After an accident, one of the biggest questions clients have is, “Who will pay my medical bills?” And for good reason. A Centers for Disease Control (CDC) study found that the average emergency room visit after a car accident costs about $3,300. Accident-related hospital stays can average $57,000 over an injured person’s lifetime. So, it’s no wonder that accident victims spend lots of time wondering about expenses.
But there is good news. If you’ve been injured in a car crash, you have legal rights! Those rights give you several options for recovering money that can help after an accident. Lawyers call this money “damages.” This article will talk a bit about the types of damages available to you after an Alabama car accident.
Why Damages Matter?
Damages are the key to your personal injury case.
When you are injured by another driver’s carelessness, the law gives you the right to file a personal injury lawsuit against that driver. To win this lawsuit, you must prove that the other driver had a duty to drive carefully and that they failed in that duty by taking careless actions like speeding or driving while distracted. Then, you have to prove that the driver’s carelessness caused your injuries. Finally, you have to prove that the carelessness caused you to suffer physical, financial, or emotional harm.
If the jury finds that the other driver’s carelessness was the cause of your injuries, they will award you damages.
What Are the Types of Damages?
Personal Injury lawyers split damages in car accident cases into two main categories.
The first type of damages is called compensatory damages. Compensatory damages are awarded to compensate the injured person for belongings lost in the accident, money spent because of the accident, and other such losses. Simply put, compensatory damages are designed to put you in the same position you were in before the accident. Compensatory damages can be split into two types – economic and noneconomic damages.
The second category of damages is punitive damages. We’ll talk about those a little later.
Economic Damages
Economic damages attempt to compensate car accident survivors for the financial harm caused by accidents.
Perhaps the biggest category of economic damages is medical bills.
Medical expenses can include anything from hospital bills to physical therapy costs to copays for doctor visits and prescription medication.
Another major part of economic damages is lost wages. If your accident injuries caused you to miss work, you can recover that lost income in your personal injury claim. You can also get compensation if the accident permanently affected your ability to continue in your line of work. In that case, you can ask the jury to compensate you for your future lost wages.
Economic damages can also include money spent on accident-related costs such as
- Property damage (including vehicle damage),
- In-home nurses or health aides,
- Medical equipment,
- Future medical costs,
- Home modifications to improve accessibility (such as new ramps), and
- Funeral and burial costs (in wrongful death cases).
As you can see, economic damages cover a wide range of costs. Your Alabama accident attorney can help you decide which damages apply in your case.
Non-economic Damages
Economic damages focus on costs that can be counted. There are receipts for medical bills and car repairs. But noneconomic damages focus on car accident injuries that can’t be easily reduced to dollars. Noneconomic damages usually focus on the mental and emotional harms caused by auto accidents.
Pain and suffering is one of the biggest categories of noneconomic damages. If you suffered a broken leg after your car crash, the costs to repair your leg would be economic damages. But the pain associated with the break, its healing, and any physical therapy would fall into the pain and suffering category.
You can also receive noneconomic damages for other harms caused by the accident such as
- Depression,
- Anxiety,
- Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD),
- Loss of sleep,
- Inability to enjoy normal activities, and
- Loss of consortium (damaged relationships with loved ones).
Your Birmingham personal injury attorney will be able to tell you which of these damages might apply in your case.
Punitive Damages
Compensatory damages look at what the accident victim lost and try to make up for it. On the other hand, punitive damages look at the at-fault driver’s behavior and decide whether it warrants punishment. These damages not only punish the bad driver in your case, they also deter other drivers from doing the same things.
Under Alabama law, a car accident victim can only get punitive damages if the other driver “deliberately engaged in oppression, fraud, wantonness, or malice.” Translated from legalese, this means that it won’t be enough to prove that the driver who hit you was careless. You’ll have to prove that they intentionally engaged in truly harmful conduct like purposefully going the wrong way down a one-way street.
