Knowing that you deserve compensation is one thing. Figuring out the exact amount you are owed from a personal injury claim is another matter altogether. And it will often be up to an insurance adjuster to start the process of naming a monetary amount for compensation. Now you may be aware of the types of damages you could recover, such as medical bills, wages you lost during recovery, or perhaps even disability or disfigurement, and more.
If any of your property was damaged from someone’s negligence, you could collect a payout for this too. Then there are more subjective damages, such as pain and suffering (both physical and mental) and loss of enjoyment of life. But exactly how much are you owed for each type of damage?
It is simple for an insurance adjuster to calculate what you are owed for your medical expenses and time off work; those are already established, concrete numbers. But then your insurer will have to enter special calculations to come up with a dollar amount for your pain and suffering and your inability to participate in sports or the same line of work, for example.
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If for example, you had minor injuries, what an adjuster could do is take the amount you lost in “special damages” (such as medical bills), and then multiply this by 1.5 or 2 to figure out the “general damages”, the non-quantifiable damages such as mental anguish. This multiplier could go all the way up to five depending on the severity of the injuries, and it has even been known to reach a multiplier of 10 before. Then lost wages get entered into the calculation.
The adjuster will now have a dollar amount of compensation, but this is not set in stone. Negotiations over this number will then take place, but now there is a reference point from which to work. One of the main issues that will come is the issue of liability, or fault. In most states, the percentage of fault would detract from compensation.
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In North Carolina, if you are deemed liable at all, you forfeit any chances of compensation; this is contributory negligence. You may need legal assistance not only to make sure that you get the full amount of compensation that you are owed, but to also keep you from losing compensation altogether from being undeservedly blamed for your injuries.
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Our legal team has more than 38 years of legal experience, which we are committed to using to uphold the rights of the injured. Learn what a dedicated Raleigh personal injury lawyer can do for you when you contact the Whitley Law Firm today!
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