Understandably, one of the first questions that California airplane accident lawyer Emery Ledger of Ledger & Associates gets asked by the victim of an airplane accident is “How much is my case worth?”. For those that have been injured, physically or emotionally, in an airplane accident, the question of compensation eventually becomes important. As hospital, medical and therapy bills start to add up victims begin to wonder who is responsible for them and how they will be paid. While it is impossible to place a value on an airplane accident case without specific details of the case, it is possible to explain what type of compensation you may be entitled to and under what conditions.
Before a value can be placed on your airplane accident case, a determination of negligence must be made. Negligence is basically a legal term meaning fault or blame. In order for your airplane accident case to have ANY value, someone (a person or entity) must have been negligent in the accident. Statistics tell us that as much as 75% of the time airplane accidents are caused by pilot error, mechanical failure or a combination of the two. The significance of this is that statistically speaking, there is a good chance that negligence was involved in your airplane accident. Once your airplane accident lawyer has reviewed and researched your case and made a determination of negligence, then you can begin to determine the value of your case.
Under California law, you may be entitled to both economic and non-economic damages. Economic damages are things like medical bills, hospital bills, property damage and lost wages. These bills are usually easy to calculate and provide proof of for valuation purposes. Non-economic damages, on the other hand, are much more subjective and open to debate and negotiation. Non-economic damages in the State of California can include pain and suffering, loss of use, disfigurement, disability, mental anguish, humiliation, loss of love, support and companionship and emotional distress. These damages are much more difficult to value. While they do depend to some extent on the actual physical injuries that you suffered, in airplane accidents in particular you may have suffered very serious emotional or mental damages that far exceed the physical damages that you suffered. With good reason, a victim of an airplane accident may suffer post traumatic stress disorder or a variety of other emotional injuries as a result of the accident that can affect them for the rest of their life. This is where your airplane accident lawyer comes in. It is his job to assess all of your injuries – both physical and emotional – to determine what your airplane accident case is worth. While many airplane accident cases are settled before they ever get in front of a jury, the bottom line is that your case is worth whatever you and your lawyer can convince a jury that it is worth. For that reason, selecting an experienced airplane accident lawyer is a crucial part of determining the value of your airplane accident case.
If you would like a free detailed evaluation of your specific airplane accident case, please feel free to contact the airplane accident firm of Ledger & Associates at 1-800-300-0001 or visit them online at www.ledgerlaw.com
