The insurance company will take all of these into account when determining what settlement, if any, to offer. It is important to understand however, that insurance companies aim to protect their bottom line. Even if you are presented with a seemingly generous settlement offer from the responsible party’s insurance company, don’t take that offer until you’ve consulted with an experienced Salt Lake City, UT car accident lawyer from Rasmussen &Miner. Our team will be able to advise you if you should expect more, and possibly much more, compensation from the responsible party’s insurance company. 

Medical Expenses

The calculation of medical expenses is based on your past, present, and estimated future healthcare needs related to your accident. Past and present expenses are straightforward. You should be able to produce medical bills, records, explanations of benefits from your health insurance carrier, and other paperwork to show the actual costs. Estimating future expenses is more complicated. You may need to employ healthcare experts to testify as to what your future needs are likely to cost. This is one of the reasons why it is so important to avoid accepting a settlement offer before speaking with a Salt Lake City, Utah car accident lawyer. You may not yet be able to calculate just how much compensation your medical care will require into the future. 

Lost Wages

Like medical expenses, lost wages may include past, present, and future calculations. You can demonstrate with tax and payroll records what you were earning before the accident, and then show how your income has been affected by it. However, if the injuries are likely to impair your ability to make a future living, your Salt Lake City, Utah car accident lawyer may need to call experts to establish what your earning potential would have been had you never been harmed in an accident.

Pain and Suffering

The calculation of pain and suffering is not as easily established as medical expenses or lost wages. Pain and suffering is a legal term that attempts to quantify your negative experience. It includes the physical pain you endure, but it also includes emotional distress and mental damages like grief, fear, and worry. Pain and suffering may also include the loss of your ability to enjoy things in which you once took pleasure. Pain and suffering damage awards may be very small or very large, depending on the circumstances of the case.

While there is no firm calculation for pain and suffering, most attorneys use one of two formulas.

• Multiply the plaintiff’s actual damages (medical expenses and lost wages) by some number between 1 and 5, representing the severity of the injuries. The product of that equation is the amount of pain and suffering.
• Use a per diem approach to establish an amount per day for each day since the accident.

Insurance companies are not required by any law to honor either of these calculations and to seek damages of any kind can be a complicated process. Contact a knowledgeable and experienced Salt Lake City, Utah car accident lawyer can help to ensure that you receive access to the most comprehensive compensation possible under the circumstances.

• Take photos of all vehicles involved. Whether there was one or multiple other vehicles involved in the car accident, it’s important to capture shots of all of them. Make sure that the photos include clear shots of the other vehicles’ license plates.
• Take pictures of damage to your vehicle’s interior. Car accidents don’t just damage the outside of vehicles. They can also damage the interior. If there is any damage to the inside of your vehicle, such as deployed airbags or blood stains on the seats, don’t forget to capture shots of it. If your personal property, like a cellphone, was damaged, take photos of it too.
• Capture shots of anything that contributed to the accident. If you believe that any other factors contributed to the accident, a car accident lawyer in Salt Lake City, UT will advise you to capture shots of them too. For example, a pot hole on the road may have caused you to swerve all of the road. Or perhaps there were broken traffic lights or construction signs.
• Photograph your injuries. Sometimes car accidents result in visible injuries, such as bruises and lacerations. If you have visible injuries, you’ll want to take photos of them as soon as possible to strengthen your case.

Consulting a Car Accident Lawyer

1. The amount you are awarded will be reduced by the amount you are responsible for the accident.
2. If you are responsible for 50% or more of the accident, you will not be able to recover damages.

Legal Assistance Is Available

Legal Assistance Is Available

• Poor weather conditions
• Bad brakes
• Texting and driving
• Distracted driving
• Lack of alignment
• Fatigue driving
• Drunk driving
• Speeding

How Do I Prove Fault?

Why Hire A Car Accident Lawyer?

There are a multitude of ways that an Uber accident may occur. You may find yourself the passenger of an Uber or the driver of another vehicle. Contending with Uber and a driver who is contracted for Uber can leave a victim wondering whether they will have the ability to pursue damages from the accident. While damages can never truly make up for what you may have lost, they can help victims get back on their feet following an accident. Damages victims may be entitled to in the wake of an Uber accident include:

• Lost Wages
• Medical Bills
• Rehabilitation Expenses
• Miscellaneous Expenses
• +More

An experienced Salt Lake City, UT car accident injury law firm can help you to determine what kinds of compensation you may be entitled to at this time. Never make assumptions about your situation (for better or worse) until you’ve received knowledgeable legal guidance. 

Gathering Evidence

You will need to have strong evidence in support of your accident case, whether the collision you’ve been involved in was minor or significant. This is one of the reasons it’s important that you not leave the scene, that you ensure that law enforcement are contacted and that you seek medical attention as soon as possible. Our Salt Lake City, UT car accident injury law firm can help you to gather:

• Police Reports
• Medical Documentation
• Photographs/Videos
• Eyewitness Statements
• Information of all parties involved
• Documentation of Additional Expenses

Evidence plays a key role in proving the extent of your injuries, that someone other than you was at fault for the damages and tying your losses to the accident. Don’t wait to start the process of gathering evidence. 

Contacting Uber

Following an accident, you may be wondering who you should inform first. Not only will you want to contact Uber, but you will also need to speak with the insurance company to report the accident. However, it’s important to be aware that you don’t have to endure this process on your own. In fact, doing this without the assistance of a Salt Lake City, UT car accident injury law firm may not be in your best interest. This is especially true because you could put yourself at risk for saying something that could be damaging to your case. Our team can help you in reporting your accident to Uber and determine which insurance carrier you should pursue damages from. 

• Injuries are more severe. Commercial trucks are much larger and heavier than passenger vehicles. Therefore, it stands to reason that truck accidents are more likely to cause traumatic brain injuries and other serious injuries. Severe injuries may require long-term medical care, so medical costs can get astronomical.
• Different types of evidence. In car accident cases, there are limited types of evidence, including photos of the accident scene, police reports and witness statements. Truck accidents, on the other hand, often involve much more evidence, like maintenance reports, truck driver hours-of-service logs and truck company hiring records.
• More liable parties. In car accident cases, the motorist is generally the only at-fault party. In truck accident cases, however, there are often multiple liable parties. Besides the truck driver, the trucking company, truck manufacturer and cargo loading teams may also be held liable.
• Cargo is an additional hazard. As a truck accident lawyer in Salt Lake City, UT can confirm, the cargo commercial trucks carry can be hazardous on its own. If the cargo is not loaded properly, it can fall off and make an accident more severe.

Why It’s Important to Work with a Lawyer

• Drug and alcohol testing. In many circumstances, when truck drivers get into an accident they are required to take alcohol and drug tests to see if this could have contributed to the accident. This will be important information for your lawyer to gather.
• Photographs of the scene. A picture can tell a thousand words. When you are at the scene of the accident, take pictures of your car, the truck, the road conditions, even your injuries. This can paint a detailed picture if you end up needing to take your case to court.
• Electronic truck logs. Truck drivers must record how long they have been driving and it is very possible that your accident was caused by a driver who has been overworked and on the road for too long. These logs can provide evidence showing the driver was too tired when they were behind the wheel.
• Police reports. When police are called to the scene, they will create a police report that will help to shed light on what happened during the accident. A truck accident lawyer in Salt Lake City, UT knows that this is one piece of evidence that can truly help your claim.