Car Accident Insurance Claims

Getting into a car accident can be a difficult experience in itself, but if you have been injured and need to file an insurance claim then you may quickly find that the situation is more complicated than you had anticipated. When you are trying to recover from serious injuries, the last thing you need is to complicate things by dealing with an insurance claims adjuster who is trying to pick your claim apart and limit the money that you receive as a settlement. The insurance company relies on your stress and the fact that you may be overwhelmed to help them limit the amount of money that they payout since it is a central part of an insurance company’s business model to save as much money as possible. Your claim will be no different, which is why it is important that you understand how to handle this situation.

The best way to go through a car accident insurance claim is with the help of an experienced personal injury attorney in Fresno, for a variety of reasons that we will discuss below. It is additionally important that you understand how much money you are entitled to for your accident and the associated damages so that you can use this figure as a central part of your negotiation process. When the insurance company agents know that you are prepared, you will find that they will take your negotiation offers much more seriously. However, it is again the best decision to hire an attorney to manage this process for you.

Read more below about how to calculate the damages that you are entitled to after your Fresno car accident, and learn more about how an attorney can help you get the money you truly deserve. The team at Grossman Law Offices understands that this is a stressful and tumultuous time in your life, which is why we will be happy to discuss your situation during an initial consultation and give you the peace of mind that you need moving forward with us as your legal representation through this process. Contact us now to schedule your free initial consultation, and get started on the path towards fair compensation today. 

Calculating Damages After a Car Accident in Fresno

If you are injured in a car accident, there will be a few obvious costs and expenses right from the start; particularly, any emergency medical care that you have received, and any repair or replacement costs for your personal property. In addition, you may miss work because of your injuries and will start to notice the impact in your paychecks as a result, adding to the stress of your medical bills. 

These are only a few of the obvious examples of damages that you will incur following a car accident but are only provide a limited window into determining how much money you actually deserve. In a personal injury case, the damages that you suffer are divided into two parts, economic and non-economic damages. These damages are very different from each other, as you will see in the following sections.

Economic Damages

Economic damages are the core of your injury claim, simply because they are the measurable costs associated with the accident. They include the aforementioned medical bills and your employment-related losses but go further to include any and all expenses or losses that you suffer as a result of the accident. This even includes services that you had to pay for that you would have otherwise performed on your own, like hiring a laundry service or a housekeeper while you are recovering. The insurance company will try to push back on certain aspects of these damages, but for the most part, they are quite clear.

Non-Economic Damages

The other portion of your damages is called “non-economic damages,” because they do not have clear and measurable economic values associated with them. They include things like the actual pain and suffering you experienced as a result of your accident and injuries, as well as the emotional impacts that the crash has had on your life. These damages are more difficult to calculate because of the lack of tangible measurements, which is why they are more aggressively contested by the insurance company during settlement negotiations. There are a variety of methods that personal injury lawyers use in order to reach these amounts depending on the circumstances, but each is intended to get you the money that you truly deserve.

Why Work With a Car Accident Lawyer

One of the biggest reasons to hire an experienced attorney after your Fresno car accident is because of the stress you can avoid throughout this entire process. It has been repeatedly shown that mental and emotional stress can have a significant impact on physical recovery, meaning that every step you take to reduce stress is a step to increase your recovery process.

In addition to the stress of the actual claims process, a successful negotiation or lawsuit requires a strong understanding of the United States legal system and torts. If you are representing yourself through these steps, you will need to do a tremendous amount of research and work on your own in order to understand the appropriate decisions to make, how to handle a negotiation, when to file a lawsuit in the California courts and more. If you do decide to file a lawsuit, you will then need to understand all of the additional requirements and processes present in a court case that are different than an out-of-court settlement negotiation.

Ultimately, hiring an attorney means that you can prioritize your own health with the confidence that your case is being handled by an experienced, aggressive lawyer who is fighting for your best interests. All of the time that you would have spent handling calls, putting together settlement offers and counter-offers, and the time spent researching United States torts is much better spent focusing on your health, your family, your professional life, and ultimately getting your life back on track after this terrible situation.

Contact Us Today

The sooner you schedule your free initial consultation, the sooner you will be able to get started on the negotiation of your claim with a trustworthy legal representative. During your consultation, we will be happy to discuss past cases where we have helped clients in similar situations to your own, talk about the impacts that this accident has had on your life so far, and give you a better idea of how to move forward in the most productive ways possible.