Bodily Injury Damages
Damages for bodily injuries refers to any costs or losses associated with the bodily injuries you sustained as a result of the car wreck.
Damages Drive Case Value
The type of damages for which you may be entitled to financial compensation largely depends on your injuries.
All injuries inherently cause hardships and therefore open the door for financial compensation.
However, more serious and long-term injuries typically result in the recovery of more damages.
Common Long-Term Injuries
- Whiplash: Neck pain and stiffness that can persist for months or years.
- Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI): Long-term cognitive and physical impairments.
- Spinal Cord Injuries: Paralysis or chronic pain.
- Broken Bones: Complications from fractures and surgeries.
- Psychological Trauma: PTSD, anxiety, and depression.
Each of these injuries can have a significant impact on your physical abilities, mental health, ability to work and maintain your income, and your personal relationships
Common Recoverable damages
Because of the impact these injuries can have on your life, the law provides ways to try to remedy or make you whole by providing compensation. Below are some of the most common damages recoverable for bodily injuries:
Medical Expenses
Out of Pocket Expenses
Out of Pocket Expenses
Costs of past medical care, ongoing treatment, rehabilitation, and medication. In addition to medical bills, this also covers mileage reimbursement, prescriptions, and costs of parking if you have to pay to park in a location related to your medical care (i.e. a parking deck at a doctor’s office, metered parking outside of the pharmacy, etc.). Additionally, you may be entitled to payment for the anticipated cost of future medical treatment.
Out of Pocket Expenses
Out of Pocket Expenses
Out of Pocket Expenses
This pertains to money you may spend as a result of your injuries that you otherwise would not have spent. For example, you had to purchase a special pillow to sleep comfortably because of a neck injury.
Pain & Suffering
Out of Pocket Expenses
Pain & Suffering
Damages for physical pain, emotional distress, and loss of enjoyment of life. This encompasses mental and emotional pain and suffering, physical pain and suffering, or both. The most common types of pain and suffering that arise from personal injuries include actual physical pain, anxiety, depression, fear, post-traumatic stress, and loss of enjoyment of life.
Lost Wages
Loss of Earning Capacity
Pain & Suffering
Compensation for past, current and future lost income. An award of payment for lost wages requires proof that the injured party was employed at the time of the wreck, a doctor’s note stating that the injured party cannot work, and proof that the injured party in fact did not work after the wreck.
Loss of Earning Capacity
Loss of Earning Capacity
Loss of Earning Capacity
Loss of earning capacity: There are instances where the nature of the injury permanently prevents an individual from performing their job or permanently reduces their overall capabilities. Consequently, that individual has potentially lost his or her ability to continue earning the kind of money that they were earning prior to their accident, and the law allows them to receive compensation for that.
Punitive Damages
Loss of Earning Capacity
Loss of Earning Capacity
Unlike the other damages that are paid to compensate an injured victim or their spouse, punitive damages are actually paid to an injured victim in order to punish the at fault driver for his or her actions. Examples of cases where an award of punitive damages is typically appropriate are DUIs, hit and run accidents, and reckless driving.
Home Modification Costs
Scarring & Disfigurement
Scarring & Disfigurement
Costs for necessary changes made to the home to accommodate for disabilities.
Scarring & Disfigurement
Scarring & Disfigurement
Scarring & Disfigurement
Obvious physical changes to your body as a result of your injuries.
Proving damages
Get the compensation you deserve
Proving damages can be tricky, so you need an experienced attorney to fight for maximum compensation.
Past & Future Medical Expenses
Medical expenses are proven through medical bills, estimates for future medical procedures, medical cost projections, and life care plans, and testimony of medical experts regarding the need for past and future costs.
Out of Pocket Costs
Receipts for all transactions related to your wreck and injuries.
Pain and Suffering
Testimony or affidavits from you, your family, and friends about how the wreck has affected you physically and mentally. Medical records documenting your ongoing pain, expert testimony regarding pain associated with your injuries, and expert testimony regarding anxiety associated with your car wreck are also used to prove pain and suffering.
Scarring and Disfigurement
Photos of injuries and medical records documenting the nature of your injuries.
Lost Wages
Medical bills can show how often you were required to miss work to attend doctors’ appointments. Medical records can also provide proof of temporary or permanent restrictions on your ability to work and notate if and when your doctor advised you not to work. Pay stubs and statements from your employer are used to show your usual wages and prove employment the amount of time missed and wages lost.
