Car accidents are one of the most common ways that people face serious injuries in Pennsylvania. If you or a loved one was hurt, our attorneys can help you analyze your case, determine how much your claim should be worth, and help you seek benefits in the best way for your case.
From insurance claims to lawsuits, our lawyers will help you get the compensation you need for the medical expenses, lost earnings, and other economic damages related to your case. Pain and suffering is often restricted, depending on the facts of the case, but if your case meets the various requirements for a lawsuit, we can fight to get you these damages, too.
For a free case evaluation, call our car accident lawyers right away at Leeson & Leeson at (610) 890-6332.
Damages for Car Accident Injury Victims in Easton, PA
Injuries from a car accident can range in severity, meaning that the damages you need paid also range greatly. In your case, you could be entitled to all sorts of damages for economic harms, but non-economic damages – usually collectively referred to as “pain and suffering” – may be limited, depending on the type of car insurance you have.
Economic Damages
When you file a car accident claim, you can include a claim for all economic expenses you face because of the accident. This includes the cost of bills and expenses you incurred because of the crash, from medical care to hospital stays to childcare costs to home nursing needs to car repairs, and more. These damages are often simple to calculate because you have bills or statements that show the amounts. However, some economic damages involve future expenses that you need to claim now, such as the cost of ongoing medical care you will continue to need or the wages you will miss at work now that this accident has resulted in a physical disability. Our lawyers can work with the economic experts needed to calculate and prove these damages.
Non-Economic Damages
As mentioned, non-economic damages are often summed up as “pain and suffering,” but they can also reflect the lost enjoyment of various activities, the anxiety over getting back in the car after a serious crash, and the grief you feel at a disability or permanent injury. However, you need to meet certain requirements in your case before our car accident attorneys can claim these damages for you.
Most insurance policies are “limited tort” policies in Pennsylvania, which are essentially no-fault policies where your insurance covers your accident. If you meet certain injury thresholds or other exceptions, you can reach beyond your insurance and file a claim against the at-fault driver’s insurance to cover your pain and suffering damages.
There are also other exceptions that allow you to seek pain and suffering if the driver is convicted of drunk driving, is from another state, caused the crash intentionally, or failed to carry insurance.
If you pay extra for a full tort policy, these restrictions do not apply, and you can always sue for pain and suffering.
Knowing What Your Case is Worth
As mentioned, our lawyers can help you calculate damages in your specific case. We can help you determine what economic damages should be included in your case, potentially claiming damages you might not have thought of, like hospital transportation costs and the cost of services around the house while your injury prevents you from performing chores.
When it comes to calculating pain and suffering, the amount claimed is always very case-specific. Often, we can choose a per diem value to multiply by the number of days you face pain and suffering if your injury is fully healed and done with. Otherwise, we can use a multiplier and apply it to your other damages, claiming double, triple, etc. your economic damages, depending on the severity of the injuries.
It is vital to have a lawyer calculate the damages in your case so that you know what your claim should be worth. Insurance companies often deny claims or undervalue them to save themselves money, and you may even need to take your own insurance company to court if they fail to cover your injuries. When it comes to getting damages from the other driver’s insurance, you often need to sue because they will refuse to acknowledge their driver’s fault or to settle for a fair value, meaning you need a court order to get the damages you truly deserve.
Proving Car Accident Cases in Easton, PA
When your crash happens, it can feel very sudden and confusing. However, it is important to keep good notes about what happened and to remember the details – as much as you can – given that your own testimony about the accident will be some of the strongest evidence.
The other driver will have their own view of what happened, so any other evidence you can collect to help back up your own story and hurt their story will help you win your case. This could include something as simple as photos of the paint damage on your car, which can be used to show where their car hit yours and how the paint “traded” in the crash. We can also use stronger evidence like security camera or dash cam footage of the actual accident.
Witness testimony will also be important. Eyewitnesses often have stronger testimony than police officers, given that the officer often arrives after everything is finished. However, the officer’s testimony about what people said and did after the crash can also be helpful.
In any case, we need to get our hands on as much evidence as we can, so it is important to call us early on in your case. That way, we can potentially take pictures of vehicle damage and even the scene of the crash, ideally before things are cleaned up and repaired. This also allows us to quickly track down camera footage, which is often erased or overwritten within a few days.
Call Our Car Accident Lawyers in Easton Today
If you were hurt in a crash, call Leeson & Leeson’s car accident attorneys at (610) 890-6332 for a free case assessment.