San Jose Car Accident Lawyer | Car Accident Attorney in San Jose

Economic damages are those based on measurable financial losses such as property damage, medical expenses, lost wages, and more. If it has a dollar value, then it’s an economic damage.

Totaling these damages is simple, but it takes a detail-oriented personal injury attorney to know what things to include in these calculations. There are many different things that can and should be included that a person injured may not be aware of.

Future medical expenses, future impacts on a victim’s earning ability, and a variety of other future costs are also applicable under this category, but victims will benefit from the support of an experienced attorney who can build accurate projections and defend these estimates to the insurance company. Something like a spinal cord injury, a burn injury, or a brain injury will have impacts that go far into the victim’s future, which are common in commercial truck accidents or any other type of big rig accident as well as other collisions with high force.

Non-economic damages are damages that do not have measurable dollar values and are often intangible and subjective, making it much easier for an insurance company to push back on in an attempt to reduce the cost of their legal liability.

Things like the pain and suffering a victim endures, the impacts on their quality of life, ongoing emotional and psychological issues like post-traumatic stress disorder, anxiety, depression, and much more are all valid non-economic damages. 

Assigning a dollar value to something as intangible as depression is a complicated process, but an attorney who knows how to handle car accident cases has years of experience doing just that.

Many people are familiar with the idea of punitive damages and will ask if they are eligible for them as part of their car accident case. It’s important to note the distinct differences between economic and non-economic damages meant to compensate a victim and punitive damages that are designed specifically to punish the at-fault party.

Punitive damages are not a factor in a personal injury claim and are only awarded to victims in rare circumstances by a judge or jury at the end of a trial. These potential damages will not be considered during settlement negotiations, but if your attorney believes that you are a good candidate for these additional damages they may move forward with a personal injury lawsuit.

After an auto accident, it can be disorienting to make sense of what happened, and you may be flooded with adrenaline. Many people are overcome with an urge to jump out of the vehicle and take control of the situation, but this is a time to take a moment, scan your body, check in with your passengers, and assess the situation. Adrenaline is a powerful painkiller, and major injuries may feel minor, especially as your panic and adrenaline are overriding your body’s signals.

Check your surroundings. Are you in the path of oncoming traffic that could cause a second accident? Is it safer to remain in the vehicle or get out and walk to the side of the road?

Depending on your assessment of the situation, you may decide to either exit the vehicle and get somewhere safer or remain in the vehicle until emergency services arrive. Don’t move your vehicle, because the way that it is positioned at the scene of the crash may convey a lot of information to the police.

Don’t wait to talk to the other driver. Call 911 immediately so emergency services can be dispatched to the scene. Even if it feels like you are overreacting, it’s always best to have an official third party on-site doing medical checks and compiling an official accident report. The police will create an accident report at the scene. This will be important when it comes time to file a claim or lawsuit.

When the EMTs arrive, let them check you out. You may have overlooked an injury or may not even realize that you have been injured. Between the adrenaline and the fact that some injuries don’t always present themselves immediately, you might know your condition. The EMTs may advise you to go with them to the emergency room, though you are not under any obligation to say yes. If you leave on your own, be sure to schedule a follow-up appointment with your primary care physician or head straight to an emergency room or walk-in clinic. Avoiding medical care can lead to worse health outcomes and every interaction you have with a medical professional will be documented, an important part of your upcoming insurance claim.

If appropriate, speak with the other driver and exchange your relevant information: insurance policy number, driver’s license number, home address, phone number, license plate number, and more.

Avoid discussing the events leading up to the accident because things you say at this moment may come back to haunt you. Don’t apologize, even though it may be in your nature or feels like something to do to calm or reassure the other driver. Insurers will use anything you say against you if possible.

If you are able to, take photos and videos of the scene, including the vehicles involved. Talk over the video and call out specific details that you believe are relevant to the situation, such as the behaviors you noticed in the moments leading up to the crash and other factors that played a role.

These details will be fresh in your mind but will begin to fade over time. The more records you can provide your car accident lawyers with, the more information they will have to draw from as they build a case against the insurance company.

If there were any eyewitnesses who stayed at the accident scene, get their contact information and a brief statement about their version of the events. Eyewitnesses are important after a car accident because they often noticed things from a different perspective than the victim, and may have seen the at-fault driver engaging in negligent behavior that led to the car crash before they entered your view.

Speak with the officers at the scene and give them a brief statement about your interpretation of the events. Avoid making any statements that could be interpreted as you assuming fault — even partial fault — because the insurance company will jump on this as they work to avoid paying you the compensation you deserve. Also, be sure they document any injuries, no matter how trivial they may seem at the moment.

If you leave the accident on your own and do not take an ambulance to the ER, you should schedule an appointment with your primary care physician or go to an emergency room or walk-in clinic to get additional care. EMTs have limited resources at the scene of an accident and may need to take care of multiple patients in a short period of time.

Some injuries, such as whiplash or other soft-tissue injuries, may not be apparent until a day or two after the car wreck, so as soon as you experience any delayed injuries, you will need to go straight to the doctor, both for your personal care as well as to gather documentation that will prove your condition.

Many people will jump straight into contacting their own insurance company or the at-fault party’s insurer, but the truth is that once you are working with a law office, they can handle all of the administrative work while you stay focused on getting care. In fact, once you retain an attorney, the insurance company is forbidden to contact you. All communications must go through your attorney.

By contacting San Jose personal injury attorneys before you initiate a claim, you can protect yourself from “gotcha” tactics that an insurance company may resort to in order to avoid paying the full damages caused by their insured negligent driver.