You’ve been hurt; what comes next? Do you have a personal injury claim? Personal injury aftermath can be confusing, especially if you have no idea what to do next to ensure your rights are protected. First, it is essential that you seek immediate medical attention, even when an injury doesn’t seem major. This ensures you are thoroughly checked, especially since some internal injuries may have happened and, without apparent signs, deteriorate your health in the coming days. Seeking medical attention also gives your claim an edge since you’ll have more information to support the case. The next step; consult Indiana personal injury lawyers to help you establish if you have a claim and an idea of the best strategy to facilitate better progress and compensation.
Understanding the common personal injury compensation
As you pursue compensation, focusing on the financial losses, especially when doing it the DIY way, is common. This is among the pitfalls many fall into, significantly lowering their compensation. This is more so as you can easily be approached with irresistible yet lowball offers as the insurance companies strive to close the claim as fast as possible. Understanding the common compensations can help you make a more informed decision. Here is a glance to help you get a more comprehensive view of the common personal compensations available.
Economic compensation
Economic compensations over the monetary losses incurred as a result of the injury. The common monetary losses include:
- Medical costs: It is critical that you seek professional medical attention after an injury and care for your health. The medical treatment costs are covered under a personal injury claim. You’ll be reimbursed for reasonable and necessary medical costs, including emergency room visits, prescriptions, surgeries, hospital stays, and physical therapy. Commuting costs may also be covered if deemed necessary. The medical costs compensation also accounts for future expenses you’ll incur due to the injury.
- Lost income: After an injury, you may be unable to earn a living. You may, for instance, be hospitalized for some days and have to recuperate at home for a few weeks. In other instances, your capability to earn takes a blow. The injury may have resulted in a disability, meaning you may not be able to work as you did in the future. You are entitled to compensation covering such losses since the losses emanate from negligence from the responsible party.
- Property damage: Did the accident cause property damages, such as to your car or house? You are entitled to compensation covering the cost of replacing r repairing such damages.
Non-economic compensation
Calculating the financial compensation may not be as complicated. Nonetheless, besides the monetary losses, personal injuries also almost always cause non-financial impacts, some of that can impact the quality of your life. You are entitled to compensation for such losses, the common including:
- Pain and suffering: While calculating medical costs, pain and suffering are not included, yet injuries cause it and should be included in your compensation. Pain and suffering are subjective since they can’t be easily quantified. Factors such as the injury type and recovery period required help calculate the fair compensation. Your Indiana personal injury lawyers will help ensure that the insurance, juries, and judges factor such suffering as accurately as possible and offer better compensation.
- Mental anguish: Personal injuries can be mentally traumatizing. You may experience nightmares or be depressed following the accident. This can impact your day-to-day life and, as such, should be accounted for when calculating the compensation. The injury’s nature, recovery period, and process are among the aspects that help determine emotional distress and fair compensation.
- Loss of consortium: Has the injury impacted the level of companionship with your partner? You may not be able to offer intimate companionship to your partner following the accident. This is a factor that should be accounted for when determining fair compensation. Your spouse is entitled to loss of consortium damages, typically in cases of serious injuries or wrongful death.
Punitive compensation
Was the injury a result of an intentional or malicious act? Punitive damages’ main aim, as the name suggests, is to punish the defendant. If they maliciously or intentionally caused the injury, they are punished. The measure deters such conduct in the future. Punitive damages vary by state; in Indiana, they are capped at three times the compensatory award or $50000 (whichever is higher).
The bottom line
Navigating a personal injury claim can be complicated. Besides the legal concerns, you also need to focus on your recovery process. This means one can take a blow, resulting in lower or no compensation. For instance, as you recover, you may forget to file the claim, only to remember it past the statute of limitations. This means your claim won’t be varied, missing out on hundreds, if not thousands, worth of compensation.
The process can be frustrating, especially if you do it the DIY way. Insurance companies can be intimidating. This may make it feel like you have no option other than accepting the lowball offer or dropping the claim. The companies can strategically frustrate your quest, such as by taking forever to respond. They can drag the process and hope you’ll be stretched too thin to keep up with the claim. Collecting and preserving evidence to support your claim is not a cakewalk. This is more so in cases such as medical malpractice, where you have to rely on the field’s expert to build a solid case.
Such concerns shouldn’t force your hand and drive you to accept unfair compensation or not pursue the claim. Working with the best Indiana personal injury lawyers makes the process more productive. The professionals know the ins and outs of the process. They also have the connections that facilitate efficient collection and preservation of the evidence needed to support your claim. Their experience and negotiation skills give your claim an edge. It ensures you don’t settle for anything short of fair compensation. The lawyers are also not emotionally connected to the injury, meaning they’ll objectively argue your case in court if an out-of-court settlement can’t be reached.
