What are Compensatory Damages?
Compensatory damages can include medical expenses, loss of income, mental and emotional anguish, and pain and suffering. What compensatory damages are intended to do is compensate car accident victims for the expenses and losses caused by their accident and subsequent injuries. The at-fault driver or their insurance company usually pays these damages.
What Specific Damages Can You Recover After a Car Accident?
After a car accident, according to CC §2315, you can recover the following types of compensatory damages:
- Past and future medical bills
- Past and future income loss
- Damaged and destroyed property
- Physical pain and suffering
- Mental and emotional anguish
- In-home medical and domestic support
The types and amounts of damages will vary according to your income loss and the extent of medical care your injuries require. Our team will help you build a strong case file that supports your right to financial recovery from the liable party. Your case file will also prove the amount of recovery you are entitled to due to neglect.
Are You Entitled to Any Other Types of Damages?
In rare cases, punitive damages are awarded to injured victims if the at-fault driver was intentional or malicious in causing the accident, according to American Bar Association (ABA) guidelines. As part of our investigation, we will inform you if the circumstances of your accident qualify you for this additional compensation.
We Can Build a Compelling Case File for You
The case file we build for you will contain a plethora of documents that support your case, establish your right to financial recovery, and prove the types and amounts of damages you are entitled to recover. It will include:
- Medical prognosis
- Salary history records
- Your written statement
- Witness statements
In addition, we will request the following detailed records. Comply with requests for these documents as soon as possible. Because we are committed to client support, you can also authorize us to request these records on your behalf. By doing so, you can focus on getting better while our team focuses on building a successful case for financial recovery.
Car Accident Report
Your car accident report will tell us vital information, such as the date and time of the accident to help establish the filing deadline. It will also help us contact the at-fault driver, their insurer, accident witnesses, and law enforcement officers who investigated the accident. It will also provide:
- Investigative notes and accident scene diagrams
- Vehicle damage and points of impact
- Road and weather conditions
We can also use your car accident report to determine potential causes of the collision such as driver distractions, impairments, or traffic violations. It will also document any apparent injuries and their extent as well as any immediate fatalities caused by the collision.
Medical Bills
The medical care required to treat your injuries should be recoverable as part of your car accident lawsuit or insurance claim. Because medical care can start right at the accident scene and continue until your recovery is complete, these expenses can include:
- Emergency medical care
- Follow-up medical care
- Long-term rehabilitation
- Required in-home care
Your written prognosis will also help us anticipate the costs of medical care you might need after your lawsuit is resolved. We are careful to estimate and include future medical care to ensure you are not left with out-of-pocket medical expenses for long-term accident-related medical expenses.
Visual Evidence
If your injuries permitted you to do so, you might have taken pictures of your vehicle or injuries after the accident. Provide us with these photos and we will add them to photos we uncover as part of our investigation. That may include:
- Smartphone footage
- Residential surveillance footage
- Commercial surveillance footage
- Vehicle dash cam footage
In addition, we might also be able to obtain police-generated photos as part of your car accident report. The sooner you put our team to work, the more time we have to gather the information that supports your version of the pre- and post-accident events.
Contact Our Team Right Away
Like all personal injury cases, your car accident lawsuit has a time limit. Commonly known as the statute of limitations, it dictates the amount of time you have to file your lawsuit. Getting our team involved sooner, rather than later, is important because an expired statute of limitations could mean you are unable to legally compel the at-fault driver to compensate you.
Contact Our Attorneys Today for More Information
If you were injured in a car accident, we can help you fight for compensatory damages and other forms of financial compensation you are entitled to due to negligence. When you involve our team early, we can ensure compliance with the state’s predetermined filing deadline. We can also investigate specific circumstances of the accident that might alter the timeline.
Call for your free consultation with a team member from Laborde Earles Injury Lawyers today.
