From car accidents and slip and falls to medical malpractice, workplace accidents, and many more, personal injury cases are some of the common types of lawsuits filed in Pennsylvania courts. If you're the victim of an accident that wasn't your fault, Pennsylvania law states that you have the right to fair compensation to cover any damages you suffer. If you're the victim of a recent accident, you may be wondering how to calculate your personal injury claim.
While the law is quite clear as to what constitutes a personal injury and what types of damages compensation may include, figuring out how much a personal injury claim is worth can be challenging. At the end of the day, the compensation you receive will largely depend on a number of different factors, and wrapping your head around all of them can be nearly impossible for someone without the proper credentials.
This doesn’t mean that there isn’t any way to get a solid estimate of what your claims may be worth. What qualifies as a personal injury, what does personal injury compensation generally consist of, and how can you calculate the compensation you might get?
What Qualifies As a Personal Injury?
Before you can start making calculations, it's essential that you understand whether your accident even qualifies as a personal injury. If it doesn’t, there’s nothing to calculate at all. What types of accidents qualify as a personal injury?
The term ‘personal injury’ can encompass a variety of incidents, from car accidents, work accidents, slips and falls, general negligence, injuries from defective products, medical malpractice, wrongful deaths, and more. While personal injuries come in many different shapes and sizes, there is one thing they all have in common.
Every personal injury case needs to be able to prove that the accident you were the victim of was due to no fault of your own and caused by a 3rd party who was acting negligently.
A common example of this is a car accident. If you are driving recklessly, crash your car into a telephone pole, and sustain injuries, this does not count as a personal injury because the accident was your fault. If you are driving normally and a reckless or under the influence driver suddenly hits you, this does count as a personal injury because someone else was the cause of the accident.
It's all about who is at fault, and if you are the victim of an accident caused by someone else, you almost certainly have a legitimate personal injury case on your hands.
What is Personal Injury Compensation?
Personal injury compensation consists of compensation for any economic and non-economic damages suffered from the accident. Understanding exactly what this means is essential to your ability to accurately calculate the value of your personal injury claim.
Economic damages are pretty straightforward. These types of damages consist of any financial losses that come from the accident, including medical bills, property damage, and both past and future lost wages from any work that you may miss while you recover.
Non-economic damages are more difficult to put a monetary value behind. These damages include compensation for any physical pain or emotional and psychological trauma that comes from the accident.
While these are the two main types of damages that you may get compensation for, there is a third type that you should also be aware of. These are called punitive damages, and these types of damages work a bit differently because they don’t have much to do with your own suffering of financial losses. Instead, payments for these types of damages are meant to punish the 3rd party for their negligence and discourage others from acting in a similar manner in the future.
How to Calculate Your Personal Injury Claim
As you now know, there is a lot to consider when trying to calculate your personal injury claim and, while there is no way to know for certain without seeing your particular case through to the end, you can get a pretty solid estimate of how much compensation you may get.
All you have to do is add the three types of damages together, and you’ll have an idea of the amount of compensation you may be able to receive. The only problem is that, while economic damages may be easy enough to calculate on your own, the other two can vary drastically depending on how cooperative the insurance company is, the evidence you have to present, and the legal support you have behind you.
The only way to get a real estimate of what your personal injury case is worth is by talking with a certified personal injury lawyer, as they will know from experience what someone in your position is likely to get. If you are the victim of a recent accident and want to ensure that you get an accurate estimate of what your case is worth, the best thing you can do is call HoeyLegal.
Contact HoeyLegal Today
Are you dealing with a recent personal injury? Are you looking for a Chester County personal injury attorney that you can trust to get you the compensation you deserve? Give HoeyLegal a call.
At HoeyLegal, our team specializes in helping our clients recover all the damages that they incurred during their accidents. With countless successful settlements and tens of millions of dollars won for our clients, HoeyLegal can be trusted to get you the maximum settlement every time.
We know how traumatic dealing with a personal injury can be, but our team will work tirelessly to ensure that you get every penny possible. We’ll even offer you a free consultation. Don’t let yourself suffer through your personal injury alone. Contact HoeyLegal and take the first step toward your ideal settlement today!