If you’ve been in a serious auto accident, you know that money alone can’t make up for the physical and mental impacts a traffic wreck can have on you. What it can do is minimize the effects the crash has on your life in the long term by reimbursing you for specific losses you experience as a result of your injuries.
Recoverable damages after an Eatontown car accident can change dramatically from case to case since every person is different and no two crashes have exactly the same effects on the people involved in them. A skilled car accident lawyer can give you an overview of the kinds of losses that typically factor into this sort of claim and help you effectively demand compensation.
Getting Paid for Economic Losses
The first thing most people think about when they think of recovering for damages caused by an Eatontown auto accident is their personal finances—and more specifically, what things like unexpected medical bills and missed time off work have done to their personal finances. Losses like these that you can put an objective price on through things like bills or receipts are called economic damages.
In addition to emergency medical expenses and lost work income, you may also be able to seek recovery for other economic losses like the costs of car repairs, the cost of a rental car while your car is in the shop, and any other out-of-pocket expense you can trace directly back to your wreck. If insurance already covers a specific loss, you can’t recover twice for that exact same loss through a civil lawsuit you file later.
What Are Non-Economic Damages?
The other type of damages that may be recoverable after a car crash in Eatontown are non-economic damages. These are losses that you can’t assign an objective financial value to. These are sometimes referred to as pain and suffering damages because physical pain is the most common type of non-economic loss that car wreck victims try to sue for.
You can also demand compensation for other subjective forms of harm like emotional anguish, psychological trauma, and loss of life’s pleasures. However, if you have a certain type of insurance coverage, New Jersey law may prohibit you from suing for this type of harm after a car wreck unless you suffer extremely serious injuries from that wreck.
Punitive Damages in Car Crash Cases
In very rare cases, a court can also make someone pay punitive damages for the role they played in causing a car crash, specifically as a means of punishing them for their actions. By law, these damages can only be awarded in situations where someone showed reckless disregard for human life or intentionally tried to harm someone else, and if they are awarded, they’re capped at the greater of $350,000 or five times the value of all economic and non-economic damages combined.
An Eatontown Attorney Can Help Maximize Recoverable Damages After a Car Accident
Regardless of how a car crash happens, you have a right to sue for compensation from anyone who contributed to causing that crash through their own irresponsible actions. As any experienced attorney can tell you, actually getting the compensation you need can be a deceptively complicated process.
Maximizing recoverable damages after an Eatontown car accident is one of many things legal counsel can provide vital help with during the legal process. Learn more by calling Ostroff Godshall Injury and Accident Lawyers today.
