Personal injury Settlement Breakdown

If you have been injured in an accident, you know that your first priority is supposed to be getting better. However, you can’t help but worry about money. You wonder how you are going to pay the bills from your accident and how you will make up for the hours you have lost from work.

You know you need to file an insurance claim, but you are probably wondering how much money you will get and how much time it will take to get it.

There are certain bills insurance will cover, some that it will not cover, and other expenses that it may cover if you hire the right law firm. In order to understand a breakdown of the money you are due in an accident, you will first need to understand how insurance in Georgia works and how to document the expenses of your accident.

Collecting Evidence

 
When you have a car accident, you should call the police and wait for them to arrive at the scene. You should take pictures and get the names of witnesses if you can. You should be very polite to the officer who takes the accident report. However, most attorneys will advise you not to admit to guilt.

Your insurance policy should pay for are your medical expenses. Hence, you should save every medical bill that you get. Do not forget to include any physical therapy or massage appointments that you may have.  You should also save the receipts for any medication that you have had to take due to your injuries.

You should also be able to collect compensation for the hours you have missed from work. You can get a letter stating those hours from the HR department of your employer.

You are entitled to compensation for damages to your property as well. You should save the repair bills for damages to your vehicle. If your car was totaled in the accident, the insurance company should pay you the value of the car just before the accident happened. A car is considered totaled when it would cost more to repair it than to replace it.

Insurance Laws in Georgia 

There are two basic insurance rules in the United States; fault and no-fault. In a no-fault state, a drivers’ own insurance company will pay for their accident-related bills no matter who caused the crash. In a fault or tort state, the driver that caused the collision will be responsible for the bills.

The Peach State is a fault state; more specifically, it is a contributory negligence state. When you have an accident, the court will determine who is at fault. If both people contribute to the accident, they will determine to what extent each party was at fault. You can get more details here.

 You will only be able to collect money for the portion of the accident that was the other person’s fault. For example, if the other driver was 60% responsible for the accident and you were 40% responsible, you would only be able to collect 60% in compensatory damages.

You may also be able to seek compensation for pain and suffering. There is no set standard for determining compensation, but many insurance companies will base it on the level of pain you have on a scale of 1 to 5. They will then multiply your level of pain times the cost of your medical bills to arrive at a fair amount.

Getting fair compensation after an accident can be as critical to your psychological recovery as it is to your financial and physical recovery. Hiring the right lawyer and collecting all the proof you need will help you get fair compensation.

Authoritative Sources:
https://pixabay.com/illustrations/financial-analysis-accounting-4560047/
https://www.investopedia.com/terms/c/compensatory-damages.asp#:~:text=Compensatory%20damages%20are%20money%20awarded,unlawful%20conduct%20of%20another%20party.
 

This is a guest blog entry.