Have you been involved in a construction accident and are now wondering how much you’re likely to win based on the damages you’ve suffered? That can be a difficult question to answer, even for the most experienced construction accident attorney. Lawsuits of this nature don’t tend to have an average settlement, however, you’re probably looking at a considerably high sum. Many construction accident lawsuits settle for over $1 million.
What Damages Can My Construction Accident Attorney Use to Raise My Settlement?
1. Your Medical Bills
You’ll always win enough to cover the full amount that you recently paid for your medical treatment. If your medical bills are still outstanding, then you’ll win enough to cover what you’re supposed to pay. However, the reimbursement for medical fees doesn’t end there. If you’ve been told you’ll need further treatment for weeks or even years to come, then you can be compensated based on what you’re supposed to pay for this treatment, too.
Let’s say you’re going to need three years of physical therapy to recover from a spinal injury. Your attorney and physicians will estimate how much this therapy is going to cost, and you’ll win a sum high enough to cover this treatment. You can even win enough money to cover medical treatments that you’ll need for the rest of your life.
2. Your Pain and Suffering
There are certain formulas that a construction accident lawyer in Houston can use to calculate how much you should be entitled to based on pain and suffering. However, how much you’re really entitled to can vary. Being involved in any accident creates a lot of traumatic distress, and you may be left with PTSD depending on how bad the accident was and how much it impacted your mental state.
However, you’ll get a larger settlement depending on how much distress you’re going to suffer for the rest of your life. If you’ve been left with a knee that aches every time it gets cold, then you’re probably going to suffer some distress. However, you won’t be as distressed as somebody who’s been left unable to walk due to a spinal cord injury. The worse the accident was, then the higher the sum you’re going to get for your pain and suffering.
3. Your Decrease in Quality of Life
Sometimes you can be compensated for a decrease in quality of life. If you can no longer do some of the things you used to enjoy doing, then you can receive additional compensation based on how this is going to impact your future. However, this is non-economic damage, and there’s never a set amount you can win for this.
Plus, sometimes this loss of quality of life won’t even be taken into account, and it can be included in the sum you win for your general pain and suffering, instead. Your attorney will bring up this point if it’s relevant to your case. Once again, the worse your injury is and the more your quality of life has diminished, then the more money you can win.
6. Your Lost Income
You generally need to take some time off work to recover from your injuries. You may need to take a further few days or weeks to recover from any emotional trauma that’s making it hard for you to return to the construction site. Your settlement will pay out enough to cover the income you lost during the time you took to heal from your mental and physical injuries. You can also be compensated for any time you’ll have to take off for future healing.
7. Your Future Lost Income
You can be compensated for the income you would’ve earned in your lifetime if you’ve now been left unable to work. Your attorney can estimate how much you likely would’ve earned between now and retirement, including pay rises, bonuses, and more. This will be added to your settlement.
Even if you will be able to work part-time in the future, but you won’t be able to return to work full time, you can be compensated for lost income. You can win a sum that makes up the difference between what you’ll likely earn part-time and what you should’ve earned while working full-time.
8. Your Attorney’s Fee
Construction accident lawyers charge a contingency fee. This means their payment is taken out of your settlement. The party who’s liable for your accident may have to pay your attorney’s legal fees in addition to the rest of your settlement.
Construction accidents can severely impact your quality of life depending on how badly you were injured. This leads to the average settlement being quite high. Working with an experienced attorney who deals with construction accident cases regularly will help you win as high a sum as possible. You’ll really need this large sum to make up for all of the issues your accident has caused you.
