Boston Car Accident Lawyer

If you were involved in a car accident caused by someone else’s negligence, there are several different types of damages that could apply to your case. These are economic, non-economic, and punitive.

Economic Damages

Economic damages are quantifiable monetary losses. This would include property damage, medical expenses, loss of income, and loss of earning capacity.  

Non-Economic Damages

Non-economic damages are harder to calculate as they have no specific monetary amount associated with them. These damages include pain and suffering, emotional distress, mental anguish, loss of consortium, loss of enjoyment of life, loss of quality of life, and more. 

Punitive Damages

Not all car accident claims will include punitive damages. Punitive damages are additional compensation added to a claim as a financial punishment to the at-fault driver for the extreme negligence of the accident. An example of a case that would include punitive damages is one caused by an intoxicated driver. 

Personal injury law firms handle car accident claims and work on a contingency fee basis. This means there are no upfront or out of pocket expenses. The attorney will hold a percentage for legal fees if you win a settlement agreement from the personal injury claim. This means there is no risk to you! If you don’t win, you don’t pay!

Car accidents can have a wide range of injuries resulting from them, based on severity.

Some common accident injuries include:

• Head Injuries – These are commonly traumatic brain injuries. A TBI occurs when the brain moves inside the skull due to force applied to the body. This type of injury can occur when someone hits their head against another object, such as the steering wheel or dashboard.
• Whiplash- Whiplash occurs when the head rotates rapidly forward and backward within the protective structure of the neck. This is the most common type of neck injury in a car accident.
• Catastrophic Injuries- these types of injuries cause long-term or permanent injuries such as paralysis, severe burn injuries, loss of limbs, loss of sight or hearing, or other life-altering injuries.

Other common injuries:

• Broken Bones/Bone Fractures
• Soft Tissue Injuries
• Internal Injuries
• Internal bleeding

If you are involved in a car accident, you must contact a Boston personal injury lawyer immediately after the accident. There is only a specific amount of time you can bring forth a personal injury case, called the statutes of limitation. You want to make sure that you do everything possible to protect yourself against insurance companies trying to take advantage of this. If you wait too long to file a claim, the insurance company might try to use the time statute of limitations to deny your claim.

In most cases in Massachusetts, there is a 3-year statute of limitations. It is highly encouraged not to wait this long, as it will be harder to collect evidence as time passes. It will also be more challenging to prove injuries were a result of the accident if there was a delay in medical attention.

Many different factors can cause car accidents. The most common we see are:

• drunk driving
• distracted driving
• reckless driving
• exceeding the speed limit
• aggressive driving
• prescription medications causing impairment 
• congested roads

Negligent drivers can cause many different types of car accidents. The most common we see are:

• Single-vehicle crashes
• Rear-end collisions
• Head-on collision
• T-Bone or side collisions
• Sideswipe Crashes

If the car accident resulted in fatalities, the compensation claim now includes a wrongful death claim. Family members of the deceased can be eligible for compensation for funeral and burial expenses, loss of companionship, loss of future income or inheritance, and loss of consortium.