Car accidents are damaging and stressful events that can have nasty effects on just about every area of your personal and professional life. The injuries suffered can affect your finances, your mental state of health, and even your physical well-being. Unfortunately, most accident victims don’t understand the full scope of the damages they have suffered. This may fool them into accepting the first deal insurance companies offer them. While such deals promise fast money, they may hardly cover all the damages you have suffered.

It remains imperative to seek legal assistance before accepting any compensation. The work of your attorney is to perform an in-depth assessment of your injuries and place a price tag on them. With a skilled expert in your corner, an insurance company cannot blind you into accepting one dime less than what you truly deserve.

Benefits for Accident Victims Overview

Auto insurance policies have a benefits section designed to ensure proper compensation of drivers, passengers, or random pedestrians injured due to an accident. This policy entitles the injured persons to compensation, irrespective of who bears the fault. Some of the damages it covers include income replacement, rehabilitation treatment, and a range of other medical services required for the victims of an accident to recover fully.

If you are injured following an auto accident, you have a right to file a personal injury claim with the involved insurance company. The settlement offered should compensate you for your pain and suffering. Moreover, it should cover for damages caused by property loss or the death of a loved one.

The ideal time to enlist a personal injury lawyer to assist with claiming accident benefits is as soon as possible following an incident. However, filing a claim is no easy feat, and you must submit various forms to kick start the process. Most importantly, each form must be detailed and completed under a set obligatory process.

Hiring an attorney will help you focus on recovery as the expert handles the complexities of personal injury claims. Your lawyer will also adhere to the deadlines, ensuring that everything runs as smoothly as possible. Through the legal guidance and support offered, you can ensure that you receive a settlement equivalent to the value of the damages suffered.

Types of Benefits for Accident Victims — Car Accident Claims

Getting back on your feet after a car accident is an uphill task. With emotional stress, physical aches, and lost income, resuming your usual routines may seem like a far–fetched dream. Fortunately, the laws protect you by giving you the right to seek compensation for your injuries. While a settlement may not necessarily wipe out the horrors of an incident, it will help to alleviate some of the stress as you recover.

Let’s have a look at the five main types of benefits you are entitled to:

  1. Benefits for Sustained Injuries

Depending on the nature of injuries sustained following a car accident, victims sometimes go through life-changing experiences. The crash itself merely marks the start of what can potentially turn into a lifetime of walking in and out of hospitals. That said, victims are entitled to the following benefits for injuries suffered:

Medical Benefits

Accidents can leave you with medical bills that pile up quickly. Victims may incur a range of costs allied with ambulance services, medical diagnoses, and treatment. If you have suffered significant injuries such as bone fractures, spinal or head trauma, you are also likely to require follow-up treatments. Some patients are even subjected to a lifetime of taking medication to manage their aches or other ailments arising from the injuries of an accident.

Again, compensation cannot undo the injuries you suffer. However, it will provide financial cushioning to allow you to seek proper treatment and rehabilitation that may not be covered in your health insurance plan.

A proper settlement should cover most if not all “reasonable” medical expenses. Whether you have suffered minor or catastrophic car accident injuries, the surest way to ensure you are effectively compensated is to seek medical attention not less than 14 days following an accident. Your doctor will provide documents that show the extent of your injuries, the cost of treatment, and other facts that can prove helpful when filing your claim.

Disability Benefits

Car accidents can also result in debilitating effects. The loss of a limb, a body part, or its functions can again do great harm to your social and economic life. For instance, if you lose a leg, this may hinder you from working in your usual post. Sometimes, accident victims are forced to change their lines of work to make ends meet after an accident renders them disabled.

Unlike medical benefits that solely cover the cost of recovering from an injury, disability benefits ought to cover the cost of replacement services. Based on the nature of the disability suffered, you may even require compensation that allows you to hire other people to perform specific tasks. If you are paralyzed, for example, you will be completely unable to earn an income, not to mention that you will also require help with household chores.

  1. Benefits Awarded for Economic Losses

When filing a car accident claim, you must also seek compensation for economic losses. Again, the amount of money awarded will depend on the facts of an accident and the actual damage you have suffered.

