How much are you entitled to in the unfortunate case that you should have a personal injury accident? This is a question that is often very confusing for the injured person. On one hand, you would like to be sufficiently compensated for your suffering and expenses, but on the other hand you are afraid to make to high a claim in case the insurance company would reject it.
It can also be increasingly difficult to figure out exactly what expenses are covered under a personal injury claim. You can be sure, that the insurance company will not automatically tell you, they have, after all, very good reasons to try to limit their payments.
So when you are trying to make a claim, what factors can you claim in your report? You can generally claim various kinds of compensation such as Degree of Suffering and Financial Loss, then you must also take into consideration what is called Person Liability.
Degree of Suffering is probably what most people want to get compensation for. For example if you were injured by a third party and broke your foot, that is obviously going to hurt and need medical attention. Any kind of pain you have related to your injury will usually be covered under what is called Mental Anguish or Psychological Trauma, which is trauma that is temporary and does not directly affect your health or ability to work. How much you can receive for these two depends on the severity of the incident and the seriousness of your suffering.
Financial Loss is usually the biggest part of an personal injury insurance claim. It covers any expenses and costs you are forced to undertake due to the injury. This includes both direct and indirect costs. Examples of direct costs are hospital bills and treatment. It also covers medicine and nay follow up treatments you may require. If you need psychiatric help or therapy afterward the accident this would also be considered a direct cost.
Basically anything that has to do directly with treatment of your personal injury is considered a direct cost. Should you need personal assistance from a private nurse for a period of time then that would also be included as a direct cost.
Indirect costs are everything else, where you suffer some kind of financial loss, but not necessarily related to treatment. This covers loss of income and wages, or if you are a store owner and unable to trade then it would cover lost sales. Financial loss also covers transport to and from treatment.
Personal Liability refers to the degree of which the accident was your fault. If you were completely innocent in the accident then you should receive full payment. If you were partly responsible, then you will only get a certain amount of compensation.
An accident compensation calculator can help you get an estimate of how much you can expect to receive before you file a claim. Therefore your negotiating position will be stronger when you file your claim for personal injury compensation.
dpp law offer a accident compensation calculator
