If you were injured in a car accident, slip and fall, or other type of accident, you may be experiencing financial difficulty due to unexpected medical expenses, property repair costs, and time lost from work. Through a personal injury claim, you may be able to recover compensation for these out-of-pocket expenses.
Keep reading to learn more about how your out-of-pocket expenses might fit into your overall compensation award, including what they are and how to prove their value.
Types of Damages in a Personal Injury Case
Damages in North Carolina cases generally take two forms: economic damages and non-economic damages.
Economic damages compensate for tangible losses, such as:
- Medical expenses
- Lost wages
- Reduced earning capacity
- Property damage
Non-economic damages compensate for less tangible losses, such as:
- Pain and suffering
- Mental anguish
- Emotional distress
- Psychological trauma
- Loss of enjoyment of life
Damages can include compensation for anticipated damages, such as future medical expenses or pain and suffering.
What Are Out-of-Pocket Expenses?
Out-of-pocket expenses are a form of economic damages. They represent actual direct losses you’ve experienced because of the accident. They are generally a catch-all category of expenses for anything you’ve personally paid out of pocket because of the accident. You may be able to be reimbursed for these losses.
Common Types of Out-of-Pocket Expenses
Out-of-pocket expenses can include a wide variety of costs, such as:
- Medical co-pays and deductibles
- Medical devices and equipment
- Prescription medications
- Over-the-counter medications and supplies
- Mileage reimbursement for medical treatment
- Lodging for overnight visits for medical treatment
- Rental car expenses
- Rideshare costs
- Public transportation costs
- Home or vehicle modification costs
Other expenses can qualify as out-of-pocket expenses.
Are Out-of-Pocket Expenses Reimbursed in North Carolina?
North Carolina law allows accident victims to recover out-of-pocket expenses that are reasonable and necessary. Injury victims and insurance companies may disagree about what expenses fit this definition. However, accident victims can help link their need for such items through medical records and other documentation, linking the accident and the expense.
Accident victims can request written documentation from the insurance company for their denial of reimbursement for a reasonable and necessary out-of-pocket expense. It may be necessary to get multiple quotes or estimates to show the reasonableness of a particular expense.
Proving the Value of Out-of-Pocket Expenses
Recovering fair compensation for your out-of-pocket expenses and other damages in a personal injury case typically requires a few steps:
Gather Documentation
Keep all receipts for anything you purchased related to the accident. Preserve all available evidence, such as costs partially covered by health insurance with a remaining balance, or bank account statements showing you paid for a particular item. If your doctor wrote a note recommending specific items, keep that information, too.
If you have lost this documentation, you may be able to backtrack to retrieve it. For example, your local pharmacy may be able to print out a record of all of your prescription medications. Stores can also sometimes print duplicate receipts if you present them with the credit or debit card you used to make the purchase.
You may want to keep all of your receipts and other documentation in an organized folder, listing categories for each group of expenses. You can also use an app or an Excel sheet to track and calculate these expenses.
Provide the Documentation
Provide the insurance company with copies (not the originals) of your receipts and other documentation that shows the expense and its value. This is particularly important when sending medical records or records from your doctor.
You should not sign a medical release form to the insurance company. One of the tactics insurance companies use is to search diligently through your medical records to find any prior injury or condition to blame your current injuries on, to try to get out of paying for them.
Send a Demand
Your attorney can include the information you gathered in part of your demand letter. The demand letter will ask for compensation for all your accident-related injuries and losses.
It will also include information about:
- The cause of the accident
- The date, time, and location of the accident
- Why the insured is responsible for the accident
- Your willingness to go to court if the insurance company does not pay you the amount of compensation you have demanded
An experienced personal injury attorney can tailor your demand letter to your specific circumstances.
Contact Our Raleigh Personal Injury Attorneys at Riddle & Riddle Injury Lawyers for a Free Consultation
If you’ve been injured in an accident that wasn’t your fault, the insurance company may make you a settlement offer to resolve your claim. However, insurance companies often don’t include reimbursement for out-of-pocket expenses in their initial settlement offer, even though they can represent a sizable portion of your claim.
An experienced Raleigh personal injury attorney from Riddle & Riddle Injury Lawyers can help pursue compensation for all your accident-related injuries and losses, including out-of-pocket expenses. Contact us at (919) 876-3020 for a free consultation.