Your Alabama accident lawyer will be able to tell you if punitive damages are appropriate in your case.
The Emotional Impact: What to Look For and How to Document It
While car accident victims can experience many types of mental anguish, this post will focus on the three types of mental injuries most often associated with car crashes.
PTSD
Car accident survivors frequently experience post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). PTSD – formerly known as “shell shock” or “battle fatigue” – occurs after a person survives or witnesses a disturbing, frightening, or shocking event. PTSD causes intense thoughts and feelings related to the stressful event that can last months or years after the incident.
As the older names imply, PTSD was once chiefly associated with emotional trauma related to military service, but this is no longer the case. In fact, studies show that auto accidents are the leading cause of PTSD among those who have not served in the military.
Anxiety
Everyone worries occasionally. But anxiety causes a state of heightened (and often exaggerated) worry usually accompanied by moderate or overwhelming stress. Our bodies have a natural “fight or flight” response to danger, but anxiety causes this response to linger long after the danger is gone.
Anxiety comes in many forms and can be generalized or specific to certain situations. Sometimes – but not always – anxiety can cause panic attacks. Like PTSD, anxiety can last for months or years. A person who experiences intense anxiety over a long period may develop a phobia related to the incident.
Depression
No one is happy all the time. But depressive disorder differs from the normal sadness that we all go through from time to time. Doctors diagnose patients with depression when they have experienced sadness or loss of interest in regular activities that lasts for more than two weeks. Also, to be diagnosed with depression, the emotional change must interfere with your ability and desire to participate in daily life at work and at home.
Depression can range from mild to severe. Like the other illnesses, how long depression lasts varies from person to person.
A person who survives a car accident might be depressed if they talk about wishing they had died in the accident.
All Three
In addition to the above, these symptoms can relate to any of the three conditions:
- Unexplained rapid weight loss or gain
- Difficulty sleeping
- Nightmares
- Difficulty concentrating or making decisions
What Factors Can Affect the Amount of Damages?
Even if you are clearly injured in the accident, your damages won’t be guaranteed. The amount you can recover in a settlement or at trial will depend on what you can prove. Keeping good records will make it easier for you to prove your case in court. Usually, having more proof will result in a higher damages award.
Because proof matters, you’ll need to keep good records. For economic damages, this means that you should keep track of all medical bills and store them in a safe place. As for noneconomic damages, you should safely maintain all medical records and diagnoses. Keep diaries that reflect your emotional state. (Your Alabama accident attorney can tell you more about this.)
Even if you keep excellent records, other factors can impact your damages. If you skip doctor’s appointments, the other driver’s lawyer could argue that your injuries weren’t really that severe. If you post happy vacation pictures to your social media accounts, the other side could argue that you weren’t really depressed. Follow your Birmingham personal injury attorney’s advice on how to protect your rights.
Should I See a Doctor for Emotional Distress After a Car Accident?
In a word, “yes.” Seeking medical treatment is one of the first things you should do after any car accident. But because emotional conditions like anxiety, PTSD, and major depressive disorder do not immediately show up after an accident, see a doctor as soon as you think you have symptoms.
Going to the doctor will protect you in several ways. First, it will serve as proof of your condition. Second, a diagnosis will make it clear that it was the accident – not work, marriage, or something else – that caused your emotional trauma. This documentation could be important whether you settle your case or go to trial. Finally, you may be entitled to receive compensation for medical bills related to your mental health treatments.
What Else Should I Know About Car Accident Damages?
Hopefully, this article has helped you learn more about the types of damages available to you after an auto accident. If you have more questions about damages after motor vehicle accidents or other personal injury matters, contact Collins Law, LLC. Our Birmingham car accident lawyer can help you with injuries after any type of accident.
To learn more about how we can help you, call 205-588-1411 or use our website’s online scheduling tool. We provide services to those looking for a car accident lawyer in Madison, Birmingham, and other areas in Alabama.
