After a car accident, most people look at the physical injuries– the wounds, the cuts, the fractures, and the bruises. However, some emotional and mental injuries may affect a person’s life more after a car accident rather than the physical ones. Sometimes, physical and emotional injuries can combine and significantly reduce one’s quality of life.
Loss of quality of life is damage offered to car accident victims to compensate for the loss of enjoyment they suffer from following the accident. This can be due to multiple reasons, such as a permanent limb injury that prevents a swimmer from swimming again. To start working on your case, talk to an attorney from the Ladah Law Firm today.
Quantifying loss of quality of life
Determining the change in quality of life and turning the subjective information into quantities or dollar values can be a complicated affair. When trying to put a dollar value to a person’s loss of quality of life, decision-makers usually look at factors like the person’s age, work history, location, personality, and educational history.
Additionally, statements from expert witnesses can also help. The person’s comparative fault, future consequences of the injury, and liability are also taken into account.
It is important to understand that this damage is not awarded to the victim to punish the liable party. Rather, it is to compensate for the victim’s reduced quality of life. For example, the victim may have had a happy marriage before their car accident. After the accident, their spouse may show unhappiness in the marriage, which might create conflicts and tensions that were not present before.
Here are some other examples of how a car accident can damage the quality of life:
- You are unable to engage in your preferred or typical leisure pursuits, such as sports, social outings, or daily strolls.
- You are constrained in your ability to attend to others, whether it involves restricted activities with your children or being unable to take your dogs for a walk.
- Damage to reputation
- Feelings of disgrace
- Damaged relationship
- Loss of joy of living
Evidence you can bring to prove a loss of quality of life after a car accident
To successfully prove that your life has suffered negative changes after the accident, you need to do the following two things:
- Establish evidence to show how your life has changed after the accident
- How the changes have affected your emotional health
- Prove that these changes have been brought by the accident directly
It can get complex down the line. The insurance company may try to downplay or question the authenticity of your claim. This is why having an attorney helps.
