bruising,loss of convindence in driving,chest and back dicomfort,anxiety,loss of sleep,in a brace neck for 2 weeks,education loss had to repeat class.
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bruising,loss of convindence in driving,chest and back dicomfort,anxiety,loss of sleep,in a brace neck for 2 weeks,education loss had to repeat class.
Asked on June 10, 2009 under Accident Law, Ohio
Answers:
SJZ, Member, New York Bar / FreeAdvice Contributing Attorney
Answered 15 years ago | Contributor
Not sure exactly what the question is here--you list symptoms (for which you have our sympathy), but do not actually ask a question.
Assuming that you question is, what can you sue or recover for, typically it is very straightforward to recover for medical expenses and direct out-of-pocket losses, such as the cost of repeating a class that you were forced to repeat. It is slightly less easy, but still fairly straightforward, to recover for some amount of pain and suffering for obvious physical injuries--such as the having to sleep in a neck brace for two weeks.
Where it gets trickiest is for "mental" losses, such as the anxiety or loss of driving confidence--proving it, and putting a number on it, are not simple, and you can expect push back or opposition from the driver and/or his insurance company. Expect that it'd take more time and money (for experts and the like) to recover for mental damage.
It sounds like you were driving your own car. I'll assume that the accident was at least in part, if not wholly, due to the other driver and you have evidence to back that up. If the other driver was insured, you should get yourself an attorney and have or her put in a claim against the other driver's insurance company. If the other driver was uninsured, but you had uninsured motorist coverage, you'll be claiming against your own insurance.
If neither you nor the other driver had insurance, then you'd have to hope you could recover from the other driver directly, which could be difficult--if they couldn't afford insurance, they may not have any assets to recover from.
To sum it up--you can recover for the medical, out-of-pocket costs, and probably physical injury, may be able (with more difficulty) to recover for mental damage, but you'll almost certainly need a lawyer to do this. The only exception would be if there's insurance and you're only claiming for a small dollar value of out-of-pocket and medical costs--then you might be able to simply write a letter to the insurance company yourself and put the claim in directly.
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