There are over 64,000 personal injury law firms today across the United States of America. This figure shows a broad and competitive area of personal injury in law. Every day, millions of people seek compensation for accidents and diseases that they have suffered.
It can be daunting to seek compensation for damages if you or someone close to you has been injured or falls ill due to another person’s negligence. Other factors that worsen the situation are medical bills, loss of wages, and other charges, such as pain and suffering. However, it is important to have adequate information on the legal processes and the rights of the claimant in order to get fair compensation.
What Are Damages in a Personal Injury Case?
If another individual’s negligence caused the latter, the injured person can claim damages, which is money paid to the injured person. These are intended to compensate for the losses and enable the victims to heal psychologically and financially. As a result, it is preferable to consult a TPD lawyer to help file the claims because some of them are complex, and the victims may not receive adequate compensation. That is why it is necessary to explain what is meant by relatively common damages in a personal injury claim.
Economic Damages
Specific or general damages are the losses incurred by one due to an accident. Some of the following are included, and they are usually simple to calculate:
- Medical expenses: Pays for hospital stays, operations, prescription drugs, rehabilitation, and any other expected future medical treatment.
- Wages: This involves wages that the injured person cannot earn due to the injury and salaries that they will not be able to earn in the future due to the injury.
- Bodily Injury: This refers to compensation for the cost of property destroyed in an accident, including a car.
- Other expenses: They include help, transportation, and any other costs that may be incurred due to the disability, such as alterations in the home environment.
Non-economic Damages
Pecuniary damages, also called general damages, are intended to compensate for the losses that cannot be measured by any monetary amount but have a substantial impact on the victim’s life. These could consist of:
- Pain and Suffering: This is compensation for constant suffering, physical pain, and inconveniences caused by the injury.
- Emotional loss: Refers to the impact of the accident on the victim’s mental health, such as anxiety, depression, and PTSD, among others.
- Loss of enjoyment of life: Offers compensation for the injury-related incapacity to partake in hobbies, activities, or a typical lifestyle.
- Loss of consortium: It is given to the husband or other family member as compensation for the injury to the victim, who denies the claimant consortium.
Punitive Damages
Nevertheless, punitive damages are awarded when the tort was committed with intention or when gross negligence occurred, but this is not very common. Punitive damages are closer to economic and non-economic damages. Still, they are awarded to punish the negligent party by discouraging the same behavior in the future. These are given in cases of professional negligence, for instance, medical malpractice, car accidents caused by drivers under the influence of alcohol, defective products, and situations where an individual has been negligent to the extreme.
Qualifications for Compensation
The most frequently used cause of action is negligence, which has four ingredients that need to be proven.
Duty: You need to prove that the person who caused the accident had a duty to protect the lives of other people and failed to do so in the right manner.
Negligence: In any case, the party responsible for the accident must have been negligent in discharging their duty.
The tort of Wrongdoing: To support this, you must demonstrate how the breach of the said duty resulted in your injury. This entails linking your injury to the negligent party’s conduct, which may involve using traffic reports on the scene of the accident or your medical records.
Damages: The claimant must prove that he has suffered some harm and should give details of how much he has incurred in terms of medical bills, loss of wages, pain and suffering, and property.
Tips for Securing Fair Compensation
Document Everything Meticulously
Any viable and persuasive personal injury claim is anchored on and backed by papers. First, it is necessary to photograph the injuries received, the place of the accident, and the damages. Get the contact information of the witnesses and, if there is one, a police report.
It will be useful to maintain a record of all medications, treatments, therapy sessions, and doctor visits. In addition, ensure that you record all the expenses that resulted from the injuries, such as costs incurred in remodeling your home and transport fees to the doctor.
Get Medical Help Right Away
It is critical for your health and your case that you seek medical treatment right after being involved in an accident. Early treatment enables all the injuries to be detected and treated to avoid any complications in the future. Medical records are also recognized as relevant evidence because they show the severity of the victim’s injuries and prove that they were received during the incident. These papers are of great help in supporting your claim and in getting the money that you are supposed to receive.
Negotiate Strategically
A client needs to understand that insurance firms are business entities, and their main aim is to reduce losses; hence, they will go a long way in ensuring that they are not required to pay out on a claim. The first thing that the insurance company comes up with is usually not what you should take, so do not accept it. However, it is recommended that one negotiate to be paid a reasonable amount.
Seek Legal Services of a Personal Injury Lawyer
In the case of personal injury, it is always advisable to seek the services of a lawyer to increase the chances of being compensated fairly. The attorney knows the legal processes, your likelihood in a specific case, and your legal rights. They can also negotiate for you and interact with insurance companies.
Every individual who has been a victim of negligence has to know their rights and the process of personal injury. Pay what you are owed, gather the right paperwork, do not mislead your attorney, and make the right choices. Understand that you have the right to say no, as nobody has the right to hurt you, and your health is valuable.
