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How to Prove Decreased Quality of Life After a Car Accident

A car accident can affect someone’s life in many ways and on multiple levels. What is difficult for you, may feel normal to others.

st. louis woman with ptsd after car accident

When it comes to personal injury cases, calculating the settlement amount isn’t always straightforward. A car accident can affect someone’s life in many ways and on multiple levels. What is difficult for you, may feel normal to others.

So, how do you prove decreased quality of life after a car accident and what kind of evidence do you need to provide?

Here’s what you should know.

How Is the Quality of Life Quantified?

“Quality of life” is such a vague concept that proving its loss in front of a court might be confusing to a car accident victim. If economic losses are relatively straightforward and easy to back up with evidence, non-economic ones are harder to measure.

But what exactly is the quality of life in a legal context? It means someone’s ability to enjoy life and carry on their day to day activities. If the injuries from the car accident are affecting your daily routine, mental state, and relationships, you can probably include loss of quality of life in your claim.

Here are some clear examples of how a car accident can damage the quality of your life:

  • You can’t participate in your favorite or usual recreational activities (sports, going out, daily walks, etc.)
  • You can’t take care of someone else (limited activities with your children, inability to walk your dogs)
  • Feelings of disgrace
  • Damaged relationship
  • Damage to reputation
  • Loss of joy of living

All these are examples of damages that go under “pain and suffering”, which doesn’t have a standard equation you can just apply to any case. The court and insurance company will take various factors into account to decide what amount would compensate such losses.

Evidence You Can Bring to Prove Loss of Quality of Life

In order to successfully claim compensation for loss of quality of life, you must do two things:

  • Bring evidence to show how your life has changed after the accident and how it made you feel
  • Show that these consequences are indeed caused by the car accident

Your own testimony will be needed for this claim, and it can get uncomfortable and stressful in many cases. The insurance company will try to minimize its costs by questioning the severity or authenticity of your claim. You can see how this can be very stressful when you’re talking about personal things in your life that really matter to you. That’s why it’s crucial to have an experienced St. Louis auto accident lawyer on your side throughout this process.

Other kinds of evidence that you can provide are an expert evaluation from psychotherapists, psychiatrists, counselors, etc. Testimony from people in your life can also be considered.

If you have been involved in a St. Louis car accident, it is very important to speak with an experienced attorney about your case to ensure your legal rights are protected right from the start of your claim. Give The Hoffmann Law Firm, L.L.C. a call today at (314) 361-4242 for a FREE case evaluation.

Updated: October 25, 2019