Recoverable Damages After A Dallas Car Accident

When an automobile collision occurs, the injured party may be able to seek compensation from the reckless driver. It is best to get in touch with a dedicated car accident attorney to discuss your eligibility for compensation. A lawyer could help you seek all available damages on our cases in order to get the maximum settlement. An experienced attorney could seek compensation for economic, non-economic, and punitive damages.

Your attorney should be taking an active role in working up the case. That is going to include gathering evidence, documents, insurance coverage, and putting together a demand package with the medical bills, lost wages, and all that, and present that to the insurance carrier in order to negotiate the maximum settlement that you are entitled to.

What Are Economic Damages?

Economic damages are any damages or amount that make an economic loss as a result of their injuries following a car accident. Those include lost wages, past, present, and future. Economic damages also include any medical bills that may have been covered by insurance and any sort of economic loss the person sustained or could be recoverable in a claim for personal injury.

Understanding Non-Economic Damages

Non-Economic damages can be difficult to calculate They involve the greatest damages suffered from an injury, such as the immediate pain from an injury, any disability, or impairment or disfigurement caused by an injury. Often, this is referred to as pain and suffering. These types of things are considered non-economic damages, and the jury will be deciding those and putting a reasonable value on them if it goes to a jury.

There is no real formula to calculate the non-economic damages. Pain and suffering, disability is decided by a jury. Otherwise, it is just a number that the plaintiff’s attorney and the insurance company will mutually come to an agreement. That is why it is important to have an experienced car wreck lawyer to know how to value these cases.

What Are Punitive Damages?

Punitive damages are different than compensatory damages. Compensatory damages are meant to compensate the individual for what’s been lost as a result of the accident. Those include economic and non-economic damages. Punitive damages are meant to punish the defendant for wrongdoing and are only available when the conduct is willful and wanton or demonstrates a conscious disregard for the safety of others.

Of the different types of damages, punitive damages are the rarest—just small percentage of cases award punitive damages. Not every case involves punitive damages. The conduct has to rise to the level of either intentional or a harm or conduct so egregious that the person who caused the harm could be considered reckless. In those situations, those people or persons may be responsible for punitive damages.

Factors That Could Influence Punitive Damages

There are many factors that could influence a person’s ability to recover punitive damages. For example, if there is a motor vehicle accident and the defendant was intoxicated, whether alcohol or drugs at the time of the crash, and was driving at such a high rate of speed, and the injury was likely occurred when the defendant was texting and driving. All those facts could add up and potentially be used for a case for punitive damages.

Auto Insurance Coverage

It is usually going to cover those damages that we went over, as well as property damage. That coverage is called comprehensive and collision on top of the bodily injury coverage, assuming that the policy limits are high enough to cover it.

Often, people are severely injured, and the policy—the limits of the policy just are not enough to cover the damages. That is unfortunate situation that occurs often.

How a Local Car Accident Attorney Could Help Recover Damages After a Crash

There is so much that a car wreck lawyer could do following a car accident. One of the first things an attorney could do to help is to preserve evidence as soon as possible. The evidence could be used to establish liability and causation which could help your case tremendously. A seasoned lawyer will do all of the legal heavy lifting from presenting the case to trial.

A lawyer can also gather evidence, make sure that their medical treatment is taken care of, and attempt to negotiate the claim until it is properly resolved. Call today to learn about recoverable damages after a Dallas car accident.