What is a Good Settlement for a Rear-End Collision in New York City?

After an accident, injury victims are typically looking to get through any insurance claims or injury lawsuits as quickly as they can so that they can make sure they have the money needed to pay for their damages.  One question that is usually on the mind of the victim of a rear-end car accident is how much their case is worth and how much they should end up being able to settle for.

Generally, it is impossible to determine how much any injury case should be worth without examining the particular facts of the case.  In any settlement, you want to make sure that your medical bills, the wages you lost because of your injury, and the other expenses related to your accident are paid for in full.  Without having an attorney review the specific facts of your case and the specific damages you incurred, it is difficult to say what would be a good settlement for your case – but we can go over some details that can help you understand whether the offer you have received is good enough.

For a free review of your case, call The Carrion Law Firm’s New York City car accident attorneys today at (718) 841-0083.

What Damages Should Be Covered in a Settlement for a Rear-End Crash in NYC?

After a car accident, injury victims should typically seek to have the following damages paid for:

Medical Expenses

Calculating something like medical bills is often simple enough because the hospital will send you bills asking you to pay for the services they rendered, and you can simply total these bills up.  The same is true of any other doctor, therapist, or specialist bills you face because of your accident.  However, understanding how much of these bills should be covered is often confusing.

Generally, your no-fault car insurance will cover only a percentage of these bills, but our Rochester car accident attorneys can fight to get you full compensation from the at-fault driver and their insurance company if you suffered “serious injuries” in your accident.

These damages can also be confusing because you might not know if you should claim the full value of the hospital bill, the value after your health insurance discounted the bills, what was left over after your auto insurance covered you, or some other amount.  Our attorneys can advise you on which of these values would be fair in a settlement.

Lost Wages

If you missed work, you should be able to claim the value of those lost wages against the at-fault driver.  Again, your own insurance might cover some portion of these bills, leaving you with some of the damages already paid.  However, ongoing lost wages and lost future earning capacity brought on by the accident can also be claimed as damages – and it can be much more difficult to calculate these values.

Often, our New York City car accident lawyers will have to hire economic experts to prove these damages with enough certainty to convince a judge and jury to award them.  If you are settling your injury case, it might take even more convincing to get the other side to accept the value you need to claim as a fair settlement.

Rear-end collisions often cause whiplash and back injuries, which might mean extended leaves of absence from work to deal with these effects.  This could potentially make lost wage damages higher than expected in a rear-end accident.

Pain and Suffering

Many people have heard the phrase “pain and suffering” but might have no idea how much these damages are worth.  Often, pain and suffering is calculated by using some multiple of your other damages in your case, which means that more severe injuries receive higher pain and suffering damages.  Often, our Bronx car accident lawyers will be tasked with proving certain elements of pain and suffering, such as mental anguish or lost enjoyment of life, in order to get our clients damages specifically for those aspects of pain and suffering.

Again, since whiplash and back injuries are common, many rear-end accident victims face extensive pain and suffering.  These injuries might not require extensive medical bills to treat them but could nonetheless leave you with ongoing pain, making proving these pain and suffering damages more difficult.

Keep in mind that pain and suffering is typically only available if you suffered “serious injuries,” and you should have an attorney review your case to see if these damages can be included as part of your settlement in the first place.

Property Damage

After a crash, many drivers are concerned with repair bills even if they have much higher expenses to deal with for medical care and lost wages.  Generally, rear-end collisions that occurred at speeds high enough to cause the driver or passengers serious injuries will also result in serious damage to the vehicle.  Often, these kinds of rear-end collisions are enough to crush the back end of your car or bend the chassis, which is often enough to consider a vehicle totaled.

If your car is totaled, then the settlement damages for your vehicle should include the full remaining value of your vehicle.  If the car is not totaled, then the full repair cost should be included in your settlement.

Other property damage costs can also be included, such as coverage for your clothes or cell phone damaged in the crash.

Call Our Lawyers for Help with a Rear-End Accident Settlement in New York

If you were hurt in a rear-end accident, call our Brookhaven car accident attorneys at (718) 841-0083 for a free case evaluation.  At The Carrion Law Firm, we can help you understand what your settlement should be worth.