How Do Attorneys Determine Fair Offers for Motorcycle Accidents?

When you or a loved one is injured in a motorcycle accident, you have the right to seek compensation through a personal injury claim. However, the settlement amount you ask for varies based on the severity of your injuries, your calculable accident-related expenses, and non-economic losses you suffer from the collision.

Personal injury attorneys help severely injured motorcycle accident victims recover damages from negligent drivers who cause their injuries. Work with a personal injury attorney from Catalano Law to help calculate a fair claim for your injury accident.

We may use medical records, future medical cost estimates, formulas for pain and suffering, and expert guidance to determine fair compensation.

Calculating Economic Damages

Motorcycle accidents often cause more severe injuries than auto accidents, resulting in higher medical expenses for collision victims.

Your lawyer will determine the value of economic damages by adding up your accident-related medical costs, anticipated course of treatment, statistics for patients with similar injuries, and necessary home modifications for you to move around safely.

Medical bills

Medical bills include everything from the ambulance ride to your last follow-up appointment. All treatment you receive from a medical provider regarding your accident injuries can be used to calculate your settlement claim. Information from your medical records can also help determine the probable future cost of your care.

Medications

Your doctors might prescribe medications to control pain, infection, seizures, anxiety, depression, or other conditions related to your injuries. Medication costs factor into your settlement amount.

Therapy

Physical therapy helps regain mobility and manage pain; occupational therapy helps you learn to perform activities of daily living. Speech therapy enables you to regain the ability to speak. Mental health therapy helps you deal with the trauma and manage your moods and emotions. Your lawyer will factor any type of therapy you receive into your potential award.

Lost wages and loss of earning capacity

Your lawyer can help you get compensated for your lost wages while you recover. They can also help you if you can’t return to work for the same income as before the injury.

For insurance claims, you can only receive up to 80% of lost wages, capped at $2,000 per month for up to three years; however, if you meet the serious injury threshold, you can sue for the total of all lost wages and earning capacity in a personal injury lawsuit.

Out-of-pocket costs

Your lawyer can include costs incurred to cover transportation to and from your appointments, assistive devices you need to maintain your mobility or speech, and modifications to your home that keep you safe.

Long-term nursing care

Some injuries, such as spinal cord and traumatic brain injuries, typically require long-term nursing care in your home or a facility. A severe traumatic brain injury (TBI), for example, might cause you to be hospitalized for a month or more, followed by a rehabilitation facility where you regain the skills and strength necessary to go home.

TBIs and spinal cord injuries increase your living expenses, reduce your quality of life, and cost thousands of dollars in long-term care and rehabilitation. Your lawyer can factor these elements into consideration when formulating your claim amount.

Determining Non-economic Damage Amounts

Your attorney will calculate non-economic damages based on the amount of physical pain and mental anguish you suffer, in addition to long-term losses caused by severe and permanent injuries. They might consult medical and economic experts to help with this process.

Although New York does not have a standardized formula for determining non-economic damages, lawyers typically use a multiplier method to arrive at a fair settlement amount. Your attorney can multiply your economic damages by a number, typically between three and five, for your claim amount.

Physical pain

Some injuries cause intense pain, such as burns and fractures. Treatment can exacerbate that pain. Being stuck in bed for days, weeks, or months comes with its kind of pain. Your lawyer will include pain and suffering in your claim.

Mental anguish

Severe physical pain causes mental suffering. Hospital stays, the feeling of isolation, uncertainty about your future abilities, and the stress of worrying about finances add to the hell. You may also experience mental conditions like PTSD, which can add to the amount your lawyer asks for regarding mental anguish.

Loss of enjoyment of life

The loss of your ability to perform usual activities, such as sports, social activities, household chores, and parental duties, can cause significant emotional distress. This factor is calculated into your total settlement amount.

Loss of consortium

Suppose you lose the ability to help around the house, raise your kids, be intimate with your partner, or provide the same level of companionship as before the accident. In that case, your partner or children may have a loss of consortium claim.

A severe TBI might require multiple surgeries, which translates to numerous recoveries. Time in the hospital and rehab facility means time away from most of your social support system and the pain of recovery.

With the help of expert consultations, your legal team can quantify these damages. They can also call expert witnesses to testify if it becomes necessary.

Catalano Law Has Extensive Experience

The Syracuse motorcycle injury attorneys at Catalano Law understand the severity of injuries motorcyclists sustain and the prejudice they face from police, insurance adjusters, and juries. We can help you get the settlement you deserve by asking for an amount reflecting the physical and emotional fallout from your accident and having expert witnesses back up your claim.