Denver Metro: 720-588-9120 Colorado Springs: 719-888-6118
After a car collision, you will likely be confused, angered, and have many questions. Hopefully, some of the answers below will give you peace of mind.
The answer is that it depends. It depends on three broad factors:
The first thing to consider is what are your injuries and what are your medical bills. Insurance companies will look at the medical bills to put a value on your case. What your injuries are, how much treatment you have, and how much your medical bills are will significantly impact how much your case is worth.
The second thing we look at when determining how much your case is worth is your loss of income or how much time off work you had due to the accident. If you only had a few days off, this would be pretty different from someone who can’t work for the rest of their life. The person who can’t work for the rest of their life will have a much higher valued claim than those who take a few days off.
The third area we look at to determine how much a case is worth is pain and suffering. How bad were you hurt, and how long does that pain last? Some people hurt very little after an accident, while others have chronic pain lasting for years. Those two different claims will be treated quite differently by an insurance company. It is our job to put in our demand letters:
We explain to the adjustor what pain and suffering our client has endured and what they are going through and have gone through because of the accident.
So those are the three factors that we look at when we are trying to answer this question for our clients:
Often, it takes a lot of work to give a direct answer upfront because of the many variables considered when valuing a claim. If you have questions and want a better answer than “it depends,” call us. We are happy to give you a free consultation and discuss your case:
(720) 588-9120,
staff@frederickganderton.com.
There are two broad areas of damages that you can get in your personal injury or car accident claim. The first is economic damages, and the second is non-economic damages.
These are damages to which you can tie a specific dollar amount. An example is medical bills. A twenty thousand dollar medical bill is twenty thousand dollars, plain and straightforward. Another example is your loss of income for taking a month off work. However much you usually make for that month of work is economic damage. Out-of-pocket expenses such as prescriptions also count in this category. You can tie a direct dollar amount to these specific amounts.
Now, this is much broader. Often, they are called general damages because they’re just that, they are general. These are things like pain and suffering, permanent scarring, and disfigurement. They are things that you cannot do now that you could do before the accident. They interfere with your activities of daily living. They create a loss of enjoyment of life. For example, if before a car accident, you just loved to go skiing or golfing, and now you can’t, you’ve lost your enjoyment of life because of those injuries.
Or perhaps you’ve had surgery and scarring from that surgery. That permanent scar can be frustrating and humiliating, and you can frankly not like it. You now have a scar you didn’t have before, and that permanent scarring and disfigurement is a non-economic damage. You should be compensated for these things because the at-fault driver caused you to have that injury and scar.
Other non-economic damages are things like depression or anxiety. These can be a mix of the two types of damages if you’re getting treatment for your depression or even post-traumatic stress disorder due to the accident. In this case, there can also be billing from your treatment providers. However, just the depression you’re suffering from, potentially the anxiety of being behind the wheel and on the road, those things you might not be getting treated for are still non-economic or general damage.
So, those are just a few examples of some of the non-economic damages out there. The big one is pain and suffering, which is how bad you’re feeling now and how much pain you’re in when trying to do those activities of daily living. For example, if you have to walk up and down stairs in your house and have a knee injury, that will be very painful, and you will need compensation.
Economic damages are things you can tie a dollar amount to. Non-economic damages are more general, and you have to be compensated for them, and often, they can be worth way more than any economic damage in your case.
You must talk to an attorney if you’ve been involved in an auto accident or any personal injury case. The lawyer can start collecting your records, talking to your family members, and understanding how you feel after that car accident or personal injury. Your lawyer can figure out what both your economic and your non-economic damages are. So, if you’ve been in an accident and need to talk to an attorney, and you think that you might have both economic and non-economic damages
CONTACT INFORMATION
Denver Office
Greenwood Village: 720-588-9120
5500 Greenwood Plaza Blvd Suite 130, Greenwood Village, CO 80111
Colorado Springs Office
Colorado Springs: 719-888-6118
6745 Rangewood Dr # 107, Colorado Springs, CO 80918