By C. James Williams III, Principal, Burnett & Williams

Being involved in a major accident can change your life in an instant. Although many people recover from their injuries and rebuild their lives after an accident, some people suffer from catastrophic injuries that leave them facing the consequences of their injuries for the rest of their lives.

Victims with catastrophic injuries often see the biggest settlement amounts when they file a lawsuit. If you are looking for help with a Virginia personal injury settlement after a serious injury like a traumatic brain injury or spinal cord injury, working with a lawyer who has extensive experience handling cases like yours can be an important step toward pursuing fair compensation for your case.

One of the biggest stigmas that insurance companies try to use against personal injury plaintiffs is that they are just looking to get rich. However, the legal system has protections in place to prevent defendants from filing frivolous or unfounded lawsuits.

The truth is that the settlements that personal injury victims receive, including those for hundreds of thousands or even millions of dollars, are designed to be fair compensation for the damages they have suffered due to someone else’s negligence.

Components of fair compensation in a personal injury settlement

Medical expenses

The biggest component of a personal injury settlement is medical bills. When someone has been involved in a major accident, such as a car accident, truck accident, or other auto accident, their medical bills can skyrocket quickly. A visit to the emergency room itself can cost thousands of dollars, and that’s without being admitted to the hospital. If a victim has to have any major procedures done, like surgery, the costs of getting medical care after an accident can be astronomical.

Medical expenses become even more substantial when they involve long-term care for victims. If a victim has a long-term rehabilitation process that includes a stay in outpatient rehabilitation, the cost can easily climb into the multiple thousands (or even tens of thousands) of dollars.

When an injury is severe enough to cause long-term effects like paralysis, victims may also need in-home caretakers indefinitely. Some people never recover fully from their injuries and require ongoing care and management for pain and suffering for the rest of their lives, and a fair settlement must account for this.

Lost wages and future earnings

Another major component of a personal injury settlement is lost wages. After a victim is injured in an accident, they often have to miss time off work to recover. If they’re lucky, this may be just a few days or weeks, but in some cases, it takes entire months for someone to recover from a catastrophic injury. Especially if a victim has to take unpaid medical leave, this can cause a significant financial burden that they should be compensated for.

If someone suffers a permanent injury, they may also experience a loss of their future earning capacity. For example, if an injury causes severe pain that restricts mobility or even paralysis, and the victim previously had a job that required them to work on their feet, they may lose the ability to make a living in the future. A victim should not have to live the rest of their lives without an income because of an accident that was the fault of the defendant.

Caretaking

Another cost that many people don’t think about is the potential loss of companionship and household duties, particularly in wrongful death cases or serious injuries resulting in incapacitation, in which the victim was a homemaker. If the victim was responsible for duties like cooking or childcare, they may not have “lost income,” but there is a cost to replacing these services, and it can be quite expensive. A fair settlement should include compensation for these types of damages.

For accident victims who hope to pursue meaningful compensation for their accident case, working with an experienced personal injury attorney is often important. A good personal injury lawyer will have experience negotiating with insurance companies and advocating on behalf of injured clients. If your lawyer is also a skilled trial attorney, that can be beneficial for your personal injury case, as insurance adjusters may be more inclined to settle when they recognize the risk of going to trial.

Working with a Virginia personal injury lawyer

If you are a Virginia personal injury victim looking for help with your settlement, consider reaching out to a personal injury law firm for a consultation. Experienced lawyers can review your case and determine whether they are the right fit to advocate for your rights and pursue the compensation you may be entitled to.

Jim Williams is a graduate of George Mason University Law School, where he distinguished himself as a member of the law review with a published article and was the commencement speaker for his graduating class. He has practiced insurance defense through both private practice and as counsel to a major insurance company, where he gained extensive experience as a trial attorney, giving him wide-ranging expertise in the complexities of Virginia insurance law and knowledge of how the defense side approaches litigation. Jim Williams joined Burnett & Williams in 2006 as the lead partner in the Richmond area, with offices in Midlothian, Hopewell, and Richmond, Virginia.

 

Disclaimer: The information in this article is for general informational purposes only and is not legal advice. Reading this does not create an attorney-client relationship. For advice regarding your specific situation, please consult a licensed attorney in your jurisdiction.