Medical and Rehabilitation Expenses

Seeking medical help following an accident can be an expensive affair. You may incur costs including emergency and ambulance services, treatment, hospital stays, radiology, diagnostic tests, surgery, nursing services, and medications.

Moreover, severe injuries may also leave rehabilitation bills piling up. Some of the rehabilitation expenses you may incur following an auto crash include the costs for physical therapy, chiropractic care, and assistive devices such as crutches, artificial limbs, canes, and wheelchairs. If you suffer catastrophic injuries that hinder sensory functions, you may require assistive technology such as hearing or speech aid.

Future Medical Costs

There are two main reasons why you may be eligible for future medical costs compensation. First, it could be that a claim is settled before you fully recover. In this case, it may be challenging, perhaps impossible, for medical practitioners to place a value on the required cost of ensuring your full recovery. Depending on the nature of your injuries, you may require ongoing physical therapy, surgeries, or even follow-up hospital visits.

Second, your injuries may be so severe that even your doctor cannot affirm whether you will fully recover. In this case, you may be subjected to lifelong chronic pain that requires a lifetime of taking medication. In the worst-case scenarios, accident victims may even suffer from a permanent vegetative state, partial or total paralysis. Such cases are almost impossible for healthcare providers to project the required future medical expenses.

Lost Wages

An injury, however minor, may force you to skip a few days from work. Sometimes, complete recovery doesn’t happen in days or weeks, and patients must leave work entirely to allow their bodies to heal. Spinal and brain injuries, in particular, are notorious for causing months or years of lost wages.

Depending on your career line, you may not be able to work in your usual job position. Even if you recover from your injuries, you may have to take lighter duties, which may very well calculate into reduced income. A reliable car accident attorney must take this into perspective when placing a value on the damages caused by the accident.

Lost Earning Capacity

Injuries that a patient can recover from are bad enough without considering permanent disability and catastrophic injuries. If a victim is severely injured, they may not be able to return to work ever again. This can be devastating, especially if they are the breadwinners in their homes.

If your injuries deny you the ability to work, you should receive compensation for lost earning capacity. Additionally, young accident victims can also demand this type of settlement if their injuries have the potential of arresting their chances of gaining meaningful employment once they are older.

Property Damage

It is also possible to seek a settlement to recover from losses allied with property damage resulting from an accident. For instance, the impact of an overspeeding car may cause injuries to a pedestrian and damage any gadgets they have with them at the time of an incident. This may include mobile phones, laptops, tablets, etc.

  1. Benefits Awarded For Non-Economic Losses

Accident victims typically suffer from more than just economic losses. This is why you must also claim compensation for the non-economic damages you suffer. However, unlike most economic damages where a professional can place a value on them, establishing the settlement you deserve for the non-economic damages is no easy feat.

Car accident attorneys are experienced in evaluating damages such as pain and disfigurement. They work closely with other experts, including medical practitioners and life care planners, who can help disclose the most appropriate settlement for an accident victim.

There are three main types of non-economic damages:

Pain and Suffering

Accident victims suffer from physical pain caused by trauma, fractures, and the aches of nursing wounds.  They also go through psychological challenges because of an ordeal, and even as they try to come to terms with their new realities. Unfortunately, you may even be subjected to a lifetime of physical and psychological pain and suffering.

Again, the value placed on your pain and suffering will highly depend on the nature of the injuries you sustain. An accident that leaves you permanently disabled, for instance, requires a higher compensation because it may leave you permanently inconvenienced, scared, anxious, self-conscious, or depressed. Any permanent injuries entitle you to pain and suffering compensation.

Scarring and Disfigurement

Even if you recover fully after an accident, you may not return to your former self if you are scarred or disfigured. Accidents that lead to deep lacerations, extensive burns, or even amputations can rob you of your natural aesthetics. Often, such injuries call for extensive recovery periods, multiple surgeries, and what may seem like endless treatment sessions.

Whether you have to live with a missing limb or just a massive scar on your face, your life may never be the same again. You deserve compensation for the anger, humiliation, and negative emotions you may suffer as you cope with your new reality.

