What’s a Good Settlement Offer in a Motorcycle Accident?

Even a relatively minor motorcycle accident can lead to significant physical, financial, and emotional losses, and a more serious accident can have devastating consequences. A good settlement is one that accurately reflects your complete losses – including your physical and emotional pain and suffering – in their entirety. If you’ve been injured by another driver’s negligence, an experienced Santa Barbara motorcycle accident attorney is on your side.

Your Losses

Your settlement should reflect your losses – or legal damages. As such, ensuring that the full spectrum of legal damages you experience are addressed is critical. These losses generally break down into several basic categories.

Medical Expenses

The medical bills you experience in the wake of a motorcycle accident that was caused by another driver’s negligence can be immense, and they can also be ongoing. If your injuries lead to complications or secondary health concerns, this category of loss can be that much more significant. Accepting a settlement prior to having a handle on your medical prognosis and overall costs can leave you with inadequate compensation.

Lost Wages

The injuries you suffer in a motorcycle accident can keep you off the job, which can lead to lost earnings. If your injuries interfere with your ability to do your job or to continue advancing your career, you can expect even more serious losses. Because the work you do may commingle with your identity, losses in this category can also have an emotional component.

Pain and Suffering

The physical and emotional pain and suffering you endure in the course of a violent motorcycle accident can be difficult to overstate. Many accident victims experience PTSD-like symptoms that make their overall recoveries even more challenging. Common examples include:

• Sleep disturbances
• Serious mood swings
• Increased anxiety
• Difficulty concentrating
• Self-isolation
• Terrifying accident flashbacks
• Depressive episodes

Assigning Value to Your Losses

One of the most important aspects of obtaining a good settlement is assuring that your losses are well-defined and are all accounted for. Putting a price on your medical expenses and lost earnings generally isn’t complicated – once you recognize their full extent. This can’t, however, be said of your pain and suffering.

The factors that guide the assessment of pain and suffering in motorcycle claims include the following:

• The amount of your medical expenses and lost earnings
• How serious your physical injuries are
• The level of the other driver’s negligence
• The strength of the evidence supporting your claim

Turn to an Experienced Santa Barbara Motorcycle Accident Attorney for the Help You Need

The focused Santa Barbara motorcycle accident attorneys at Bamieh & De Smeth dedicate their imposing practice to tirelessly advocating for the legal rights of our injured clients – in pursuit of their rightful compensation. Our skilled legal team has reserves of experience guiding challenging cases like yours toward advantageous outcomes that reflect the full scope of our valued clients’ losses. For more information, please don’t delay contacting us online or calling us at 805-643-5555 today.