Recovering Houma Car Accident Damages
Before recovering Houma car accident damages, one should understand the types of recoverable compensation for personal injuries. General damages are the damages that are not known as special. Special damages are medical bills and lost earnings which can be calculated.
Non-economic damages, or general damages, will include pain and suffering, mental pain and anguish, loss of consortium, impairment of enjoyment of living, disability, and loss of consortium for the relations of the injured party. There is no computer that calculates that amount.
The laws surrounding general damages is that if someone has an injury that lasts a long time (duration), that is a factor that a jury will look at in determining how much to award. The courts may also look at the severity of the personal injury. Injured parties should reach out to a skilled car accident lawyer to learn more about possible compensation in the form of accident damages.
Who is Involved in Handling Damages in Houma Car Accident Case?
In settlements, oftentimes attorneys, courts, and insurance companies will look for similar injuries that people have suffered in the past and evaluate non-economic damages by review of jury verdicts and judgments from trial courts.
Recovering Houma car accident damages is a decision made by the jury. In a significant damage case to put a number on the non-economic or general damages, and that’s going to vary according to the facts of the injury, how the injury was caused, and whether the jury, acting as the conscience of the community, wants to make sure that this type of safety rule violation does not occur again.
Analyzing Liability and Likelihood of Future Collisions
Liability must be investigated very extensively when recovering Houma car accident damages. Often, the damages that someone may recover will be affected by liability. Determining liability often includes the following questions, was:
- Was this an event that might occur again?
- If repeated, could someone else suffer injury?
In the other cases in which perhaps it is not likely that a liability situation like that would occur again, one must look for all available sources to pay for all damages. In a car accident, one may be involved in a situation in which the people at fault have a limited ability to pay or a limited insurance policy.
How the Cause of a Collision Can Impact a Lawsuit
When recovering Houma car accident damages, the courts could also look at other reasons for the crash. Meaning, they may want to determine whether there was any roadway or cars were defective in any way. When one gathers evidence, even though it does not have anything to do with the actual damages, an attorney is looking for other angles on other people at fault who may be responsible for paying the damages.
What Evidence Should Someone Collect?
Attorneys could work to obtain from the district attorney’s office the results of the prosecution for driving while intoxicated. This could include, photographs of the injuries, and all medical bills. If one wants to enhance the possibility of recovering Houma car accident damages, it is important to utilize an expert who can set forth the cost of medical treatment for the injury over a lifetime. One has to deal with the employer to gather evidence of lost earnings, lost fringe benefits, and lost sick leave. All of this is important to include in any claim that one is making against a party at fault.
Importance of Utilizing Medical Records
The most relevant pieces of evidence when recovering Houma car accident damages are often the medical records, the medical bills for treatment of people who have been injured, photographs of the injuries, witnesses, and before-and-after witnesses who will be able to tell a jury how the injury has affected the person who has been injured.
These are all important details to consider in the beginning of the case. When one is dealing with insurance companies and submitting a claim to them, it’s important to include all evidence of liability, particularly if the liability is aggravated or if someone was drinking.
Expert Witnesses in Car Accident Cases
If someone has sustained a permanent injury, their attorney could rely on vocational rehabilitation experts to determine how the injuries will affect the person , whether they can return to the work they were doing before, what kind of work they can do in the future, and their likely residual capacity to work after their health has improved.
An accountant or an economic expert can prove how much those damages are over a work-life expectancy. That is, if someone was making $20 per hour before an accident, suffered a disability, cannot go back to their former job, but can work at $10 an hour, an expert will determine their work-life expectancy, the economic loss over that work-life expectancy, and the effect of inflation. This all has to be reduced to a present value for the jury to hear this evidence.
Steps an Attorney Takes When Attempting to Recover Car Accident Damages in Houma
An attorney could obtain all medical records, bills, and proof of loss of earnings. The attorney can consult the treating physicians in order to gauge the extent of the injury and whether you will need medical treatment in the future.
The lawyer may also obtain medical illustrations of the injuries to prove causation of injury and to explain to the jury how the injury occurred, determine before-and-after witnesses and statements that show how the injury affected the party in the crash. Most importantly, a compassionate attorney could devote the time and resources necessary for recovering the Houma car accident damages you deserve. Get in touch today to start your case.