Loss of Earning Capacity
Medical records can provide proof of temporary or permanent restrictions on your ability to work. Testimony from an expert in your field can offer evidence about the physical capabilities that are required to perform your job. Pay stubs and proof of wages for your particular job position can be compared with proof of wages for other positions that you qualify for to show lower earning potential.
Home Modifications
Expert testimony from a life care planner. Medical records supporting the level of injury and disability. Receipts of actual work completed on your home.
Loss of Consortium
Testimony of your spouse.
Punitive Damages
Georgia law provides that punitive damages are appropriate if the injured party can prove by clear and convincing evidence that the at-fault party’s actions amounted to willful misconduct, malice, fraud, wantonness, oppression, and the conscious disregard to negative consequences. Some actions such as driving under the influence are by their very nature prima facie evidence of conduct that warrants an award of punitive damages.
Protect your rights
Insurance companies will look for any excuse not to pay the full value of your claim, which is why you need an experienced attorney to fight back against any defenses they may try to assert.
Defenses Against Payment For Damages
You were entirely at fault
You were partially at fault
You were partially at fault
If you were in fact at fault, then this is an obvious defense. However, sometimes the actual at-fault driver will tell their insurance company that you were at fault to prevent a rise in their insurance cost and the insurance company may believe them and outright deny liability. This can happen even if the police report lists the other driver as being at fault for the wreck.
You were partially at fault
You were partially at fault
You were partially at fault
Comparative fault, or comparative negligence, is a legal principle that reduces the amount of compensation an injured victim can receive based on their percentage of fault in an accident. Georgia follows what is called a “Modified Comparative Negligence” rule, meaning that if you are partially at fault, your financial recovery is reduced by your percentage of fault. However, if you are 50% or more at fault, you lose the right to any recovery whatsoever.
At-fault driver is excluded
You were partially at fault
Pre-Existing Injuries/Degenerative Injuries
Some insurance policies contain language that states that if a driver isn’t specifically listed as a named insured, they are excluded meaning that the insurance policy does not cover payment for damages caused by that driver. Other times a particular driver may be specifically listed as an excluded driver and therefore the policy doesn’t cover damages they caused.
Pre-Existing Injuries/Degenerative Injuries
Pre-Existing Injuries/Degenerative Injuries
Pre-Existing Injuries/Degenerative Injuries
One of the most common defenses used by insurance adjusters to avoid paying for a particular injury is that the injury was “pre-existing” or that the source of pain and discomfort is not because of the wreck, but rather because of “degenerative issues”, meaning issues that have worsened over time.
Failure To Mitigate Damages
Pre-Existing Injuries/Degenerative Injuries
Statute Of Limitations Expired
Even if the other driver admits that they were at fault for the car wreck, Georgia law requires an injured victim to take steps to prevent or minimize their damages to a reasonable degree. For example, if you are claiming lost wages because you lost your job as a result of your injuries, you may be required to show that you have attempted to find another job that you can perform with similar pay.
Statute Of Limitations Expired
Pre-Existing Injuries/Degenerative Injuries
Statute Of Limitations Expired
A statute of limitations is a legal deadline for filing a lawsuit or initiating legal proceedings in relation to an alleged offense. For a car accident case in Georgia, the statute of limitations is 2 years from the date of the accident (or for a fatal wreck, 2 years from the date of death). If two years has passed since your wreck (or since a loved one’s date of death) before you file your claim, the insurance company will deny the claim entirely.
Medical Emergency
Policy Not In Effect
Policy Not In Effect
If another driver causes a wreck while having a seizure, heart attack, etc., the insurance company may argue that their insured is not liable due to emergency medical circumstances beyond their control.
Policy Not In Effect
Policy Not In Effect
Policy Not In Effect
If the at-fault driver’s insurance policy was expired on the date of the wreck, the insurance company will deny the claim on the basis of no active insurance coverage on the date of the accident.
Role of an injury attorney
Fighting back against the insurance company’s defenses to ensure that your claim is ultimately accepted.
Ensuring that all applicable damages are accounted for, calculating all damages, and ensuring that your damages reflect your long-term needs.
Compiling all necessary evidence to prove your damages.
Presenting your damages to the insurance company in an organized, cohesive manner.
Representing you in court and presenting your damages to a judge or jury if necessary
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