After a car accident, Tennessee law allows injured drivers and passengers to pursue several categories of compensation, each addressing a different type of loss tied to the crash. The value of your claim depends on the injuries you suffered, the strength of your documentation, and how carefully your losses are presented. Knowing what falls under each category helps you evaluate any settlement offer with clear eyes and recognize when an insurer is leaving money on the table.
Contact a Knoxville car accident lawyer today to pursue financial compensation for damages.
Call us at (865) 691-2777.
All Medical Expenses Related to Your Accident
Every dollar you spend treating injuries from the crash is recoverable in an insurance claim or personal injury lawsuit. That includes:
- Emergency room visits
- Ambulance transport
- Surgeries
- Hospital stays
- Prescription medications
- Physical therapy
- Mental health counseling
- Assistive devices like crutches or wheelchairs.
You can also recover compensation for the projected cost of future treatment when your injuries require ongoing care, such as follow-up surgeries, long-term rehabilitation, or pain management.
Lost Wages and Future Earning Capacity
If your injuries kept you out of work, you can recover the income you missed during your recovery period. This category of compensation includes your salary, hourly pay, tips, commissions, bonuses, and the value of used sick or vacation days.
When a permanent injury limits the type of work you can do or forces you out of your profession entirely, you may also pursue compensation for diminished earning capacity. This calculation looks at the gap between what you would have earned over your career and what you can realistically earn now. An economist or vocational expert is often brought in to substantiate these losses.
Non-Economic Pain and Suffering Damages
Tennessee allows you to recover compensation for the pain and suffering that you have endured as a result of the accident. These non-economic damages may include physical pain, emotional distress, anxiety, depression, loss of enjoyment of life, disfigurement, and the strain that a serious injury places on your relationships.
Tennessee places a cap, or limit, on non-economic damages after a car accident. In most cases, this cap is $750,000. The ceiling rises to $1 million for catastrophic injuries like spinal cord damage, severe burns, or the loss of a limb.
Property Damage Sustained in the Collision
You are entitled to repair costs for your vehicle, or its fair market value if the damage is severe enough to total it. You can also recover compensation for the personal property destroyed in the crash, such as car seats, electronics, eyeglasses, tools, and clothing. Rental car expenses and the diminished resale value of a repaired vehicle may be recoverable as well.
Trust an Attorney to Maximize Your Car Accident Compensation
Calculating the true value of a car accident claim is harder than it looks, and insurers count on claimants underestimating what they are owed. In these situations, you need an attorney on your side.
A Knoxville injury lawyer can accurately calculate every category of damages you’re entitled to, from current and future medical costs to lost earning capacity, non-economic harm, and property losses. They often work with medical experts, economists, and vocational specialists to substantiate each figure.
Your attorney will also know which negotiation tactics adjusters use and how to counter them, preventing you from accepting an insufficient offer that fails to cover the full extent of your losses.
Contact a Tennessee car accident lawyer today to find out what your claim is truly worth.