If you are involved in a car accident, some of your losses may be immediately obvious. This can include things like damage to your vehicle, your physical injuries from the wreck, and your lost wages. But what about losses that might not be readily apparent?
In California, you can get financial compensation for your physical pain and mental anguish after an auto accident. Through a personal injury claim, you can get money for your pain and suffering if another driver caused your crash. Our Walnut Creek car accident attorneys will fight to get you maximum compensation for your losses.
At the Appel Law Firm LLP, we are dedicated to helping our clients get justice after they are injured in car accidents and other types of accidents. We offer free initial consultations and never charge a fee unless we recover money for you. Reach out to our law offices today to schedule an appointment with a Walnut Creek personal injury lawyer.
What Is Pain and Suffering?
After a car accident in California, you can file a personal injury claim against the at-fault driver. If you can show that the other driver (defendant) caused the accident, then you can recover compensation for all of your losses. This may include:
- Economic damages, such as property damage, medical bills, future medical treatment, lost wages, and reduced earning capacity.
- Non-economic damages, including emotional trauma, loss of enjoyment of life, scarring, and disfigurement.
- Punitive damages may be awarded in more unusual cases where the defendant acted intentionally or recklessly.
Non-economic damages are also referred to as pain and suffering damages. Broadly, they include any physical pain and mental anguish that you suffer as a result of the accident, such as:
- Anxiety, including worry, uneasiness, and “nerves”
- Humiliation, or a feeling of being disgraced
- Depression, or a persistent feeling of sadness or numbness that affects how you feel, think, and act
- Emotional distress, including anguish, despondency, or anger that resulted from the accident
- Disfigurement from any permanent physical damage or changes to your body
- Anger or rage that was not present before the accident
- Fright, or an abrupt and severe terror or fear that impacts your life
- Apprehension, or a reasonable fear or uncertainty that something bad could happen
- Grief, if an accident results in the death, loss, or disappearance of something important to you
- Physical impairment for any injury that limits your movement, coordination, or ability to perform daily activities
- Inconvenience, which includes an undue hardship or hassle caused by the accident.
- Reduced quality of life, including anything that may affect your ability to take part in activities or hobbies that you once enjoyed
- Mental suffering or mental anguish, which can include psychological/mental trauma, distress, fright, anxiety, grief, depression, and other types of emotional distress
- Physical pain, which includes mild to severe discomfort
- Sexual dysfunction
In other words, pain and suffering damages cover all of the various types of harm that aren’t necessarily visible, but still can greatly impact your life after a motor vehicle accident.
A settlement or verdict for a car accident claim won’t necessarily make you whole again. However, getting pain and suffering damages as part of your claim can get you a lot closer to where you were before the accident. Our Walnut Creek accident lawyers will fight to get you every penny that you deserve for your pain and suffering damages.
Calculating Pain and Suffering Damages After a California Car Accident
There is no fixed standard for determining pain and suffering damages in California. Unlike economic damages, things like emotional distress don’t come with a bill or invoice. This can make it much harder to calculate these types of losses.
Insurance companies often downplay pain and suffering damages because they can be far harder to prove. They may use software (such as Colossus) that includes both data from your claim and non-claim data (such as information about your lawyer and similar claims in your region). This software will evaluate all of this data, including your medical records, to determine a settlement amount for your pain and suffering losses.
Of course, insurance companies have an incentive to develop a low estimate for pain and suffering damages. After all, the lower your damages, the less that they will have to pay. Our law firm evaluates each aspect of your claim to come up with a more accurate and fair number for pain and suffering damages.
We will examine many factors, such as:
- The degree of temporary and/or permanent harm that you suffered
- The typical physical and emotional distress experienced by individuals with similar injuries
- The impact that these injuries have on your daily existence
- How your injuries have affected both your personal and professional lives
- The anticipated length of recovery
- The medical care provided to you and the need for ongoing treatment
- The expected outcome from your injuries after treatment
- Proof of fault on the part of the defendant
Our Walnut Creek car accident lawyers will also gather evidence to support your pain and suffering damages. While each case is different, we usually collect medical records, medical bills, photos of the property damage to your car, photos of any physical injuries, social media posts, texts, and emails, evidence of lost work time, and journals of your activities. We will also introduce testimony of your friends, family, and co-workers, as well as expert witness testimony.
This evidence is all used to show that your life has been seriously affected by your injuries. This helps us to develop the strongest possible claim for compensation.
By putting together our own claim for pain and suffering damages, backed by solid proof, we can better negotiate a fair settlement for your losses. The insurance company will typically come in with a lowball settlement offer, and we will counter with a more reasonable counteroffer. In most situations, we are able to work out a settlement that fully compensates you for all of your losses, including pain and suffering.
There are situations where the insurance company simply refuses to give you the money that you deserve for your injuries. In these cases, we will take your case to trial to prove that the defendant caused the accident and that you deserve to receive just compensation for your injuries. We won’t back down from a fight and will work hard to get you every penny that you deserve for your injuries.
In California, there are no damage caps on any type of damages in car accident cases, including pain and suffering damages. This means that you don’t have to worry about a limit on the amount of pain and suffering damages that you can recover after a motor vehicle accident. Your settlement will also not be taxable as long as you suffered some type of physical injury or sickness as a result of the accident.
We are committed to getting the highest possible recovery for our clients for all of their losses, including economic and non-economic damages alike. If you have been hurt in a traffic accident in California, you don’t have to go it alone. We are always here to help and advocate for you.
Help for Car Accident Victims in Walnut Creek, California
Pain and suffering damages are an important component of any car accident claim. Unfortunately, insurance companies try to get away with paying out as little as possible for pain and suffering damages. As Walnut Creek car accident attorneys, it is our job to fight back and get you maximum compensation for your losses.
The Appel Law Firm represents injury victims in Northern California who have been hurt in all types of accidents, including car accidents, slips and falls, wrongful death, and more. We handle all cases on a contingency fee basis, which means that you will never pay a fee unless we recover money for you. To learn more or to schedule a free initial consultation with a Walnut Creek car accident lawyer, give us a call at (925) 938-2000 or fill out our online contact form.
