While some personal injury damages are obvious — like medical bills — there are other types of damages that you may be able to recover from a lawsuit.
If you have been hurt in any sort of accident, you likely understand that a personal injury case involves more than just medical bills or property damage. If your injuries are severe, you may have a high level of pain and suffering, so you may be unable to return to work for a period of time. As an experienced personal injury attorney will tell you, a personal injury case can involve a number of different types of losses — and depending on the facts of the case, you may be able to receive compensation for all of them.
What Is A Personal Injury Case?
A personal injury case can involve any number of situations. The common feature is that someone was injured, physically or mentally, because of another person’s actions (or inaction). Those actions could be deliberate or simply negligent, but if injury resulted, the person responsible will likely be liable for those losses. Personal injury cases often involve car accidents, medical malpractice, product liability, and slips and falls.
What Damages Can Be Recovered?
It’s important to note that all personal injury cases are different. The type and amount of damages that can be recovered depends on the facts of each case. In some situations, such as when an employee is injured at work, the damages may be limited because the case must be handled through the workers’ compensation system. In other cases, a lawsuit may be filed and damages are only limited by what the injured person can prove.
Damages received in a personal injury case should restore the injured party to his or her same level of health previously enjoyed before the accident. In some cases, that may be impossible, such as if the person died or suffered a permanent injury that limits their life functions.
There are two types of damages in personal injury cases: special and general damages. Special damages are any losses that can be accurately measured. Examples of special damages may include medical bills for treatment after the accident and treatment that will occur in the future, as well as any property damage, such as a car that was demolished in an accident. It may also include items such as lost wages if the injured person was unable to work for a period of time or cannot work in the future. Any damage that can be specifically quantified is included in the special damages category. A seasoned personal injury lawyer will be able to analyze your losses and determine a total figure for special damages.
In contrast, general damages are any sort of loss that doesn’t have a set number value. It usually involves an intangible loss of some sort, like pain and suffering, emotional distress or loss of enjoyment of life. A spouse or children of an injured person may also claim a specific type of general damages known as loss of consortium, which is meant to compensate them for their spouse or parent’s inability to do the things they used to do with them. These damages can be hard to calculate, but a skilled personal injury lawyer will be able to compare your case to similar cases to come up with a number for the total general damages you have suffered. Most personal injury cases involve damages for emotional distress, and may include the additional forms of general damages listed above. This is particularly true in cases where a person has been severely injured and can no longer function in the way that he or she did before.
Damages may be limited if the injured party was partially at fault for the accident. This is known as comparative negligence, and it can result in a lower verdict or a finding in favor of the defendant. Typically, an injured person’s settlement or award is reduced by their percentage of fault for the accident.
In order to collect compensation for the losses you have suffered in an accident or other personal injury case, you must file your claim on time. That is why it is so important to have an experienced personal injury lawyer represent you. They will understand the statute of limitations — the time limit — for your particular type of claim, and will work to file the claim on time so that you do not lose your right to collect damages.
If you have been injured in Southern California or Arizona, contact the Law Offices of Larry H. Parker at 800-333-0000 or info@larryhparker.com. We are skilled at handling all types of personal injury cases and recovering damages to help make our clients whole again. Initial consultations are always free, and we never charge a fee unless we recover money for you.
