Life is already expensive enough. You don’t want to add any more expenses. However this is usually what happens when Nevada drivers are in a car accident. Suddenly you’re facing mounting costs and frantically wondering how you’re going to pay these costs. This is when compensation comes in. Accident victims can usually recover financial compensation for their damages.
If you’re wondering about the average Nevada car accident settlement amount it varies. Several factors go into determining the value of a vehicle collision claim. With that being said you can take some steps to help ensure you can receive your claim’s maximum value.
Key Tips on Protecting the Value of Your Injury Claim
What you do immediately after a car accident can have a huge impact on your claim’s value. Sometimes, skipping a step can even impact your ability to file for compensation.
Don’t Wait to Report the Vehicle Collision
Nevada doesn’t always require motorists to report every vehicle accident the second it happens, but it’s almost always a good idea. Your accident report is a crucial piece of evidence. The report shows the accident actually happened and you’re not trying to file a false damage claim.
Your accident report can also help establish liability if it becomes a problem. Nevada is a comparative negligence state, so more than one individual or entity can be liable for the same accident. If you’re assigned a percentage of the blame, it’s going to impact your potential settlement amount.
The Silver State can also have something to say about reporting vehicle collisions. Under Nevada Revised Statutes §484E.070, drivers must file a report for any crash resulting in:
- The bodily injury of any person
- The death of any person
- $750 or more in property damage
Even though the Silver State gives you ten days to file an accident report, it’s usually not a great idea to put it off. The longer you wait to report the collision, the harder it can be to prove fault. You may be risking being assigned accident blame and watching your potential settlement amount drop.
Don’t Put Off Seeing a Physician
Not all accidents result in an ambulance ride to the emergency room. This is usually a good thing since it means you’re not dealing with life-threatening or serious injuries.
However, just because you can walk away from the wreck doesn’t mean you should skip a trip to the doctor. You may have soft tissue injuries and these can take a while to start showing signs and symptoms. Even a relatively minor rear-end collision can result in injuries like whiplash and bruises.
Besides, seeking immediate medical attention helps show a link between the accident and your injuries. If you wait several weeks to see a physician, the defendant’s insurance company may try to show that your injuries aren’t caused by the car accident.
Save Anything That Can Be Considered Evidence
Evidence isn’t only crucial in a criminal defense case, it’s also vital in a personal injury claim. The insurance adjuster is going to want to see and examine plenty of evidence relating to your personal injury claim. This can be especially true if your claim goes to civil court. The judge and/or jury is going to expect to see evidence supporting your side of the case.
So, what type of evidence do you want to preserve? This can be everything from the official accident report to your medical records. You also want to save all repair and/or replacement estimates if your claim includes property damage.
If possible, try to take some pictures of the accident scene. Focus on your vehicle damage and where the incident occurred. Don’t forget to take some pictures of your injuries. Don’t worry if this isn’t possible. Your injuries may be too severe to allow you to break out a camera. You can rely on your records and reports. This is just another reason why you don’t want to throw anything away.
Calculate Your Damages
Most Nevada personal injury claims deal with two types of damages, economic and non-economic. Economic damages are relatively easy to calculate. You gather up your receipts. These include medical, property damage, and lost earnings. Total the receipts, bills and estimates and this is your economic damages.
Non-economic damages are a little more complicated to calculate. Non-economic damages are intangible, meaning you can’t rely on receipts, estimates and bills. Your non-economic damages can include things like pain, suffering, mental anguish, and even loss of life enjoyment.
So, how do you calculate non-economic damages? You have a couple of options. You can either use the multiplier or per diem method.
The multiplier method takes the total of all of your economic damages and is multiplied by a number ranging from 1.5 to 5. The higher the number, the greater your pain and suffering. The per diem method also takes the total of your economic damages and multiplies it by the number of days you are in pain. For example if your economic damages are $50,000 and your pain lasts for 10 days, the total of your non-economic damages is $500,000 (50,000 x 10).
Whichever method you use to calculate your non-economic damages can help ensure you receive the maximum value of your personal injury claim.
Consider the Insurance Company’s Settlement Offer
There’s a good chance an insurance adjustor will be calling or showing up a day or so after your accident. Don’t be surprised if the insurance adjuster pops into your hospital room. There’s also a good chance the insurance company is going to reach out after receiving your accident claim.
While this is a common insurance tactic it’s not necessarily a good one. The insurance company’s goal is to get you to accept a lower settlement offer. The offer may even be well below your accident claim’s actual value. You have the option of accepting any settlement offer. But this also means your injury claim is considered closed. You can’t reopen an accident claim after accepting a settlement offer.
