August 9, 2021

How Much Will I Receive After a Car Accident in Springfield, IL?

Posted in: Car Accidents

Financial compensation for a car accident varies with each unique case. But amounts are often heavily based on the extent and severity of your injuries.

Calculating the precise value of car accident claims can get complicated when you consider all the losses and damages your injuries lead to, so it’s important to document everything you can. Keep reading to learn how car accident victims in Springfield, IL, can maximize potential compensation.

How Are the Value of Car Accident Claims Determined?

When determining how much your car accident claim is worth, you must consider various losses and damages. This includes economic damages, like hospital bills and car repairs. But you also need to determine the value of your emotional damages, such as pain and suffering.

Add Your Economic Damages

Economic damages are losses with a fixed monetary value:

  • Costs of increased insurance premiums
  • Medical care (current and future)
  • Medical equipment (current and future)
  • Other healthcare expenses in the future
  • Unexpected childcare expenses
  • Costs of maintaining your household
  • Diminished earning potential

You also have the right to recover for losses that have no fixed monetary value. These are your non-economic damages.

With Non-Economic Damages

Non-economic damages are also called emotional damages. Although these losses are less tangible, they are valuable because they indicate the emotional pain caused by the crash.

For example, a marathon runner who cannot race due to injuries from a car accident has the right to seek compensation for this loss.

Other non-economic damages:

  • Mental anguish
  • Loss of companionship and love
  • Loss of society and support
  • Skin scarring
  • Disfigurement
  • Inconvenience
  • Damage to your reputation
  • Diminished quality of life
  • Physical pain and suffering

The Multiplier Method is Frequently Used

Sometimes an insurance company or the court uses a system to determine compensation called the multiplier method.

First, they assign a value to your economic damages, adding your current expenses to date and estimating future needs, such as rehabilitation or prescriptions. Then, the insurer or the court considers your non-economic or emotional damage. They combine your actual losses with anticipated future damages and multiply that by a number from 1.5 to five. The total is your projected compensation.

Who Pays & How to Recover It?

Car accident victims usually start their quest for compensation with an insurance claim against the driver who caused the crash. Illinois is a fault state for car accidents.

The insurance company is only required to compensate you for specific economic damages. Furthermore, the insurer is only obligated to pay out up to the policy limits.

When medical expenses and other economic damages exceed the policy limits, you will probably have to file a personal injury lawsuit to pursue additional compensation. Likewise, you will probably need to sue if you want to be compensated for your emotional damages.

Get Help From a Car Accident Lawyer in Springfield, IL

Do you want to find out how much your car accident claim is worth? Contact an experienced Springfield, IL car accident lawyer at Staver Accident Injury Lawyers, P.C.

For a free, no-obligation consultation in Springfield and the state of Illinois, call 312-236-2900, or use our online contact form.