What can I recover from my car accident injury in Oregon?
Many people do not know what they can recover or how they can recover damages from their injuries. This article seeks to inform the reader as to what you can expect to recover in a car accident in Oregon.
What you can recover largely depends on who is at fault and what insurance coverages are involved and the specific facts of your claim.
If you are at fault:
If you are at fault, you can expect your insurance to cover your medical bills up to your Personal Injury Protection (PIP) limits. In Oregon, your Personal Injury Protection limits are usually $15,000.00 but sometimes can be more depending on your policy. You can also expect your insurance to cover the damages of the person you hit, up to your casualty limits. Your insurance will likely provide the legal defense to defend you in your case. If they do not provide the legal support, you should contact a lawyer.
If you are not at fault:
If you are not at fault, you can recover from: your Personal Injury Protection insurance (also known as PIP), your health insurance, the at-fault party’s casualty insurance, and your Under-Insured or Uninsured Motorist insurance (also known as UIM). Each of these insurances has its own role.
Personal Injury Protection covers your medical bills up to the Personal Injury Protection limit. In Oregon, this is usually $15,000.00 but can be more. This is good insurance that does not usually require any co-pays and should be used first before tapping into your health insurance. Simply provide the Personal Injury Protection number to your medical providers and they will bill the Personal Injury Protection. As a backup, you should provide your medical providers your health insurance card as secondary payor. Personal Injury Protection will also cover some lost wages. You should speak to a personal injury attorney to get advice as to how Personal Injury Protection can help cover your lost wages. The personal injury car accident attorneys at Riverpoint Law can help you navigate this area of law, and the initial consultation is free.
Your health insurance will cover your medical bills after your Personal Injury Protection exhausts or expires. When your health insurance is finished paying your accident-related bills, they will require you to pay them back out of your final casualty settlement. This is what is known as a health lien. Personal injury attorneys like the attorneys at Riverpoint Law can usually help you get some of your health lien reduced, resulting in more settlement money that you get to keep.
The casualty insurance company must pay damages for, among other things: Property Damages, Pain and Suffering, Loss of Enjoyment of Life, Lost Wages, and Medical Bills.
Property Damage
Property damages are usually calculated by an independent estimator. The estimates usually come back reasonable so your personal injury attorney likely will not do much on the property damages side. If the estimates fail to include improvements to your car, sometimes your attorney can get a little more out of the property damage settlement. However, your attorney is usually far more valuable in recovering for the other types of damages.
Pain and Suffering / Loss of Enjoyment of Life
Loss of enjoyment of life and pain and suffering are lumped together. These are considered non-economic damages. These non-economic damages cannot be estimated without knowing the specific facts of your case. Even then, ultimately it is up to negotiations, arbitration, or jury verdict as to what these values turn out to be. Generally soft tissue injuries are going to pay much less than invasive surgeries, broken bones, or brain injuries. Things that are more life-intrusive are going to pay more.
Lost Wages
You are also entitled to any lost wages related to your injuries. Even if your Personal Injury Protection has paid some of your lost wages, you still need to recover the full amount of your lost wages from the at-fault casualty insurance. You will have to pay back Personal Injury Protection out of the settlement for anything they paid out. A good personal injury attorney makes sure that all this gets taken care of so you can be assured that you don’t owe any money after the settlement. Make sure that during the process you get a doctor’s note detailing exactly what your work restrictions are and for what dates. This will make it easier for your attorney to recovery the lost wages portion of your damages.
Medical Bills
You are entitled to recover for all your accident-related medical bills. Medical bills will stack up as you recover. Often, if your Personal Injury Protection has exhausted, your attorney can sometimes get your unpaid medical bills held until settlement. Either way, the at-fault insurance is responsible to pay you the full value of your related medical bills. It is then your responsibility to make sure all your providers are paid, and any insurance liens are paid out of that settlement. A good personal injury attorney at Riverpoint Law usually takes care of most of this for you.
Underinsured Motorist Insurance
If the at-fault party does not have sufficient insurance to compensate you for your injuries, you may have Under-Insured or Uninsured Motorist Insurance that can help. This insurance is used only after all the at-fault party’s insurance is used up. A personal injury attorney at Riverpoint Law can help you to recover from your Under-Insured or Uninsured Motorist insurance.
Disclaimer
This article is for educational purposes only and should not be construed as legal advice. The facts of each claim vary greatly and some material in the above article may be inaccurate for the facts of your claim. Injured persons should contact an attorney for legal advice.
Roseburg Oregon