What Damages Can I Recover in a Motor Vehicle Accident?
When recovering financial compensation following a motor vehicle crash, it is crucial to pursue compensation for all your damages. A traumatic crash can change your and your family’s lives in an instant. Aside from physical and emotional harm, you may also suffer from significant financial burdens. Here’s a breakdown of the damages you can recover after a motor vehicle accident.
Understanding Economic Damages
These are costs and expenses that resulted from and are directly associated with the accident. Economic damages normally include the following:
- Past, Current, and Future Medical Expenses – These include all the medical bills you incurred because of the injuries resulting from the crash. Your Clearwater motor vehicle accident attorney can likewise pursue damages for future medical costs if necessary.
- Loss of Past, Current, and Future Wages, Retirement Contributions, and other Benefits – You may seek earnings that you lost or could possibly lose in the future due to the accident and your injuries.
- Property Damage – This includes damage to your vehicle and any personal property inside your vehicle that was damaged due to the crash.
- Lost Services – If you become unable to do your household chores, care for your child, or provide services that you used to, your Clearwater motor vehicle accident attorney can pursue compensation to cover the costs of someone to do these things for you.
Understanding Non-Economic Damages
These damages compensate for the injuries and related losses resulting from the crash, which are more personal. They usually include the following:
- Pain and Suffering – These include actual physical pain you have to endure because of the injuries and any lasting pain you might need to suffer from in the future.
- Mental Anguish – For most people, the mental anguish they experienced due to the crash and their injuries may be more significant if they suffer lasting mental problems, such as post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), depression, anxiety, etc.
- Disfigurement – This type of damage provides compensation for excessive scarring or disfigurement, physical impairment, loss of a limb, toe, finger, hearing, or eyesight, and other similar permanent changes to the body due to getting injured in the crash.
- Loss of Consortium – This type of damage is typically reserved for children or spouses of a loved one that died in a fatal motor vehicle accident.
Understanding Punitive Damages
These damages are for punishing the at-fault party if the court deems that gross negligence was involved in the crash. For instance, if the individual that caused the crash was driving while impaired with drugs or alcohol or otherwise engaging in reckless and negligent driving behavior, your lawyer may pursue punitive damages.
Take note that there’s a cap to punitive damages awards in Florida, which is $500,000 or thrice the amount of the compensatory damages, or whichever is higher.
Talk to a Seasoned Clearwater Motor Vehicle Accident Attorney Today
To learn more about the damages you may be entitled to seek after suffering losses in a motor vehicle accident, contact Tragos, Sartes & Tragos today. Schedule your free consultation with our Clearwater motor vehicle accident attorney by calling 727-441-9030 or contacting us online.