How Can You Tell What A Bicycle Accident Case Is Worth?

 

If you’re in a bicycle accident, you will almost certainly face a few financial challenges. If you’ve been injured and have had to seek medical treatment, then you will have medical bills — some of which may be ongoing, depending on how much care you need to fully recover.

You might miss work and not get paid for a while. You might need to start going to counseling or physical therapy, which may or may not be covered by insurance. You might need to hire help for childcare or jobs around the house you can’t do yourself for a while (or at all anymore).

The costs of being in a bicycle accident can really add up, and most of them aren’t very clear to you right away — if at all. Hiring an attorney to help you with your case can help you figure out what your bicycle accident case is worth, so that you get covered for *all* of the expenses that come along with being in an accident.

 

Figuring out what your case is worth

The money that you are paid in a case settlement is for something called damages. Damages are the costs that you have paid, or the losses you have suffered, for having been in an accident.

There are two kinds of damages, and they determine how much your bicycle accident case is worth. The two kinds of damages are economic and non-economic.

An attorney can look at your case — what happened, what bills you’ve paid, what challenges you’ve suffered — and help you determine how much it is worth or, in other words, how much you should be owed by the insurance company of the at-fault driver.

If you had fairly minor injuries, your damages might just be a few medical bills. Some people prefer to negotiate getting these covered on their own, so that they don’t have to pay an attorney, and if your damages are fairly small, that is often worth it.

However, if you have suffered major injuries — or if your life has otherwise been significantly affected by your accident — then it can be helpful to bring in an attorney to help you outline exactly what your case is worth by assessing exactly what damages you are owed. Here is how we figure out your damages.

 

Economic damages

Economics damages are the reasonable costs incurred by you from the accident. These include medical bills, property damage, lost wages, etc. It’s the money you have the spend to put yourself back together after the accident.

These are calculated fairly simply: we just look at what you have paid (or what you will be expected to pay, or what your insurance company has paid) and that makes up your economic damages.

 

Non-economic damages

Non-economic damages are more complicated to calculate when figuring out what your case is worth. Why? Because non-economic damages aren’t measured in numbers like medical bills and repair costs.

Non-economic damages include things like pain and suffering, and loss of enjoyment of life.

Pain and suffering include the pain of the actual accident itself, any ongoing pain you experience as a result of your injuries, and/or mental pain caused by anxiety related to your accident. Loss of enjoyment of life deals with things like an inability to keep up with daily household chores, losing the ability to ride your bike, or having a cancel a trip because of your injuries.

Even though these damages aren’t as easily quantified, they are significant. In fact, for most people, the emotional pain of being in a bicycle accident far outweighs the financial burdens they are faced with.

Most people cannot grasp how much these kinds of damages are worth, even given how significantly emotional suffering can devastate a person who was once lively and active. That’s why, if you’ve been in a serious accident, we always recommend that you at least have a free consultation with an attorney who can help you understand what your case could be worth.

You may be entitled to much more than you think — you are a person, and your case is about your life, not just your bills. Finding out what damages you could make a case for could help you see the value in pursuing a case for your accident.

 

Interested in finding out how much your bicycle accident case is worth?

You can contact our team anytime and speak with a lawyer, 100% free and confidentially. Use our contact form, or give us a call at 415-466-8717.