When you suffer permanent injuries in a wreck, you can file a legal claim against the negligent parties who caused the crash. If you are considering filing a lawsuit, it is helpful to understand the recoverable damages after an Orlando car accident.
Colling Gilbert Wright—The Florida Firm— is a personal injury law firm that has been achieving outstanding results for injured people for more than two decades. Our car accident attorneys routinely secure large verdicts and settlements for our clients. Other professionals in the area recommend us to their friends and family because they have confidence in our knowledge, skills, and concern for our clients.
Economic Damages Compensate Tangible Losses
When you are hurt in a wreck, your PIP typically pays 80 percent of necessary medical expenses and 60 percent of your lost wages, up to your coverage limits. If your injuries are serious enough that you can bring a claim in court, you can seek the expenses and losses that PIP did not pay.
Your economic losses include covered medical expenses and therapeutic services like acupuncture, massage, or hydrotherapy. Car accidents often cause psychological injuries, and the expense of therapy and medication to treat your trauma should be included in your claim for damages. Our Orlando lawyers will ask a medical expert to estimate the cost of any necessary future treatment, and you can claim it in your car accident lawsuit.
You are entitled to unreimbursed lost wages and the value of any paid time off you took while you were recovering. If your injuries will prevent you from returning to work, the negligent party is liable for your diminished future earning capacity.
Incidental Expenses
Being injured can lead to unexpected expenses like a babysitter when you go to medical appointments, or someone to provide childcare services while you recover. If you cannot drive while you heal, transportation costs may add up. If your injury leaves you with mobility problems, you may even need to renovate your home to accommodate an assistive device.
You can seek economic damages for any expenses you incurred because of your injury. Keep all invoices and receipts documenting your expenses to support your claim for damages.
Non-Economic Damages Pay for Your Reduced Quality of Life
If you are like many people, changes in your quality of life are the most difficult part of living with a permanent injury. Non-economic damages provide financial compensation for these intangible losses.
Living with physical pain reduces your activities and enjoyment of life. It may also affect your mental health and impact your personal relationships. If you have disfiguring scars, meeting new people or even going out in public might be hard for you now.
Our compassionate attorneys in Orlando will speak candidly with you and your loved ones to get a sense of the non-economic damages you have suffered since the wreck. We can claim compensation for your experience of physical and emotional pain, lost enjoyment of life, disability, scarring, and loss of companionship.
Are Punitive Damages Possible in Car Accident Cases?
Punitive damages are additional funds that a judge requires a negligent party to pay you as punishment for their egregious behavior. Although punitive damages are rare in car accident cases, they may be awarded when the negligent party acted intentionally or was grossly negligent.
Florida law requires you to ask a judge to allow a jury to consider punitive damages. You must have proof that the responsible party acted intentionally to harm or with conscious disregard for the safety of others. This is a high evidentiary standard, but our Orlando attorneys may recommend seeking punitive damages when they have substantial proof of the defendant’s bad intent.
Florida Statutes § 768.73 limits punitive damages in most cases to three times the amount of your compensatory damages or $500,000, whichever is greater. When the responsible party is motivated by profit, as sometimes happens in truck accident cases, your punitive damages may be limited to four times your compensatory damages or $2 million. In drunk driving accidents, there is no cap on the punitive damages you can receive.
Talk to an Orlando Attorney About Recoverable Damages After a Wreck
Recoverable damages after an Orlando car accident should put you in the financial position you would have been in if the accident had not occurred. The attorneys at The Florida Firm strive to ensure that your damages allow you a fulfilling life despite your injuries. We only take a fee if we obtain damages for you, so contact us today at no risk to discuss your car accident injuries.