Many people, in our experience, simply want fair payment for their injuries from a car accident. They donâ ™t intend to get rich or acquire something for nothing. However, what is the definition of â śfair compensation?â ť

A standard doesnâ ™t exist for calculating the amount of compensation you can collect. Many different factors are taken into account, whether by your attorney and the insurance carrier in talks or by trial, in determining the right level of payment. These factors include severity of the accident, how severe the injuries are, impact of the injuries on the victimâ ™s employment and day-to-day life, and extent of medical care, just to name a few. Aggravating factors including drunk driving can both speed up payment and affect the settlement amount.

Fair compensation certainly involves more than just reimbursement for your costs of medical treatment. Under Texas law, a personal injury victim may collect payment forâ ”

â ˘ Costs of medical treatment already incurred,

â ˘ Medical expenses to be incurred in the future,

â ˘ Lost salary,

â ˘ Loss of earning capacity,

â ˘ Physical pain,

â ˘ Mental or emotional suffering,

â ˘ Physical impairment,

â ˘ Property damage, and

â ˘ Other losses.

In some cases, the injured personâ ™s family members may be entitled to payment, depending on how severe the injuries are and their reliance on the injured person.

You are entitled to payment for medical bills even if those bills already have been paid by your health insurance coverage. This also holds true for lost wages, even if you take sick days or receive workerâ ™s compensation benefits.

This, however, is not a windfall or double recovery. First, under a principle called as â śsubrogationâ ť your health insurance coverage (based on the plan documents) and your companyâ ™s workersâ ™ compensation carrier (under Texas law) may be entitled to reimbursement from your recovery for what they pay out. Therefore, in order to be adequately compensated you need maximum payment from car insurance just in case your health insurer or workersâ ™ comp carrier makes a subrogation claim against your recovery.

Second, if the at-fault driverâ ™s insurance carrier limits your injury compensation simply because you have paid for health coverage, or paid increased car insurance premiums for â śPIPâ ť coverage (Personal Injury Protection), or have attained sick leave or paid vacation, the adverse insurance carrier is taking unfair advantage of the fact that you are a responsible individual and hard worker. If your sick days are completely spent because of harm incurrend from the car accident, that time will not be usable for other types of health problems. If you sacrifice to obtain extra coverage, the at-fault driverâ ™s insurer should not take advantage of you.

In the end, you obtain a greater amount of payment with good legal representation than you would by going it alone. In fact, we believe that in the end you keep more dollars with a personal injury lawyer, even after attorney fees and expenses are deducted, than you normally could get on your own without an attorney. Until you retain a trial attorney, the insurance carrier is unlikely to provide fair compensation because the insurer knows that you wonâ ™t be ready to take your case to trial.