What 5 Compensations Can An Auto Accident Attorney Help You Recover After A Bike Wreck?
Some accidents are assumed to be common, like car collisions. But what about accidents involving bicycles? Often, these are taken less seriously. Yet, since bicycles are not shielded from impact with other objects, a cyclist can suffer severe injuries if involved in an accident with a car. If you've survived a bike wreck, your first order of business should be to hire a skilled auto accident attorney. Here are five types of compensation your attorney can help you receive.
Medical Expenses
Medical expenses related to the bike accident are generally the first item that your attorney will attempt to recover. These include all treatment expenses, the cost of hospital stays and visits, as well as consultation fees. Additionally, if any future medical care is required due to the severity of your injuries, your attorney can also include those costs in your compensation claim.
Lost Wages
Suppose your bike accident resulted in missed work due to injury or recovery time. In that case, an auto accident lawyer can help you recover lost wages as part of your compensation claim. This includes not only wages that were lost during the period immediately following the accident but also long-term wage losses stemming from a reduced ability to earn an income due to permanent disability.
Pain and Suffering
Pain and suffering are harder to quantify than medical expenses or lost wages. Still, they are just as important when recovering full compensation for your losses due to a bike wreck. Your auto accident lawyer can help you calculate this damage by looking at factors such as physical pain caused by the injury, mental anguish due to trauma from the incident, and compromised quality of life caused by long-term disability or disfigurement from the bike wreck.
Property Damages
Property damages refer to any damage your bicycle sustained in the bike wreck. For these damages to be compensated, however, proof must typically be provided that such damage was incurred during the incident in question.
Therefore, it's crucial that you capture photographic evidence at the scene of the accident. Your attorney will guide you on how to capture the pictures to ensure they're valid evidence.
Punitive Damages
Punitive damages are different from compensatory damages because they are intended not only to compensate but also to punish negligent parties. Your attorney will help you charge the driver at fault with punitive damages due to their actions leading up to a bike wreck. For instance, if the driver was on their phone or driving under the influence, your attorney can use this information to file for more compensation.
Recovering from a serious bike wreck is never easy, especially if you don't have the financial support you need. That's why you should hire an auto accident attorney and let them secure sufficient compensation on your behalf.
For more information, contact a local car accident attorney.