Bad accidents may leave you with physical injuries that have devastating effects throughout your life. You might find it difficult to return to work, and your medical bills may continue to pile up. Speak to an attorney about filing a personal injury case to get fair compensation for your injuries and damages.
After an accident, your first step should be to get medical care. You may need to go to the emergency room for urgent treatment, and you might deal with some expensive long-term care. While some people find their claims covered by insurance, not everyone is so fortunate, and other legal action may be necessary. You need financial compensation that accounts for your economic and non-economic injuries. In rare cases, punitive damages may also be available.
Call (201) 777-1111 and get a private, free case evaluation from our personal injury lawyers with Agrapidis & Maroules, P.C.
Medical Treatment You Need After an Injury
The medical care you need after an accident will depend on your injuries, and most forms of treatment are expensive. If you have not gone to a doctor yet, you should do so immediately.
Many injured victims need emergency medical attention and go to the emergency room after an accident. You might receive emergency surgery, pain medication, scans, X-rays, and other testing to determine the extent of your injuries.
You might need more serious or long-term treatment after receiving initial emergency care. For example, your condition might be complicated and require future surgeries to fully correct the injury. You might also need long-term medication for things like chronic pain.
Unfortunately, some injuries are so severe that victims are permanently injured or experience lifelong complications. You might have to pay for mobility aids like wheelchairs or walkers. You might have permanent scarring or disfigurement. In brain injury cases, you might live with permanent brain damage.
Dealing with Insurance for Personal Injury Claims
Many personal injury cases are covered by insurance, but the insurance process is rarely simple or easy. Your first step should be getting a lawyer to help you file a claim and review your policy terms to make sure you are covered.
Alternatively, your attorney can help you file a third-party claim with someone else’s insurance, usually the person who caused your injuries. In some cases, other people are not forthcoming with insurance information, and your attorney can help you make them give you the details you need to file a claim.
Several insurance policies might cover your injuries, and your attorney can help you coordinate benefits. One insurance policy may need to pay first, while another pays second, and we must determine where, how, and when to file each claim so you receive the compensation you need.
Available Damages in Dumont Personal Injury Cases
Damages in personal injury cases should account for losses, injuries, pain, suffering, and more. Our personal injury attorneys must assess damages carefully so that no financial compensation is left on the table.
Non-Economic Damages
Your non-economic damages encompass losses or injuries that may not be proven with evidence of monetary costs. Instead, these damages tend to be based on subjective, personal experiences.
You may claim non-economic damages related to your physical and psychological pain and suffering. Not only are injuries physically painful, but serious accidents often leave victims with mental injuries, like depression, anxiety, or even PTSD.
Other non-economic damages may be unique to your case. For example, if the accident happened in public and was embarrassing, you may claim damages for humiliation. If the accident happened at work, your professional reputation might be tarnished, and you may claim damages for injuries to your professional reputation and image.
Economic Damages
Other damages take a financial toll on plaintiffs, and the money you spend or lose may be claimed as part of your economic damages.
A significant portion of these damages consists of medical bills. You should get emergency medical attention after an accident, and the bill might be very expensive. If you need extensive or long-term care, the total cost might be off the charts.
If your injuries prevent you from returning to your job, you could lose income, making it even harder to afford hospital bills and ordinary living expenses. We can help you estimate how much income you have already lost and how much you might continue to lose and add it to your damages.
Punitive Damages
Punitive damages may be awarded under very special conditions. According to N.J.S.A § 2A:15-5.12(a), punitive damages may be awarded only if we can prove by “clear and convincing evidence” that the defendant caused your injuries with actual malice or that their actions constituted a willful and wanton disregard for the safety of those foreseeably harmed by their behavior.
Punitive damages may be valuable and represent a significant sum, but they are limited by law. You may not recover more than five times the value of compensatory damages (i.e., economic and non-economic damages) or $350,000, whichever amount is more.
Do I Have to Have a Trial for a Dumont Personal Injury Case?
If you file a personal injury case, a trial will probably be scheduled for sometime soon. However, your case does not necessarily have to culminate in a trial.
Instead of having a trial, you might decide to negotiate a private settlement with the defendant. They may agree to pay for your damages, at least to an extent, in exchange for you dropping the case.
While settlements do not always net the full extent of plaintiffs’ damages, they can help you get some compensation faster than if you pursued a full civil trial.
Whether a trial is best for your situation is entirely up to you. It may be wise to file a case and have a trial scheduled even if this is not exactly what you want. If other legal options fall through, we can fall back on having a trial.
Speak to Our Dumont Personal Injury Attorneys Today
Call (201) 777-1111 and get a private, free case evaluation from our personal injury lawyers with Agrapidis & Maroules, P.C.