“What can I claim?” has a structured answer — categories, each with its own proof and its own gatekeepers. Knowing the categories is how you spot the ones the first settlement offer quietly omitted.
Economic Damages: The Countable Losses
- Medical costs — past treatment and, critically, future care: injections ahead, hardware removal, therapy courses. Future costs claimed now or lost forever.
- Lost wages and earning capacity — missed paychecks, exhausted leave, and diminished capacity where injuries change what work you can do.
- Out-of-pockets — mileage to treatment, medications, equipment, household help. Small lines that sum meaningfully when tracked.
Non-Economic Damages: The Human Losses
Pain and suffering, loss of life’s pleasures, disfigurement — routinely the largest component of serious claims, and the one Pennsylvania’s limited tort election restricts unless an exception applies. This category is where the tort-election analysis earns its place as step one.
What Sets the Numbers
Injury severity and permanence, treatment arc, documentation quality, fault allocation, and — the ceiling nobody mentions — available coverage: policy limits and your own underinsured coverage shape the realistic range, which is why our settlement-amount explainer refuses to quote averages. Punitive damages exist for outrageous conduct — drunk driving chief among them.
Frequently Asked Questions
The insurer’s offer covers my bills exactly. Isn’t that full compensation?
It’s the smallest defensible number — omitting future care, wage effects, out-of-pockets, and the entire non-economic category. Bills-only offers are the industry’s favorite anchor; don’t accept the frame.
Can I claim for injuries that might need surgery later?
You must — the claim settles once, so future care gets valued now, with medical support. It’s the strongest argument against early settlement.
Who pays if my damages exceed the driver’s policy limits?
Potentially your own underinsured coverage, other defendants, or the driver personally (rarely collectable). The coverage map is part of every serious claim’s strategy.
Questions about your own crash? Call (215) 464-4600 or contact us online — free, confidential consultations, contingency-fee representation.