What Compensation Can You Claim After a Car Accident in San Diego

The San Diego Government is working on the Vision Zero program to eliminate all road accidents by 2025. But the city still sees about 50 road-accident fatalities each year. In 2016, there were about 21,534 car accidents reported in San Diego. These can put a significant financial burden on you. To ease off the load, you can request compensation. 

But as any accident attorney in San Diego will tell you, there are different types of compensation you can apply for. In this article, learn about them all.

Type of Damage Incurred in the Car Accident

The compensation you receive will depend on the type of damage you suffered because of the accident. You need to prove them in the court or to the at-fault driver’s attorney to receive compensation. There are five types of damages you can get compensated for. Those are:

1. Medical Expenses

These are the most common types of claims made. If you’ve sustained injuries because of the car accident, then you can get compensated for all the medical expenses you incurred. The costs include surgeries, hospital visits, medications, and therapies. Your job will be to prove that you sustained the injuries because of the accident and not due to other factors. 

2. Lost Income

If you lost your job or you were forced to take days off to recover from the sustained injuries, you can apply for compensation as well. This also includes the future loss of wages. For example, if a truck driver loses one of his arms or legs in the accident, they wouldn’t be allowed to drive. This will be considered as a case of future loss of wages.

3. Pain and Suffering

Road accidents are traumatic, nevertheless. If you had to incur significant emotions and physical stress because of the accident, you could request adequate compensation. 

As opposed to the previous two damages, valuing pain and suffering can be hard. It’s better to correlate the pain you’re going through with the inability to get back to work, which ultimately may result in loss of income. An experienced accident attorney in San Diego will help you evaluate this damage and apply for compensation accordingly. 

4. Loss of Consortium

Unlike the other types of claims mentioned here, the Loss of Consortium claim is brought up by a close family member of the victim. If the victim stays bed-ridden for months and the spouse or children experience a loss of affection or enjoyment in life, they can raise a Loss of Consortium damage claim against the at-fault driver. These damages are usually hard to quantify and prove. Therefore, trials regarding this will run for an extended period. 

5. Punitive Damages

Punitive damages are relatively rare and subjective. These damages are only compensated when the at-fault driver showed run-off-the-mill carelessness, which resulted in the accident. An example will be if the driver was under the alcoholic influence or deliberately caused the accident, they will ask to pay for the irresponsible behavior under punitive damage claims.

You can also claim benefits for other types of damages like emotional suffering, out-of-pocket cost, and loss of enjoyment in life. But the challenge of convincing the court or opposite attorney remains. Therefore, you must hire an experienced accident attorney in San Diego to handle your case from the very beginning.