When you are involved in an accident not of your doing, it can be a very big inconvenience on
your part, not to mention the expenses that you will be saddled with, from treatment all the way
to recuperation. When the liable party or their insurance company isn't cooperative, the most
possible scenario would be filing of a lawsuit to ask for compensation of damages. The amount
to be awarded for compensation will depend on certain factor determinants. Some of these
factors are as follows:
Medical Expenses
Medical expenses comprise the biggest percentage in computation of compensation claims and
therefore all evidence supporting this should be kept and presented in court to claim for
damages and be a factor in determining the amount to be awarded. All expenses incurred in
treatment must be totaled and included. This includes doctor's fees, emergency room fees,
hospitalization expenses, diagnostic tests and even indirect expenses such as transportation to
and from the hospital and costs of rehabilitation.
Permanent Disability
If your accident results in your disability, compensation must be claimed by calculating total
future income that will be lost. Factors such as in case the injury will render you unable to go
back to work or a reduction of current earnings if partial disability is the result must be taken into
consideration. More importantly, disability doesn't only refer to physical abilities but includes
mental trauma and its deleterious effects on you as a person.
Degree of Liability
The compensation claim amount filed may not necessarily be the final figure you receive
because your degree of fault in causing the accident is taken into consideration in computing
the final amount. An example would be: from compensation claim of $100,000 and you're found
50% at fault, then only $50,000 will be awarded to you. But, if your personal injury attorney can
prove that it was purely the other party's fault, then you may claim for total amount of damages.
Lost Income
You or your attorney must also be able to prove that you suffered loss of earnings due to
absences from work caused by the injury so this can be included in computation of
compensation claim. Computation is based on total amount of earnings lost. Businessmen,
however, will have a more difficult time calculating for their losses because earnings are not
fixed. What they usually do is base the claim on a combination of previous earnings and future
expectations. An injury attorney can best take care of this matter.
Damage to Property
Evidence for claim of compensation damages must include any cost incurred in repairing or
replacing any of your property damaged by the accident caused by the other party.
Injury law firms have the experience to work out the best compensation claim.