Personal injury cases go hand-in-hand with negligence. If you are injured by a person who didn’t act with care, that person may be negligent.
If the other person was indeed negligent, you have a right to recover compensation for your resulting injuries.
We suggest that you hire an experienced attorney to help you assess how much your personal injury case in Ohio is worth.
Please don’t hesitate to contact us online or call (419) 455-1410 today for a free consultation.
What Damages Are Considered?
Personal injury accidents generally result in physical, financial, and sometimes even emotional harm. The worth of your personal injury case is based mainly on your losses. In Ohio, the law generally allows accident victims to seek compensation for the following damages.
Lost Wages
Lost wages are one type of compensatory or economic damages. This means that you can get paid money to compensate you for the time you had to take off work to recover from your injuries. For instance, if your injuries caused you to miss a week of work, you may be entitled to a week of wages. In this case, the value of your personal injury claim may depend on how much you worked before your accident and how much you were paid.
If your injury is so severe or life-limiting that you cannot continue to do your job and you need to take a lower-paying position or work fewer hours, you may be entitled to even more compensation.
Where your future earning capacity has been harmed by the consequences of your accident, an experienced lawyer may be able to help you obtain compensation for the money that you would have been able to earn in the future that you have forfeited because of your accident.
Medical Expenses
If you have been injured in an accident or by someone’s negligence, you probably received medical care. Damages awards typically include reimbursement for medical treatment you have received. A medical expenses award can also compensate you for the estimated cost of medical care you may need in the future because of your injury.
Calculating personal injury damages for medical expenses can get tricky, so if you have been injured in an accident, see a doctor immediately.
Property Damage
In a personal injury claim, you may be entitled to compensation not only for injuries to yourself, but damages to your property as well.
For instance, if you were injured in a car accident and your car was totaled, you may be able to collect compensation for damage to your car. If your new cell phone and computer were in your car and were also lost, you may also be entitled to damages for your lost or broken personal belongings.
Mental Anguish and Emotional Harm
In severe accidents, victims suffer both physical and emotional harm. You may suffer from anxiety, panic attacks, night terrors, depression, and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) long after your physical wounds have healed.
Emotional distress damages can compensate you for the psychological impact of your injury. While emotional distress can be difficult to quantify, you will need to do so to be properly compensated for your psychological injuries. Emotional distress awards may also be combined with pain and suffering awards.
Pain and Suffering
Pain and suffering damages are a type of compensation awarded in personal injury cases to compensate the injured party for the physical and emotional distress they have experienced due to the negligent or wrongful actions of another party.
These damages are intended to address the intangible losses that cannot be easily quantified regarding medical bills, property damage, or lost wages.
Some types of pain and suffering damages can include:
- Physical pain, including pain suffered and ongoing disability or discomfort due to the injury;
- Emotional damages, which, as mentioned above, include compensation for the emotional and psychological impact of the injury, such as anxiety, depression, fear, sleep disturbances and PTSD;
- Loss of enjoyment, which can include compensation for losing the ability to enjoy activities, hobbies, and interests that you participated in before your injury;
- Loss of quality of life, meaning you can receive compensation if your injury leaves you unable to perform everyday tasks, engage in social activities, or maintain relationships as before the accident;
- Disfigurement and scarring, which compensates an injury victim for the physical and emotional effects of permanent disfigurement or scarring; and
- Inconvenience, meaning you may be eligible for compensation for the inconvenience caused by medical treatments, therapies, and the overall disruption of your life.
Determining the worth of your personal injury claim is a multi-step process that includes identifying who was at fault and estimating the value of your losses.
The damages above are not an exhaustive list of what you may be able to receive for your pain and suffering. Bensinger Legal Services can help you understand the value of your personal injury claim.
How Can I Maximize the Value of My Claim?
Your attorney will gather the facts of the case, estimate your damages, and file legal paperwork.
These things are at the heart of pursuing a claim, with your damages having the greatest impact on the value of your case. You can help strengthen your claim by keeping good records and maintaining receipts for all treatments and services you receive for your injury.
Once you have given all your case materials to your lawyer and your lawyer has finished gathering facts, your legal team will then maximize your claim’s value by doing three primary things:
- They will assess the true value of all your damages;
- They will review prior court records of similar cases and the resulting court-ordered damages; and
- They will compare settlement amounts for similar personal injury cases.
For your part, hiring an attorney, complying with that attorney’s requests, and keeping accurate records to provide to your attorney are necessary to maximize your claim’s worth.
What Should I Know About Dealing with Insurance Companies?
Insurance companies handle personal injury cases regularly, so they maintain a staff of expert attorneys to look out for their best interests. Because of this, it would be best if you allowed an attorney to speak with the insurance company on your behalf.
Insurance companies will often seek to settle the case directly with you. Doing so allows them to avoid any chance of paying you a higher amount through attorney negotiations or trial. When you accept their offer for a set amount for your damages, you enter into a contract. That settlement contract ends your opportunity to seek further compensation for your damages.
We recommend hiring your own experienced attorney to deal with insurance companies, so you get the amount that your personal injury case is worth.
Seek legal counsel if you have suffered injury in an accident. Timely legal representation by an experienced personal injury attorney must be the first step in addressing your case and determining your injuries’ value. It is imperative that you contact an attorney as soon as possible if you think the negligence of another caused you any type of harm.
Contact Bensinger Legal Services for Your Personal Injury Needs
Aaron Bensinger of Bensinger Legal Services provides excellent personal injury and civil litigation services to clients from various backgrounds. He and his team strive for unmatched representation.
We are proud to provide assistance in Lima, Findlay, Van Wert, Kenton, Elida, and throughout the state of Ohio. For a free consultation, please call (419) 455-1410 or send us an online message today.