What car accident settlement am I entitled to receive?

Injured people need to know what settlement they can recover from an insurance company.  Simply put, you are entitled to a settlement consisting of:

• your medical bills
• medical bills you will have in the future
• your past lost wages from missing work
• future lost wages
• out-of-pocket expenses
• transportation expenses
• pain & suffering (including loss of consortium/enjoyment)

The goal of the American court system is make an injured person whole again.  It’s a very simple formula: you are entitled to recover everything that you incurred as a result of this accident. Recoverable amounts range from money for a small prescription purchase all the way up to the costs for surgery and a stay at the hospital.  None of those expenses would have existed if this accident did not take place. Any effective settlement is one that returns you to the position you would have been in had this accident not occurred.  But the difficult part is determining how to exactly put a number on your car accident settlement.

Now some of these types of damages are easy to figure out while others are more difficult.  For example, your medical bills are pretty straightforward.  You incurred a bill at the ER and you generate medical bills each time you go to your doctor.  You add those up and come to a definite number.

But what things like about pain and suffering?  Well every person handles pain differently.  Maybe you’re able to tolerate pain more than the next person.  Maybe a headache sidelines you from the day’s entire activity.  Either way, pain and suffering is a very important part of your settlement and should not be ignored.

It’s also important to keep in mind that insurance companies are not charitable aid organizations.  They are businesses.  It is their goal to pay out the least amount in a settlement as possible.  So it’s important that you hire an attorney that can help you figure out all of those factors listed about so that the other side’s insurance company will have no choice but to compensate you.