What Damages Are You Entitled to After a Springfield Car Accident?
After a car accident in Springfield, the damages you can recover are meant to make you whole again — to cover not just the bills piling up now, but the lasting toll the crash takes on your finances, your body, and your life. Missouri law recognizes several categories of compensation, from the concrete costs of medical treatment and lost wages to the harder-to-quantify harms like pain, suffering, and diminished quality of life. Understanding what you’re entitled to is the first step toward making sure an insurance company doesn’t settle your claim for a fraction of its real value. Below, we break down the types of damages available after a Springfield car accident and what goes into calculating each one.
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Damages After a Springfield Car Accident
After a car accident in Springfield, the compensation available to you depends on several factors: the nature and severity of your injuries, your medical prognosis, any percentage of fault assigned to you under Missouri’s comparative fault rules, and the strength of your legal representation. The law allows you to recover damages for medical expenses, lost wages, pain and suffering, and other crash-related damages.
A Springfield car accident lawyer at Buchanan, Williams & O’Brien knows what your case is worth. We negotiate directly with insurance companies, challenge lowball offers, and pursue maximum compensation for your losses. BWO lawyers have won millions of dollars for injured clients across Missouri for over 40 years.
Economic Damages
Damages in a Springfield car accident case are divided into economic and non-economic categories. Economic damages are the quantifiable financial losses you incur as a direct result of the crash.
Medical Expenses
Medical expenses are typically the largest component of economic damages in a car accident case. Recoverable costs include emergency transport, emergency room treatment, hospitalization, surgery, physician and specialist care, prescription medications, medical equipment, and physical therapy or rehabilitation.
For serious injuries, damages extend beyond current treatment costs. Future medical needs, additional surgeries, ongoing rehabilitation, and long-term care are also compensable. A medical expert will testify to the long-term impact of your injuries and the anticipated cost of future care.
Lost Wages
You can recover lost wages resulting directly from the accident. Pay stubs and W-2s establish the value of lost income for salaried and hourly workers. Self-employed claimants, including freelancers, independent contractors, gig workers, and small business owners, face a more complex calculation. Lost income may be documented through tax returns, profit and loss statements, bank statements, business records, invoices, and client contracts.
In cases involving serious or long-term injuries, vocational experts or forensic accountants may be retained to calculate the full extent of lost earning capacity.
Diminished Earning Capacity
When a catastrophic injury ends or permanently limits your ability to work, you may be entitled to compensation for loss of future earnings. Spinal cord injuries, traumatic brain injuries, and amputations are among the injuries that can cut short a career or eliminate certain occupations.
Future earnings losses extend beyond base salary. Recoverable damages include lost retirement benefits, health insurance, bonuses, commissions, and diminished opportunities for career advancement.
The calculation is based on your pre-accident earning capacity, your age, and your expected working years until retirement. If you are able to return to work in a reduced capacity or lower-paying role, the difference between your pre- and post-accident earning potential is also compensable, known as loss of earning capacity.
Property Damage
You may receive compensation for damage to your vehicle, repair costs if it is repairable, or fair market value at the time of the collision if it is a total loss. Compensation may also extend to personal property destroyed in the crash, such as laptops or cell phones.
Confused about car accident compensation in Springfield? We are here to answer your questions.
Non-Economic Damages
Non-economic damages compensate for losses that are real but not reducible to a bill or pay stub. In a Springfield car accident case, these include pain and suffering, emotional distress, loss of enjoyment of life, and disfigurement.
Establishing the value of non-economic damages typically requires testimony from family members, friends, and coworkers about the changes they have observed in the injured person since the accident.
Missouri does not cap non-economic damages in car accident cases, meaning there is no statutory limit on what a jury may award.
How Pure Comparative Negligence May Affect Your Compensation
Missouri follows a pure comparative fault standard, meaning your compensation is reduced by your percentage of fault for the accident. If you are found 30 percent at fault and the total award is $100,000, your recovery is reduced to $70,000.
Contact a Springfield Car Accident Attorney
If you were seriously injured in a car accident due to another party’s negligence, contact an experienced Springfield car accident lawyer at Buchanan Williams & O’Brien. Our attorneys have fought for injured clients across Missouri for over 40 years, including a $1.09 million award for the surviving spouse of a man killed in a car accident while traveling for work.
Schedule a free consultation today. We work on a contingency basis; you pay no fee unless we recover compensation for you.
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