The Damages Involved in a Motorcycle Accident

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When riding on a motorcycle, you must be aware of the risks involved and the potential dangers. Unfortunately, even if motorcycles are powerful vehicles, they don’t feature the protection and safety cars enjoy. For this reason, motorcycle accidents result in tremendous material damage, riders’ injuries, and, unfortunately, fatalities.

Motorcycle accident victims have legal means of recovering personal and material losses through insurance claims and lawsuits against the party or parties responsible for the accident. For example, according to a Birmingham, AL motorcycle accident lawyer, you could file a personal injury lawsuit against the driver who caused your accident to recover financially. As you probably know, an insurance claim or lawsuit focuses on economic and non-economic damages.

1. Medical Bills and Treatments

If you are injured in a motorcycle accident, you will want to be examined by a doctor. If it is determined that your injuries are serious enough for hospitalization, accident first responders will take you to the nearest hospital. Doctors will examine you and determine if they need to operate on you or if they treat the injuries right away and keep you under observation. Depending on the severity of your injuries, you will spend one or more days in the hospital to recover.

All the examinations, treatments, surgeries, and other medical interventions related to your accident are recoverable economic damages. You have the medical report and the bills for your attorney to initiate a claim on your behalf. Nevertheless, lawyers and insurance companies also calculate compensation based on your future medical treatments: physical therapy, psychotherapy, transportation to and from a specialized clinic, the cost of medical devices, etc.

2. Property Damage

Motorcycles are smaller than cars, and therefore they are more likely to suffer massive damage. If you got in a motorcycle accident, you would probably have to pay for all the repairs you need to make on your motorcycle. This will cost you a lot of money, so you must determine what your insurance company will cover and what they will not cover.

If your motorcycle is broken or totaled, you must file a claim with the insurance company responsible for covering that damage. Sometimes, insurance companies are reluctant to pay you the full amount you deserve, so this is why you should always work with a specialized attorney.

3. Lost Wages

If you suffer an injury in a motorcycle accident, you may not be able to work for some time. As a result, you may be entitled to monetary compensation from the liable party’s insurance company. Sometimes, policies cannot cover the full amount of your lost wages, so you might want to initiate a lawsuit and have a judge or jury award you the compensation you deserve.

4. Pain and Suffering

If you suffer injuries in a motorcycle accident, the pain and suffering can be incredibly intense. The physical discomfort and emotional distress resulting from your accident can last for months, even years. Mental anguish may take a long time to heal, and you might even need specialized psychological assistance to help you.

Pain and suffering are recoverable non-economic damages. Therefore, they are harder to calculate in comparison to the economic ones. For this reason, insurance companies and attorneys use standardized calculators and formulas to calculate pain and suffering in motor vehicle accidents. For instance, with the multiplier method, you add up all actual damages (bills) and multiply them by a number ranging from 1.5 to 5. Insurance companies will want to pay less, while your attorney will want to multiply the damages by 5. To ensure you get the best settlement, you need to provide as much information and documents/evidence as possible.

5. Wrongful Death

Families of victims killed in motorcycle accidents might be entitled to claim compensation from the insurance company. This type of claim is known as wrongful death, and it can result in the award of monetary compensation to the victim's family.

Contact an Expert Lawyer

Motorcycle accidents are very dangerous for the people involved, resulting in serious injuries. However, with a little bit of knowledge about motorcycle insurance and a specialized lawyer's help, you can make sure that you get the compensation you need to recover.

About the Author

Mark Scott

With a law degree under his belt, Mark Scott understood very early that law communication was a relatively neglected area. He decided to help people by “translating” the language and offering information and advice in a clear, useful, and actionable manner. For this reason, instead of finding him in court, you will most likely find his name online, where he is very active and thriving as a legal columnist. His part of making the world a better place is to make the law a less convoluted maze. He aims to make it easier for people to understand when and how to seek legal counsel, how to proceed in a significant number of legal matters, and to find the proper resources so they can stand up for their rights.