Coconut Creek Car Accident Lawyer

In order to determine how much your accident claim is actually worth, you and your attorney will need to work closely in order to identify all of the different impacts of your accident, and then find a fair and reasonable dollar value to seek as compensation for each. Compensatory damages in personal injury claims, including car accidents, are divided into two distinct sub-categories: economic damages, and non-economic damages.

Economic damages are the basis of a personal injury claim, and are the easiest to calculate. They include all damages that have measurable dollar values, such as your medical bills and any impacts on your earnings such as time missed at work. These are the damages that the insurance company will focus on.

Non-economic damages are trickier to calculate, because they seek compensation for things that do not have measurable dollar values associated with them, and often do not have simple ways to measure the severity of the damages, to begin with. They include things like the actual pain and suffering of your injuries, and the emotional trauma that you had to endure. Your attorney will have a number of ways to reach a dollar value for these damages, and will then need to negotiate with the insurance companies.

There is no easy way to determine how long it will take to settle an insurance claim, and there is equally no certainty that you will ultimately be able to settle your case, or if you will need to take your case to the Florida courts. However, it is important to note that there is a statute of limitations that determines how long you have to take legal action for your accident. In Florida, you will have four years from the date of your accident before you will no longer be able to file a complaint with the courts.

Under no circumstances should you ever accept the initial offer from the insurance company, as it is almost guaranteed to not include any of your non-economic damages, and will avoid any long-term impacts like ongoing medical treatment, impacts to your earning capacity, and more. Have an attorney review your case and offer before you agree to anything, and the reality is that you will benefit from having a lawyer representing your case from day one.