Motorcycles can be a divisive form of transportation: many people who love them build a complete lifestyle around them, while others find them intimidating to share the road with, or refuse to ride them due to the increased risk of a serious accident. Regardless of how you feel about motorcycles, though, the reality is that they are a very popular mode of transportation in Florida — and for good reason. A Destin personal injury lawyer knows that motorcycles are an invigorating way to enjoy the great weather and fantastic sights in our state, not to mention that they are an economical vehicle choice that saves on gas and costs less to keep on the road.
If you are a motorcycle rider you probably already know about the risks posed to you while on the road, which are generally attributed to other people on the road. Inexperienced or inattentive drivers may forget to check their blind spots, or might fail to notice a motorcycle before committing to a turn. These are just a few of the many examples of how drivers inadvertently collide with motorcycles after thinking that they are making a safe maneuver. It is unfortunately up to motorcycle riders to anticipate what the other drivers do in order to stay safe, and even the most defensive motorcycle driver is still at risk of an accident that they can’t avoid.
Work With Fasig | Brooks Today
The award-winning legal team at Fasig | Brooks is here to help after a motorcycle crash in Destin. If you or a loved one has been hurt or killed in an accident that someone else caused, you do not deserve to take on the burden of the impacts that this accident caused. Personal injury claims seek compensation for victims for a range of impacts, known as “damages,” including obvious things like medical bills and lost wages, and less-obvious things like emotional trauma and the actual pain and suffering of your injuries.
Working with insurance companies on your own can be overwhelming even while in perfect health, and after a motorcycle accident, it can almost feel impossible. Insurers and the adjusters you will be working directly with are focused on settling your claim for as little as possible in order to protect their own bottom line, NOT about getting you the money you are rightfully owed. In order to get a fair settlement, you will either need to work diligently to calculate all of your own damages before negotiating with the adjuster, or leave it to an experienced professional while you focus on your recovery.
Start Your Free Case Evaluation
Call Now For Your Free Consultation
We offer a free case evaluation and consultation to victims of motorcycle accidents so that we can discuss your situation. It can be overwhelming to think about what your future may hold when you are working with the insurance company on your own, and the stress of uncertainty can have a major impact on your recovery. We are dedicated to giving you emotional space to focus on your health while we work on getting you a fair settlement or preparing a court case. Regardless of which legal avenue we recover your compensation through, you can rest assured that we are working tirelessly to get you the money you deserve, and not just the money the insurance company wants to pay.
Start Your Free Case Evaluation
How Much Is Your Motorcycle Accident Worth?
Ostensibly, the insurance adjuster assigned to your claim is investigating the totality of damages you suffered, but the reality is that they are looking for the minimum amount they can pay while still resolving their legal obligation to you and avoiding any future legal issues. Even the most attentive adjuster is still working on behalf of the insurer, meaning they are incentivized to settle low, and even if they were to look for all of your damages, they simply do not have the time. The motorcycle accident attorneys at Fasig | Brooks will spend the time to go through the range of impacts on your life in order to quantify these impacts and fight to get you the money you deserve.
Compensatory damages are broken down into two distinct categories: economic, and non-economic. Each is equally important but applies to significantly different impacts on your life.
Start Your Free Case Evaluation
Understanding Economic Damages
Economic damages are the simplest to calculate, simply because they apply to anything that comes with a measurable dollar value. These damages include things like medical bills, lost wages, the cost of goods or services meant to alleviate your suffering or help you perform tasks you would otherwise do yourself, and much more. Part of how insurance companies save money is by avoiding “detail” costs, such as copayments or other minor costs, but each of these costs adds up and should absolutely be accounted for.
A big part of the support a personal injury attorney provides a client is the willingness to seek out each of these details and account for them, as well as a comprehensive understanding of which costs and losses are attributable to the accident and therefore legitimate to include in the final amount you are seeking. Although it is simple enough to tally up the final amounts of your economic damages, it is less simple to identify each and ensure that they are included.
Understanding Non-Economic Damages
Non-economic damages are more complicated to calculate than economic damages, because they seek monetary compensation for impacts that have no measurable monetary value. These damages include things like the actual pain and suffering a motorcycle rider endures after being injured in an accident, as well as the emotional impact of experiencing such a terrifying and injurious event. There are many other non-economic damages that a victim is entitled to, as well, but insurance companies work aggressively to avoid paying these amounts by questioning the calculation methods used to reach your final number. Oftentimes, a victim handling their own claim does not have the confidence in their own understanding of the law to defend their own calculations, and will simply accept the lower offer without realizing how much money they are missing out on.
Personal injury attorneys have a number of tools at their disposal to accurately calculate non-economic damages, and perhaps more importantly, have the legal understanding and knowledge to defend these calculations through settlement negotiations. Depending on your situation, we will choose the best calculation method to get you the money you truly deserve.
Start Your Free Case Evaluation
