You may be wondering how much your car accident claim is worth in California if you’ve been injured in an accident. There is no one size fits all answer to this question. The value of your car accident claim in California depends on numerous factors:
Causation
The amount of money you can recover in a car accident claim depends on who caused the accident and, if multiple parties are found at fault for the accident, what percentage of fault is attributed to each party.
A driver needs to be found to be negligent in order to be found at fault for an accident. Negligence is the failure to be reasonably careful in order to prevent harm from occurring. Examples of negligence behind the wheel include speeding, inattentive driving, and reckless driving.
You may be able to recover damages from another driver’s insurance company if that driver is found to be negligent and therefore at fault for the accident.
California is a comparative negligence state when it comes to auto accidents. This means that more than one party can be found at fault for an accident, and multiple parties can be assigned different percentages of fault for the accident.
The way comparative negligence works in terms of payouts is this: if you are found to be 20 percent at fault for an accident and the other driver is found to be 80 percent at fault, the damages you are awarded will be reduced by 20 percent.
Types Of Damages
You may be able to recover multiple types of economic and non-economic damages from another driver’s insurance company after an auto accident, depending on the circumstances.
Economic damages are damages awarded to compensate anything that cost you money. This can include medical bills and lost wages.
Non-economic damages are awarded to compensate you for things like pain and suffering, or disability.
Types of economic damages include:
- Past and future medical bills
- Vehicle damage
- Past and future lost wages
Types of non-economic damages include:
- Pain and suffering
- Disability
- Loss of physical affection from a partner or spouse
- Disfigurement
Additional Factors
There are other factors which can impact the size of your recovery in a car accident claim. Everyone who is in an accident has a different experience, and their experiences can differ in terms of:
- Physical, behavioral and cognitive impairments
- How long they spend in the hospital
- How much the accident interferes with their ability to work
- How long it takes to recover
- Whether scarring or permanent disability result from the accident
- Whether rehabilitative therapy is needed
- How much emotional impact the accident causes
The skill of your attorney can also impact the size of your recovery in a car accident claim. For that reason, it is important that you contact experienced, battle-tested car accident lawyers like Nadrich & Cohen if you’ve been injured in an accident in California. We’ve been helping car accident victims obtain recoveries since 1990 and have recovered over $350,000,000 on behalf of clients. Act fast, since you must file a car accident lawsuit within a strict time frame in California.
