Motorcycle Accident Damages: What's Available to Victims?

Motorcycle accident victims tend to experience much greater injuries that someone would in an automobile or other type of 'protected' vehicle. We wondered what types of damages were available to victims and asked Claude Wyle, a California attorney and member of the Advocate Law Group network who has been practicing motorcycle law, and riding, for 25 years. According to Wyle, "Basically, most theories are based on negligence or strict liability. In California, you get what's called compensatory damages or damages that are meant to put you back where you were before the accident. You get your medical bills or all of your out of pocket expenses paid. This includes medical bills past and future, any income or wage loss past and that is reasonably likely to be incurred in the future, such as a diminution (decreased) of earning capacity."

Examples of decreased earning capacity

We asked Wyle to provide us with some examples of decreased earning capacity. Here's what he told us:

If a young person is involved, let's say he's a painter and he breaks his shoulder and can't paint anymore, he's going to have a future diminution of earning capacity. You've got to figure out what the person can and can't do after the accident. If you get somebody who's been a carpenter all the way through to age 26 and then you break both their arms and both their legs, you know they're not going to be able to go back to being a carpenter. They're going to have to go do something else. Maybe they're highly intelligent, maybe they're not. Maybe they were destined to be in the trades and now they can't or maybe they really were brilliant and can make more money sitting in front of a computer. You've got to be able to figure that out.

General and punitive damages

Compensatory damages aren't the only type of damages that are available to motorcycle accident victims – general and punitive damages may also be sought. Wyle explained each:

• General damages. General damages, which are damages for pain and suffering, anxiety, embarrassment, humiliation, anguish, fear, all the things that are basically the human loss. There's the out of pocket loss, which is just paying somebody back; then there's the human loss, which is what has really cost a person in terms of their pain, their suffering, and their ability to engage in activities that they enjoyed or that just kept them going. Sometimes people can't even engage in the normal activities of daily living. The law says that if somebody incurs these damages, then that's what the jury is supposed to give them and that's generally what happens.
• Punitive damages. You don't get these types of damages unless the act was intentional or so bad that it was despicable. In other words, if somebody purposefully throws open their door in front of a motorcyclist who's lane sharing because they want to scare him and he gets hurt, then that is clearly on purpose and you might get punitive damages.

If you or a loved one has been injured in a motorcycle or bicycle accident, contact an attorney whose practice focuses in this area of law. Click here, for a free consultation with a motorcycle accident attorney.