Are You Suffering Pain After a Car Accident in Colorado Springs or Las Vegas? Our Lawyers Will Help You Get the Compensation You Deserve.
An accident can be traumatic. Whether it is a little fender bender or something more serious. Our brains are wired in a way that creates a response to events that have the possibility of causing us harm. Depending on the response, you may suffer from some form of trauma. But in the hassle of speaking to insurance companies to get your car fixed, or an attorney to help you make a claim, you can often miss the underlying symptoms that something has gone wrong– something with more longevity.
Two types of personal injury can occur from a car accident – short-term and long-term injuries. Short-term injuries typically last less than 3-6 months. Whereas long-term injury, or chronic injury, can impact you for years, if not for life. It may not be clear from day 1 that you have long term injuries following a car accident, but if you do then you have a right to compensation.
Insurers will often try to influence you to settle your case very early on. Offering you an enticing settlement figure that looks shiny and interesting today. But in reality, it will only cover short term suffering. Chronic illness has the potential to cost you tens of thousands of dollars through medical bills and adjustments required for your home. Taking an early settlement figure may leave you footing the bill should you need long-term medical support.
This is why you should speak to a personal injury attorney before you accept a settlement offer.
What are long term injuries?
You may have already assumed that a long-term injury is either whiplash or losing a limb. But in reality, there is a broad spectrum of pain and suffering that falls under this category. It could be physical problems such as:
- Back pain
- Herniated Disk
- Spinal Injuries
- Muscle strain
- Tissue Damage
These physical injuries can really get in the way of day to day life. They might need you to make adjustments to your home, such as a special mattress or bed to help with getting up in the morning. You may need to install a stairlift or make adjustments to your car to help with driving. You might work in construction and can no longer do your job properly because your back simply can’t take the weight of lifting heavy objects.
Long term pain also can include long term mental or emotional pain such as PTSD. Remember what we said about trauma? Well, the best example of this is PTSD or posttraumatic stress disorder. You may have found that you struggle to focus following a car crash; maybe you have developed anxiety or have flashbacks to the accident? These are all symptoms of PTSD and can have serious impacts on the way that you live your life. PTSD can also get in the way of relationships and employment. It may have led to the breakdown of your marriage or being laid off because you aren’t able to produce the same quality of work that you before once were.
Both physical and mental symptoms may not have appeared immediately. Regardless, you should not have to live with them, and you may be entitled to compensation.
When symptoms start to get in the way of day-to-day life, it’s a sign that you need to take legal action.
When this is the case, you need to find a personal injury attorney who will work with you and your situation, without forcing you to attend meetings and make calls at inopportune times or go through the wringer to even get a phone call!
What can I make a claim for?
Claiming in a chronic personal injury case has many factors. The compensation that you may be entitled to is dependent on your circumstances. This is why it is important not to settle your case before you speak with an attorney.
Typically, there are a couple of different components to a claim:
- Medical expenses. Every appointment, consultation, surgery, or prescription that you need to have for your pain is an out of pocket expense that you can claim for. We will consider the longevity of your condition and calculate these costs going forward.
- Damages and out of pocket expenses. This is more than the cost to repair your car. It can also include your attorney fees and legal expenses. It may also include the cost of buying new quality of life resources for your home.
- Loss of earnings. If you broke your arm in a crash, or you have long term back pain, then you may not be able to do your job. It is not your fault that you cannot work and so you can make a claim to recover these lost earnings. This is one of the easier parts of the compensation calculation to figure out.
- Pain and suffering. We need to figure out what were you able to do that you can’t anymore. Are you unable to go for a daily run anymore? Maybe you played tennis at the weekend or go watched your kids play soccer. Or this could be something more heartbreaking like being unable to pick up your children for a hug. What are the things that you do, because you have to, but it has been made more difficult? Do you need a painkiller to do your job? We will calculate your condition’s impact on your life, then calculate a monetary value from there.
You may not know from the very beginning how much you will be out of pocket. You may have initially thought that you would be out of work for a month, but in reality, it has been much longer. You will get a better understanding of the real impact of your situation as time goes on.
You may not know how long pain and suffering are going to affect your life right now. As time goes on you will get a better understanding of whether this is going to be a 1 month, 6 months, 5 years, or life long impact.
Damages differ depending on whether you have a broken finger or a broken femur. One will take a lot longer to fix than the other.
How should I prepare for my personal injury claim?
Carefully. That is the word we would use in long term injury cases. You only have one shot at compensation for your injuries. If you are looking at a life long ailment, then you must tread carefully. If you work with our team at Kim Welch Law, we will start to construct the best case possible from day one. We will create a well thought out and thorough case by talking to you and your family members. We will speak with medical experts, and expert witnesses to figure out the impact and put a specific dollar amount to your claim. You can speak to us today for a free consultation at (888) 590-5510 or by completing our contact form.
You should not take a settlement offer without speaking with an expert personal injury attorney first. Statistically speaking, personal injury claim results are around 40% higher when you work with an attorney. When you are dealing with a possible lifelong injury, this extra settlement is vital to help with future medical bills and possible living adjustments.
You should also speak to a medical professional to understand the extent of your injuries. This could include a psychologist or psychiatrist if you have PTSD. They can offer both help and diagnosis.
From the beginning you should record any expenses too, and keep receipts. If you cannot drive because you broke your leg in the crash, then keep your Uber or Lyft receipts. Medical, physiotherapist, or alternative medicine bills should also be recorded. Not every insurer will reimburse the cost of seeing an acupuncturist, but if they do reimburse these expenses, it is good to have a paper trail.
Keeping a journal is a very good idea to explain the extent of your pain and suffering. Writing down what you can’t do now where you could before is an invaluable resource for a claim. The same goes for recording your pain levels each day. It has also been a proven technique in helping to handle chronic conditions.
Each of these tools is very helpful in creating evidence for your claim, but making sure that you take your time is the most important factor of all. In most cases, you only have 3 years to make a car accident personal injury claim in Colorado and 2 years in Nevada. Yet this does not mean that you should rush into it.
Speak with a personal injury attorney today to figure out the right course of action. A dedicated and experienced attorney will be able to guide you through the process and fight for the maximum compensation possible. We would be honored if you called our team at Kim Welch Law today at (888) 590-5510 to discuss your claim. Kim has decades of experience in personal injury, both working for insurance companies and now representing you, the injured party, to get the best result possible.
No matter the amount of compensation that you receive, it will never be a replacement for the freedom that you had before you were injured. However, you still deserve to get a fair and maximum value from your claim.
We pride ourselves on working with our clients to make the process as smooth and pain-free as possible. If you are suffering from any form of trauma following a crash that wasn’t your fault, then jumping through hoops for a phone call with your attorney is the last thing you’ll want to do. Our clients are our top priority, and so we will work with you in a way that is comfortable and convenient.
So please get in touch today if you need legal representation. We will fight like a bulldog to help you get the compensation that you deserve. To try and make sure that you will not go out of pocket and that you can live comfortably following a traumatic event. You can get in touch with our team by completing our short contact form or by calling (888) 590-5510 today. We look forward to your call.