Your Compensation Depends On The Nature of Your Accident and Injuries – And Your Lawyer
If you are suffering from injuries sustained in a collision in Colorado Springs, the car accident settlement amounts you may be able to recover as part of your personal injury lawsuit depends on many factors. Because vehicle accidents and injuries vary widely in cause, severity, and consequences, so do vehicular accident settlement amounts. A settlement for a fender bender that results in minor injuries will not be for the same sum as a catastrophic crash that leaves a driver or passenger with lifelong injuries like paralysis or permanent brain damage.
That said, the same elements of damages will factor into all accident settlement amounts no matter the nature of the crash or the extent of the plaintiff’s losses. But while those elements are the same, there is usually a considerable difference in accident settlement amounts depending on whether an attorney negotiates with the other driver’s insurance company or the injury victim tries to do so themselves.
What is an Accident Settlement?
An accident settlement is an agreement between the injury victim (the plaintiff) and the party responsible for the accident (the defendant). The defendant agrees to pay an agreed-upon amount to the plaintiff in exchange for the plaintiff dismissing the lawsuit. But in most car accident lawsuits, the defendant is not the one who pays the settlement amount – instead, their car insurance company does.
During settlement negotiations, both the plaintiff and the defendant (or their insurance company) will try to convince the other side that their view of who was at fault for the accident, that the proposed accident settlement amounts are reasonable, and that they have a better chance of winning at trial. Even when each party believes that they have a stronger case, they may choose to settle the case because of the risks and costs involved in going to trial.
Types of Damages Involved In Determining Accident Settlement Amounts
Vehicle accident settlement amounts consist of the types of damages that a judge or jury could award an injury victim if they found in the victim’s favor.
There are two main categories of damages recoverable in Colorado personal injury or car accident lawsuits: economic damages and non-economic damages.
Related: Can You Trust Personal Injury Settlement Calculators?
Economic Damages
Economic damages are those amounts that a judge or jury can calculate by looking at bills, receipts, and paychecks. This is money that the plaintiff has lost and will lose or will need to spend in the future because of the negligence of the defendant. This includes items such as:
- Medical bills
- Rehabilitation costs
- Past and future lost wages
- Property damage
Non-Economic Damages
But there are many other losses resulting from a serious car accident that are not as easy to value. What is the dollar value of not being able to play with your kids? What is the cost of never-ending pain or embarrassment? How much is the loss of intimacy with a spouse worth, or the psychological and emotional impact of being unable to support your family? In addition, can your spouse get compensation for their losses associated with the accident that changed your marriage forever?
Colorado law acknowledges that these non-economic damages, including what is commonly called “pain and suffering,” are just as real as economic ones and play a significant role in accident settlement negotiations, especially where the plaintiff suffered catastrophic injuries. Car insurance companies often use a “multiplier” when making a settlement offer to take these damages into account. That multiplier involves taking the actual economic damages claimed by the plaintiff and multiplying them 1.5 to 4 times to calculate a settlement offer.
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Why an Attorney Can Make All the Difference in Vehicle Accident Settlement Amounts
Never forget that in almost every car accident lawsuit, any settlement money will come out of the pockets of a car insurance company. Despite their marketing claims to the contrary, all insurance companies are in the business of making money.
Every dollar an insurer pays out in claims to an injury victim in a car accident is a dollar they cannot pass on to their shareholders. Because of this one simple fact, insurance companies will try to pay you as little as possible (and preferably nothing at all) and will use all the tricks in the book to do just that. Car insurers will manipulate and pressure you and use other tactics to take advantage of your difficult financial situation after an accident. That is why you, as the victim, should never negotiate a personal injury settlement on your own.
The fact is that injury victims who hire a car accident attorney to negotiate car accident insurance settlements collect significantly more in compensation on average than do individuals who try to negotiate without a lawyer.
In a Settlement Or At Trial, King & Beaty Will Get You The Maximum Amount of Compensation Available
At King & Beaty, our car accident lawyers have helped countless Colorado Springs car accident injury victims get the compensation they deserve to help them move on with their lives after a serious crash. Please contact us today to arrange for your free initial consultation, and let our experts explain what accident settlement amounts may be due to you.
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