Walking away from a car accident can feel like a miracle in itself. That said, not every car accident puts you in mortal peril. Minor car accidents may not leave you with broken bones or severe property damage, but they can still prove inconvenient in the long run. What rights do you have, though, if your car accident resulted in only minor losses?
According to Indiana’s position on duty of care, you still have the right to investigate your accident and take a personal injury case to civil court. The question is, however, how much money can you get for your minor car accident? Fortunately, you can discuss the total value of your case and the fine details of the legal process with Vaughan & Vaughan.
Calculating Possible Damages After a Minor Car Accident
So long as you have the evidence on hand to prove you suffered specific losses after a minor car accident, you can demand compensation for those damages from a liable party. The damages to which you may be entitled can include:
Economic Damages
The economic damages you deserve after a minor car accident should help you cover the bills related to your immediate recovery. This can include coverage for your:
- Property repair and restoration
- Vehicular rental fees, if applicable
- Medical expenses and at-home pain management/living aids
- Wages lost while taking time away from work to recover
If you want to demand compensation for these losses, you need to present evidence that they’ve impacted your overall quality of life. You can bring forward bills, invoices, or other expense-related data to help our attorneys establish a sum of your accident’s expenses. We can then present that data to a judge to prove your right to financial support.
Non-Economic Damages
A minor car accident’s non-economic losses do not generate bills. That doesn’t mean that they don’t have an impact on your day-to-day life, though. Your non-economic losses can include your sense of personal safety, your stress levels, and your overall mental health. You deserve compensation if someone else’s negligence compromises your emotional well-being.
Because these losses don’t generate a paper trail, though, they can prove difficult to quantify. Fortunately, our team has a lot of experience assigning dollar values to non-economic losses. You can bring your perceived losses to our team and count on us to integrate those into an overall estimate of your case’s value.
Punitive Damages
It’s unlikely that you’ll benefit from punitive damages after a minor car accident. Then again, neither you nor your attorney get to decide whether or not these damages get integrated into your case. The right to award punitive damages falls to an attending judge.
If a judge thinks that the party liable for your losses engaged in gross negligence or inappropriately reckless behavior, they may apply punitive damages to your request for financial support. You can expect a judge to discuss these damages during a traditional trial if the judge deems them appropriate.
Should you choose to negotiate for minor car accident compensation, though, you won’t have to worry about whether or not you qualify for punitive damages. These damages are only available to parties who pursue a personal injury claim in civil court.
Should You Pursue Legal Action After a Minor Car Accident?
So long as you can prove that negligence contributed to your accident’s losses, you can pursue legal action after a minor crash. Should you, though? That’s up to you. If you don’t have the funds to address the damage to your car or any personal injuries, then taking legal action against the party liable for your accident can help you overcome those financial hurdles.
While pursuing a civil case won’t allow you to enact criminal consequences on the party liable for your accident, a civil case does allow you to pursue closer for your losses.
What’s more, Vaughan & Vaughan works on contingency, meaning that you won’t have to worry about legal expenses while your case is in action. As such, your foray into the legal world won’t add to your financial stress.
You don’t have to commit to legal action right away. While it’s in your best interest to pursue a civil case as soon as you can after an accident, you can meet with attorneys and discuss their car accident experience before you initiate a case. You can contact our team by phone or online today to get your first appointment on the books.
When Should You Discuss Your Right to Damages With an Attorney?
The sooner you’re able to discuss a minor car accident with an attorney, the more efficiently you can use the time allotted to you by the state. Indiana Code section 34-11-2-4 specifically allows you no more than two years to act on a minor car accident’s losses. If you want compensation for injuries, property damage, or other expenses, you must act quickly.
You can reach out to a team like Vaughan & Vaughan within hours or days of your initial accident. Our team can get your first case consultation on the books and meet with you on your terms. We can then initiate an investigation into your accident and bring time-sensitive evidence into our care. This way, that evidence won’t disappear or lose its value over time.
What’s more, our team can help you prioritize your recovery. If your initial injuries worsen over time, you won’t have to worry about your case’s progress falling by the wayside. We make sure that you can go back to work or see to your other responsibilities while consistently staying on top of your case’s filing deadline.
Let Vaughan & Vaughan do the Math on Your Case
You can secure damages after major and minor car accidents. If you have questions regarding your right to civil action and the settlement you might receive, schedule a consultation with our team to learn more. Our car accident attorneys in Indiana can meet with you, discuss the nature of your recent accident, and calculate what damages you may deserve.
Vaughan & Vaughan has served Indiana clients for decades. We know how the Hoosier state’s civil courts work. You can trust our team to make the legal process as straightforward as possible when it comes time to fight for the minor car accident compensation you deserve. Contact us online or by phone today to learn more about your post-accident rights.
