Phoenix Car Accident Lawyers

Collecting the Right Documentation

To maximize your claim for both economic and non-economic damages following a car accident, your car accident attorney will help you gather and present the following types of documentation, among others. Remember that evidence can vary from case to case, depending on your specific losses.

Recording Healthcare Expenses

Keep records of medical bills. Make sure to include bills from ambulance services, emergency room visits, hospital stays, doctor appointments, surgeries, medications, physical therapy sessions, and any other relevant treatments. It is essential to have records that provide an account of all the treatment you received.

Documenting Lost Income

Gather pay stubs, W2 forms, and income tax returns that demonstrate your income prior to the accident. Additionally, we can request a letter from your employer stating the amount of work missed and the corresponding lost income.

Estimating Future Medical Costs – Obtaining Info from Medical Experts

If your injuries will have long-term effects, we can consult with doctors to obtain estimates and expert opinions regarding anticipated future treatment plans. This should include projected expenses for therapy sessions, surgeries, medications, assistive equipment or devices, as well as any other necessary medical requirements.

Obtaining Repair Estimates

Your lawyer will provide clear evidence of vehicle damage. Obtain repair estimates for the damages sustained by your vehicle. They can take photographs documenting the extent of the damage and present receipts if your vehicle was deemed a loss.

Keeping Track of Out of Pocket Expenses

Maintain receipts and records for expenses such as transportation costs associated with appointments or therapies. Additionally, document any modifications made to your home or car due to the injuries sustained in the accident. If you had to hire help for household tasks during the recovery period, keep records of those expenses well.

Preserving Records and Narratives for Non-economic Damages

Keep all the information you can that is related to your car accident claim.

This process involves more than collecting copies of bills and receipts.

• Make sure you have detailed notes from doctors outlining pain levels experienced after your accident, along with information on injuries sustained. These notes should also cover details about treatments undergone as well overall assessments of physical and emotional trauma endured.
• Photos and videos serve as proof of injuries and scars and how they have affected your ability to perform activities.
• Statements from witnesses such as family members, friends, and coworkers provide an account of how the injuries have impacted your life and activities.
• Your personal journal entries describe pain levels, challenges with household tasks, loss of enjoyment in hobbies that you once loved, and the emotional distress you have experienced.
• Opinions, reports, and testimonies from experts, vocational rehabilitation specialists, and economists who calculate damages for pain and suffering can help figure out future costs for the loss of enjoyment in life due to permanent disabilities or disfigurement.

Therefore, it’s important to document how the accident-induced injuries have affected various aspects of your life. This includes your ability to earn an income.

Determining Damage Amounts in Car Accident Claims

Your Phoenix car accident lawyer from TopDog Law Personal Injury Lawyers’ network will take supporting documents and records to figure out quantifiable damages, such as economic damages, and subjective damages, or non-economic damages. Below is a quick rundown of how these determinations are made.

Figuring Economic Damages

These are the quantifiable monetary losses directly caused by the accident and injuries. This includes past and future medical expenses, lost income, lost earning capacity, property damage, and any other out-of-pocket costs.

For example, comprehensive medical documentation detailing all injuries, treatments received, future care needs, and their total costs is used to quantify the economic damages related to healthcare.

Adding in Expert Testimony Accounts

Testimony from medical experts is useful to estimate future medical costs and lost income over the victim’s lifetime. Expert opinions can be highly persuasive to insurance companies and juries when seeking compensation for future estimated losses.

Using One of the Two Primary Methods to Figure Pain and Suffering

Non-economic damages for the physical and emotional distress caused after a car accident do not come with a fixed formula.

However, the following methods can increase your settlement and make it more equitable.

• Multiplier Approach. A common approach is to multiply the total economic damages by a number (usually 1.5 to 5) based on the severity of injuries and their permanency to arrive at pain and suffering compensation.
• Per Diem Rate. Daily compensation rates for pain are set, typically $100 to $500 per day, and multiplied by the number of days the victim suffered.

Insurance companies use their own complex calculation methods factoring in costs, pain levels, injury types, permanency, and applicable state legislation. However, the value insurers place on your claim is often much less than you truly deserve. The company tries to save money at every turn, so you should never simply trust an insurer’s calculations.

Instead, allow the Phoenix car accident attorneys from TopDog Law’s network to calculate your losses and seek compensation for every penny you need for full financial support.

An experienced car accident lawyer has extensive data on verdicts and settlements to benchmark appropriate damage valuations. They also provide compelling documentation of all economic losses as well as supporting evidence of the human toll of pain and suffering to justify maximum compensation in each unique case.