If you suffer a minor injury and make a quick trip to the emergency room, your bills may only total $1,000 or less. That could be the total you receive from a car insurance company. It’s simply the monetary expense of recovery. But a more serious injury, like a broken arm that requires surgery, might require support that reaches $10,000 or more.
Every accident and every injury is very different. This is why it’s hard for a lawyer to give you an average of what you might receive. It depends on your particular injury, how long it takes you to heal, and the changes it causes in your life. For example, if you can’t go back to work right away, the paychecks you miss out on would have to figure into any compensation you receive.
What determines how much I receive after a serious Modesto car accident?
Some car accidents leave victims with only some soreness or scratches. Other accidents may cause a minor concussion. These wounds may heal in a few days, and the biggest cost of the entire ordeal is the ambulance ride to the hospital. Car insurers should be fully accountable.
Unfortunately, other collisions leave behind much more long-lasting physical damage. Broken bones, serious brain trauma, and other injuries usually don’t heal as quickly. You may require surgery and months of physical therapy. In severe cases, you may not be able to return to work for months or for the rest of your life. You may lose out on activities you love due to an injury and deal with major emotional trauma.
These and other hardships all help determine the level of support you receive:
- The time it takes you to fully heal.
- The level of changes the injury brings to your life.
- The cost of all medical care, including surgeries, medications, equipment, physical therapy, and even home care.
- The amount of evidence you back your insurance claim with. If you can’t prove that a careless driver caused your injury, the driver’s auto insurance provider doesn’t have to give you any support.
- The paychecks and benefits you lose while you are injured and unable to work.
- The support you must demand if you suffer a permanent disability. Support for a lifetime of medical care. Support to find a new career if you can’t return to your previous line of work. Money to support yourself and your family if you can never return to work again.
- The pain you endure while healing.
- The emotional trauma you must cope with from the moment of the impact and in the long, difficult recovery.
- The negotiating skills of your attorney. Your lawyer helps you evaluate offers to make sure they cover all of your medical costs and other damages. Your lawyer won’t accept “lowball offers.” Your lawyer rejects compensation that’s too low and demands more for you.
When an injury is serious and the costs run high, insurance companies will make it harder for you to secure the compensation you require to rebuild your life. Insurance adjusters will try to shift blame for the accident or cast doubt on how serious your injury is.
A skilled Modesto car accident lawyer is a safeguard against these tactics that rob you of support. Your attorney collects strong evidence and gathers medical documents to back up your claim. Then your lawyer fights to get you the maximum in compensation possible. This compensation is often much more than you could secure by taking on an insurance giant on your own.
Contact a Modesto Car Accident Attorney
If you suffer only a minor injury in a collision, you may not need a lawyer to represent your case. However, if you were left with a serious injury, like a bone fracture or a head injury, you should discuss your case with a real lawyer.
Contact Maison Law Accident & Injury Lawyers of Modesto to schedule a free, confidential consultation. We want to hear what happened to you. We’re going to answer your questions and make sure you are prepared for the insurance tactics you’ll face so you don’t forfeit valuable support. Once we’ve discussed your accident, we can give you a better idea of what you should expect from an insurer.
There’s no obligation when you talk to us, but if you feel we can help you get the most out of your injury claim, you’ll need no upfront money. We don’t get paid unless we win your case for you. Then our fee comes out of the settlement you receive.