Massachusetts Personal Injury Library
How Much is My Massachusetts Car Accident Worth? (Part A)
If you have been injured in a car accident, you may be thinking about filing a Massachusetts personal injury lawsuit. But perhaps you are wondering if the potential award you may receive is worth the time and effort needed to follow through with legal action.
It is difficult, if not impossible, for you to place a monetary value on the full effect that a car accident has had on your life. However, auto insurance companies employ several criteria when determining the value of a given accident claim. Therefore, you should look at these factors when trying to comprehend the total amount of compensation you may be entitled to recover through a personal injury lawsuit.
Medical Expenses After Your Car Accident
The simplest metric used by insurance companies is the total amount of medical expenses you incurred as a result of your car accident.
Accident-related medical expenses may include money paid out for:
- Trips to the emergency room
- Hospital stays
- Doctor’s visits
- Chiropractic treatments
- Physical therapy sessions
- Necessary medical devices (such as crutches, neck braces, etc.)
While insurance companies generally focus on costs which you have already incurred, they must also pay for any future medical costs that you can prove resulted from your Massachusetts car accident.
For example, if your car accident injuries included permanent spinal cord injuries, the insurance company will need to pay for your long-term spinal cord treatments.
Lost Wages
Besides the money you must pay out to cover medical bills, you are also entitled to any wages or salary you could not earn because you were not healthy enough to return to work after your car accident. An insurance company looks at the wages you would have earned from the time of the accident up until the date of a settlement or judgment, had you not been injured.
If you were not employed at the time of your car accident, you still may be able to collect lost wages if you can show that you could have been earning income during your recovery period. If your current medical condition affects your future earning capacity, you may be eligible for additional compensation if you can show that the accident has adversely affected your potential to earn money in the future.
Pain and Suffering
In addition to the quantifiable health care and employment costs associated with your car accident, you can often receive damages for what is known as pain and suffering. This type of personal injury compensation is fairly subjective, but damages can be estimated based on what a jury might award a plaintiff in similar Massachusetts personal injury lawsuits.
Some issues a jury may consider when awarding pain and suffering compensation are:
- the type of injury you sustained
- how severe your pain was (and still is)
- how long you will likely remain in pain
Continue to How Much is My Massachusetts Car Accident Worth (Part B) on the Next Page >>
