including emergency treatment, surgeries, hospitalization, prescriptions, pain management care, medical equipment purchases, doctor’s appointments, or physical/occupational therapy
- Costs of long-term disability care, including home health services, housekeeping, childcare assistance, and home renovations to install disability accommodations like wheelchair ramps
- Lost income from the time you take off work while recovering from car accident injuries
- Ongoing and future loss of earning potential if you become temporarily or permanently disabled from your job or other kinds of work
Non-economic losses are the subjective, personal, and emotional suffering you endure due to accident injuries, including:
- Physical pain and anguish
- Emotional trauma or distress from the accident, injuries, and resulting disabilities
- Lost quality of life caused by physical disabilities or visible, permanent scarring and disfigurement
Your spouse may also have a claim to recover compensation for loss of consortium or the adverse effects your injuries have had on your marital relationship.
How Damages Are Calculated
At trial, juries typically have wide discretion to award. However, most successful personal injury cases settle before they reach the courtroom, which means insurance companies pay out damages based on what they think would likely happen in court.
To this end, they take the value of all injury-related economic damages and then employ formulas to account for the harder-to-quantify non-economic damages. For example, in the multiplier method, the insurer adds up the economic losses and multiplies them by a number between 1.5 and 5, with a higher number meaning more severe injuries. The product of this formula represents the final, all-in settlement amount. Because the multiplier plays such a large role in the overall value of a settlement, it pays to have an experienced lawyer arguing for the highest multiplier possible.
Factors Influencing the Value of a Car Accident Case
Various circumstances will affect your compensation in a car accident claim, including:
- The type and severity of injuries you’ve suffered
- Whether your injuries result in permanent disabilities or disfigurement
- The duration of your recovery
- The types of medical treatment and rehabilitation you undergo
- Whether you miss time from work or suffer a reduction in your earning capacity
- Whether you sustain any property damage, including damage to your car
- The number of potentially liable parties in your case
- The number of other people injured in the accident
- Whether you share any fault in causing the accident
- The availability of insurance coverage
Contact a Car Accident Lawyer Today
In the aftermath of a car accident in Illinois, experienced legal representation is critically important to maximizing your financial recovery. Contact Bonifield & Rosenstengel, P.C. today for a free, no-obligation consultation with our seasoned legal team to learn how we will fight for the damages you deserve for your financial and personal losses.