Car Accident Lawyer in Lee's Summit
Getting into an accident can be a major setback for anyone involved, especially if there are serious injuries caused by the collision. To further complicate matters, you will not need to simply focus on recovering from your injuries after the accident – you will need to work with the insurance companies in order to recover compensation from the accident. If someone else caused the accident, then you will be seeking the majority, if not the entirety, of compensation from their insurance company, which means that while you are trying to move forward from the physical and emotional damage of this experience, you will need to negotiate with an insurance company who is focused entirely on paying you as little as possible, and is willing to be as aggressive as necessary in order to save money.
The solution is to work with an experienced car accident lawyer throughout the duration of your claim so that you can look towards the future with confidence. When an insurance company receives a claim from a victim that does not have an attorney representing them, they know that they can take advantage of the situation and leverage the victim’s inexperience to their advantage. Every statement you make, every piece of information you provide, and every document you submit will be sifted through by insurance professionals looking for any way to limit your award with technicalities, intentional misinterpretations, and confusing legalese.
Contact Lourenco & Linville, PC Today For An Initial Consultation About Your Lee’s Summit Car Accident
Our law firm offers a free initial consultation to car accident victims where you will be able to discuss the specifics of your accident and get a better sense of the situation at hand — all while understanding more about how we can work together to get you the outcome you deserve. No two accidents are the same, and we will never treat your situation like a generic accident claim. Instead, we will give your accident the attention it deserves, and work towards an outcome that suits you specifically.
The stress of not knowing how you will be able to handle the expenses and financial losses after an accident can be overwhelming, and come at a time when you should be staying stress-free and focusing on healing. When you are being represented by Lourenco & Linville, PC, you can take care of your personal needs without stress, knowing that someone is fighting to make sure you are treated fairly and that you are not financially responsible for the impacts of someone else’s recklessness or negligence.
Seeking Fair Compensation After a Car Accident in Lee’s Summit
One of the most important issues to be settled in order to successfully conclude your claim is the issue of compensation. What types of damages did you suffer? What are you owed from them? The question of damages is complicated and wide ranging, and insurance companies excel at either avoiding or outright denying rightful damages to claimants. Once your claim is opened, the insurance company will assign an adjuster to your case who will go through all of the unique details of your accident to understand the range of financial damages you have suffered. Once the investigation is concluded, the adjuster will likely return to you with the smallest possible offer necessary to secure a waiver of your rights to any future action against their insurer for this accident, no matter what type of new information or issues may arise.
If you have a car accident attorney representing your case, they will perform their own investigation at the same time the insurance company is doing theirs. The difference in calculations can be shocking. Insurance companies try to keep their research limited to immediate, short-term damages and avoid things like long-term disability, possible impacts on your earnings in the future, and non-economic damages. Your attorney will need to negotiate aggressively to close the gap between these calculations, and either reach a fair out-of-court settlement or decide to file a lawsuit in Kansas or Missouri courts.
Economic Damages
Economic damages are the basis of your claim and the damages that the insurance company is most likely to pay. These damages are applied towards any impact that has a financially-measurable value (there is a dollar value attached to the damages). However, there are many economic damages insurance companies will avoid as aggressively as possible that your lawyer will need to fight to ensure you recover. Common economic damages include your medical bills and all costs associated with treatment, care, and recovery from the injuries that you sustained in the accident. In addition, economic damages will seek repayment for any of your income-related impacts such as pure lost wages, paid time off or vacation days you used to cover missed time at work, as well as impacts to your earning capacity.
If you are unable to return to work in your former capacity, or if you suffer long-term or catastrophic injuries that will likely impact your earning ability, we will work with an expert to calculate the long-term economic impacts so we can fight to make sure you get the money you deserve, not just the money the insurance company wants to pay.
Non-Economic Damages
Non-economic damages are trickier than economic damages, simply because they seek financial compensation for impacts that have no financial measurements. These include abstract damages such as the pain and suffering of your injuries, the emotional trauma you endured during the crash, and the psychological impacts the accident has on you long-term. There are many other non-economic damages, as well, and just because they do not come with readily-measurable dollar amounts does not mean they are any less important.
Non-economic damages are calculated using a range of calculation tools, which your car accident attorney will choose based on the specifics of your accident and the tool best suited to get you the money you deserve. Attempting to negotiate non-economic damages directly with the insurance company is an extremely difficult process, and they will use your inexperience (as well as your compromised condition) to either deny your non-economic damage claims entirely or pay you far less than what you have suffered and deserve. We will fight to make sure that is not the case.