Pursuing a civil claim after a motorcycle accident allows you to hold a liable party accountable for their roadway misconduct. That said, civil cases do not give you the right to force criminal consequences onto that offending party. Instead, when you argue that someone bears the liability for your losses in civil court, you fight for accident-related damages.
Before you can take your case to court, though, you need to know what types of compensation you can seek in a motorcycle crash claim. Indiana motorcycle accident attorneys can help you determine what damages you qualify for while investigating your crash. The team with Vaughan & Vaughan can then calculate the sum total of the compensation you deserve.
How to Seek Compensation for Motorcycle Accident Losses
If you want to demand compensation for motorcycle accident losses, you need to pursue a civil claim through Indiana’s court system. This means that you need to investigate the cause behind your accident and assign fault to one or more liable parties. You can only assign fault for your losses if you have evidence of those parties’ negligence to present to a judge.
The complaint you bring forward also needs to use hard data to prove your right to certain forms of motorcycle accident compensation. You may not receive those forms of compensation in either negotiations or a trial if you cannot prove that the losses they represent tie back to your accident.
What’s more, you have a limited amount of time in which you can present this information. Indiana Code section 34-11-2-4 serves as the statute of limitations on all of Indiana’s personal injury lawsuits. Barring a few exceptions, this statute gives you two years and no more to bring your request for compensation forward in civil court.
How can you gather all of this information before your statute of limitations expires? While you can represent your own interests and conduct your own investigation, you can also work with a personal injury attorney to ease your way into settlement negotiations.
Your Case Will Get
The Attention It Deserves
What Damages does a Motorcycle Accident Entitle You to?
The specific damages you deserve after a motorcycle accident depend on the nature of that accident. As mentioned, you need to present evidence of a specific loss before you include that loss within your request for compensation.
The damages you most often have a right to after a motorcycle accident tend to break down into the following categories:
Economic Motorcycle Accident Damages
Most motorcycle accidents result in tangible losses that, in turn, leave a paper trail behind them. For example, the cost of repairing your motorcycle after an accident constitutes an economic loss tied directly back to that crash. Similarly, you can categorize the costs of emergency medical care and long-term treatment as economic losses of motorcycle accidents.
So long as you keep track of the invoices related to your care and can tie specific forms of property damage or types of injuries back to your accident, you can demand economic damages equivalent to or greater than the value of these losses in your claim. You can even demand damages for wages lost while you are recovering from your injuries.
If your motorcycle accident proves fatal for someone under your care, or if you are taking legal action on behalf of someone who passed in a motorcycle accident, you may be entitled to additional damages. You can name a liable party responsible for the cost of a loved one’s funeral and premortem medical care.
Non-Economic Motorcycle Accident Damages
Your right to non-economic motorcycle accident damages does not hinge on a paper trail. Instead, your non-economic losses are those that people may struggle to see with the naked eye. These losses range from your post-accident pain and suffering to any long-term mental anguish you’re enduring as a result of your crash.
Vaughan & Vaughan Indiana motorcycle crash lawyers rely on state precedent to determine the economic value of these intangible losses. We can look at state precedent, compare it against your case, and determine which of these losses you might include in an estimate of your case’s value. We can then use those losses to modify the sum of your desired economic damages.
How to Secure Motorcycle Accident Compensation
You can secure a motorcycle accident settlement in one of two ways. Upon a court’s approval of your claim, you have the right to summon a liable party to motorcycle accident settlement negotiations. An attorney can mediate these negotiations to ensure that both you and a liable party air your concerns in a civil manner.
Unfortunately, mediation doesn’t always work, and negotiations may not secure you the compensation you need to recover from your accident. In these cases, you may have to fight for the settlement you deserve in court. Vaughan & Vaughan can take your lawsuit to trial, initiating discovery on your behalf and encouraging a judge to award you the compensation you deserve.
Vaughan & Vaughan Can Calculate the Sum Total of Your Due Damages
It often seems like you pay more than your fair share of bills after a motorcycle accident. The good news is that Indiana survivors have the chance to recover damages based on their losses. You may pursue economic and non-economic damages in the wake of a motorcycle accident, provided you can prove your right to any damages demanded.
You can count on a motorcycle accident lawyer with Vaughan & Vaughan to have your back throughout the negotiations and trials that may lead you to that financial support. You can reach our Indiana personal injury lawyers for a case evaluation within hours of your crash. Contact us online or by phone, and Vaughan & Vaughan will book your first free consultation.
