No one ever wants to think about getting injured, but the unfortunate reality is that accidents happen every day. If you’ve been injured due to another person’s negligence, you may be able to file a personal injury claim and receive compensation for your injuries. What is your case worth?
Personal injury cases can be complex, and it can be difficult to determine how much your case is worth. There are several factors that will influence the value of your case, including the severity of your injuries, whether you were at fault for the accident, and how strong your evidence is.
In this blog post, we will discuss some factors that affect the value of a personal injury case in Georgia. We will also provide you with some tips on calculating the value of your case and how a personal injury lawyer in Atlanta can help.
Types of Damages in Georgia Car Accident Cases
In the state of Georgia, when you are involved in a car accident, there are three types of damages that you can seek: economic, non-economic, and punitive. What makes the three different from each other?
1. Economic Damages
Economic damages are the losses that result from an injury. Two main types of economic damages in a car accident case are past and future lost wages and medical expenses. Lost wages are very important because they cover your loss of time at work, where you would get money to live on.
If you get injured, you generally cannot work while recuperating, so after getting out of the hospital (or even before), it’s likely that you will not be able to work for possibly months or longer.
You can also recover any costs that insurance did not pay for related to your treatment, such as doctor visits, medication, therapy sessions, and transportation costs required for treatment. An experienced car crash attorney can help determine how much should be awarded in economic damages.
2. Non-economic Damages
Non-economic damages refer to compensation that is not easily calculable and often involve intangible effects such as pain and suffering or mental anguish. This type of injury is generally associated with more severe accidents where the injuries suffered by the plaintiff would often require extensive rehabilitation and/or heal more slowly than physical injuries.
For these types of claims to be successful in Georgia car accident cases, there must also be evidence that fault exists on the part of another driver for your injuries to be compensable.
3. Punitive Damages
Punitive damages are only awarded in cases where the defendant’s conduct was so reckless or outrageous as to justify an award of punitive damages. This type of damage is typically an amount that will punish the defendant and serve as a deterrent against such behavior.
Punitive damages cannot be awarded if the plaintiff has any contributory fault for their injuries because this bars recovery of any non-economic damages, regardless of how egregious or unforeseeable the defendant’s actions were.
How Is a Georgia Car Accident Claim Calculated?
Here’s how your car accident claim is calculated:
1. The Severity of Injuries
A person with two broken legs has more to lose than someone who has suffered minor scrapes and bruises. Your claim may be worth $1 million if you’re a paraplegic for the rest of your life.
2. The Liability of the At-fault Motorist
This is an important factor that can greatly affect your settlement amount in a personal injury case. Depending on the laws in your state, if you were partially responsible for causing the car accident, any settlement from another driver’s insurance company will be reduced by a percentage.
3. The Amount of Money Available To Compensate You
If the case involves a fatal accident, and there is no insurance policy or insufficient funds to compensate surviving family members and their medical and funeral expenses, then you will only be able to receive compensation for what little property was destroyed in the accident.
4. Your Role in Causing the Car Wreck
In some cases, such as when someone rear-ended your vehicle, no matter how much research we do into state traffic laws, it can be difficult to establish who was responsible for causing the crash. To prove fault and take the driver who hit you to court, we would need sufficient evidence such as eyewitness accounts or an accident reconstruction investigation.
Atlanta Personal Injury Lawyer
The Atlanta personal injury lawyers at the law firm of Hines Law have been committed to justice for all people injured in an accident or through negligent conduct.
Our law practice is founded on the principle that every person, whether wrongfully harmed by a careless individual or a corporation, deserves effective representation by an experienced attorney who works diligently to recover maximum compensation for his client’s injuries and damages.
Therefore, we offer free consultations and contingency fee arrangements so that anyone injured through no fault of their own can meet with one of our attorneys without charge or obligation.