Loss of Consortium

Persons married to accident victims are often on the frontline of experiencing the devastating impacts of an incident. They can file a claim for loss of consortium, especially if their partners are seriously injured. A significant injury can decrease intimacy and physical and emotional stress that can affect a marriage on multiple levels.

  1. Compensation for Wrongful Death

Unfortunately, an accident can also cause the demise of a loved one. In this case, you cannot file for personal injury compensation and must instead make a wrongful death claim. However, the spouse or dependents of the deceased victim can seek compensation for the following:

  • Loss of spousal protection and companionship
  • Lost services and support for each dependent depending on their relationship with the deceased
  • Mental pain and suffering for the children, spouse, and parents of the deceased
  • Medical and funeral costs allied with the demise of a loved one
  • Loss of parental instruction, companionship, and guidance for children under 18 years

Wrongful death claims tend to be more complex than personal injury claims. This makes it imperative to work with a skilled and seasoned car accident attorney. Make sure your expert of choice has an in-depth understanding of California’s wrongful death laws.

  1. Punitive Damages

Punitive damages are not meant to cover the economic or non-economic damages suffered by accident victims or their dependents. Instead, the settlement is designed to punish the at-fault party during an accident. It remains crucial to understand that punitive damages can only be awarded if the party in question is guilty of gross negligence or intentional misconduct.

How Much Will I Receive From The Various Types Of Benefits For Accident Victims?

The facts surrounding each car accident are unique. As such, different victims may receive different settlement amounts for their injuries, pain, and suffering. Four main factors may influence how much compensation you can obtain following an auto accident:

Liability

If you have suffered injuries following a collision between your car and another vehicle(s), the compensation you deserve will highly depend on who is the at-fault party. Unfortunately, your settlement may substantially decrease if you are partially to blame for an incident. Therefore, before insurance companies settle claims, the first thing they do is to establish liability.

Type of Injuries Suffered

Another critical determinant of the compensation you will receive is the type of injuries you suffer following an accident. Of course, minor injuries demand a lesser settlement than catastrophic injuries that may require longer healing time and the possibility of a lifelong need for treatments and medication. Moreover, serious injuries also spark the need for other types of compensation, including loss of earning capacity, loss of consortium, and compensation for scarring and disfigurement.

Time of Seeking Treatment

It remains imperative to seek medical attention right after an accident. This is irrespective of whether you are injured or you feel okay. Victims who choose to see their doctor after they begin feeling pain make it easier for insurance companies to claim that their aches or injuries are unrelated to an accident. Such allegations can negatively affect the compensation you receive.

Professional and Family Life

Yet another aspect that may dictate your settlement amount is your professional and family life. If your profession is physically demanding, more compensation may be required because an injury may hinder you from resuming work even after recovery. On the other hand, married victims tend to receive a higher settlement. For instance, a claim should cover the loss suffered by the spouse and the children for the inability of their breadwinner to handle house chores or take care of the kids the way they used to. Usually, these damages are considered non-economic and only available to married accident victims or dependents.

Competence Levels of Your Car Accident Attorney

Accident victims must note that the personal injury attorney they choose will also play a significant role in dictating the amount of money they receive in compensation. A skilled attorney can build a strong case supporting your claims and ensuring you receive a settlement for all the types of damages you have suffered.

On the other hand, working with a laidback lawyer is not so different from seeking to self-represent. After all, the expert will not shy away from accepting the first “okay” settlement they receive. Therefore, it pays to enlist an attorney who is ready to fight for your rights, your best interests, and your future.

Find a Los Angeles Car Accident Attorney Near Me

Car accidents can induce undue stress and a substantial financial burden. At the Los Angeles Car Accident Attorney, we understand this too well. That is why we fight on behalf of accident victims to bring home the settlement they truly deserve. If you have suffered injuries, the death of a loved one, or property damage following an auto accident, don’t hesitate to contact us immediately. Even though you may be eligible for various benefits, remember that statutes of limitations give a timeline for filing claims in Los Angeles, CA. So give us a call now at 424-237-3600, and let’s discuss the details of your case.