Every year, people make more than 7 million visits to the E.R. in New York and a substantial number of these incidents could result in personal injury claims. When you’ve experienced injuries due to an accident that was caused by someone else, it’s likely that you’ll be able to claim compensation from them (or their insurance company).
However, knowing how much compensation you could receive will help you to decide whether to move forward with making a claim. Although every claim is unique, there are common factors that affect the value of a personal injury settlement in New York, including:
- The seriousness of your injuries
- The impact on your ability to work
- If you’re expected to make a full recovery
- Accompanying emotional trauma
- Expenses you’ve incurred
- If you were partly at fault for the incident
What Is Your Personal Injury Claim Worth?
As every personal injury claim is different, you’ll need help from a personal injury lawyer to determine exactly how much compensation you’re entitled to. Your personal injury attorney will assess the details of your accident and injuries to calculate how much your settlement should amount to.
In general, however, the more serious your injuries are or the more severe the consequences of the accident are, the more you can expect to receive. Similarly, if you’ve had to take a long time off work to recover or if your injuries will prevent you from working again, your compensation settlement is likely to be higher than if you were able to return to work within a few days or weeks of the incident.
When Should You Make a Claim for Compensation?
If you’ve sustained injuries and the accident was partially caused by someone else, then you could be eligible to take legal action and obtain compensation. Perhaps you’ve been injured due to one of the 100,000+ car accidents that take place in New York each year or maybe you’ve sustained injuries due to a workplace accident, for example? If so, it could certainly be worth seeking legal advice and initiating a claim for compensation.
People sometimes assume that it won’t be worth making a claim as they don’t expect to receive much compensation but, without legal advice, you won’t know how much you could be entitled to. With personal injury claims regularly resulting in compensation awards amounting to hundreds of thousands of dollars and even multi-million settlements, you may receive much more compensation than you expect.
When to Get Legal Advice After an Accident?
A time limit of three years applies in most New York personal injury cases, so if you wait too long to take action, your claim may fail. By seeking advice from experienced personal injury lawyers as soon as possible following the incident, you can get your claim started without delay and ensure that you’re awarded compensation in a timely manner.
An accident can have serious financial consequences, as well as impacting your physical and emotional well-being, but, with help from your personal injury team, you can obtain compensation to mitigate the financial impact of the incident.