Recovering Damages After a Cherry Hill Car Accident

Under New Jersey law and Cherry Hill, there is no cap on damages for recovering damages after a Cherry Hill car accident. However, there are caps and limits on punitive damages that a jury can award in limited circumstances. There is no cap on damages, generally speaking, for injuries caused by automobile accidents in Cherry Hill, New Jersey.

When recovering damages in Cherry Hill, it is recommended an individual speak with a skilled car accident attorney immediately following their injury. There are various types of damages in car accident cases to keep in mind and it is important to work with a skilled attorney when seeking to recover a deserved amount.

Deciding the Amount of Damages

Non-economic damages include pain and suffering, disability, impairment, disfigurement, and loss of enjoyment life. They are calculated, in essence, at the end of the case by a jury who would determine what is reasonable under the circumstances. The jury will determine what monetary value on someone’s damage recovery in Cherry Hill. The jury takes somebody’s pain, suffering, and those person’s injuries into account when deciding this.

Non-Economic and Economic Damages

Economic and non-economic damages are factors a jury would consider if they have an opportunity to award punitive damages. Punitive damages are reserved for the most egregious conduct by a defendant or a responsible party. Under the law, punitive damages are limited to three times, what they call the compensatory damages or damages somebody’s entitled to receive for economic and non-economic loss.

Punitive Damages

Recovering punitive damages in Cherry Hill is not that common because they are really limited to situations where a person is able to prove somebody acted intentionally to hurt somebody or acted with such reckless indifference that injury was likely. They are not typical, however. Punitive damages available when somebody has been driving a vehicle under the influence of drug or alcohol. That is the type of conduct where people or the responsible parties could be subjected to punitive damages to punish their conduct.

An attorney would gather evidence to show somebody was intoxicated whether through alcohol or drugs at the time of the crash or was driving at such a high rate of speed, the injury was likely or by texting and driving. All those types of facts would need to be investigated and marshaled in order to prove a case with punitive damages.

The standard for punitive damages is intentional conduct or a conduct that is so reckless that injury was likely to have occurred. When a jury considers that, they would consider the degree of injury and the degree of damages in determining what would be fair and compelling to punish somebody.

Help from a Lawyer

An attorney is typically retained by an individual recovering damages after a Cherry Hill car accident. A car accident attorney will take steps to preserve evidence, gather documents, understand insurance coverage, and do what the insurance company requires to file a lawsuit.

The first thing they will do is try to preserve all evidence they can immediately. They will obtain 911 tapes, obtain body cameras from the police officer(s), video tapes from the police officers, and any other surveillance video that may be available, as well as get witness statements.

In essence, the attorney will do whatever they can to preserve evidence immediately. Attorneys will also assist an injured person in understanding their insurance benefit. They have their rights to pursue another party, but the attorney will assist in dealing their own insurance company and the insurance company not representing the responsible party.