If you have been the victim in an accident, consulting a personal injury attorney will help you gain an accurate assessment of the value of your claim
When you file a personal injury claim, your biggest concern is that you’ll receive enough monetary compensation to pay for the damages you suffered in the accident. When talking about damages, this is a broad term that covers several different ways that you were adversely affected by the incident. In order to know how much you can claim, your Bronx personal injury lawyer will have to know which types of damages you’re eligible to seek.
What Factors Make Up Compensatory Damages?
Primarily, your injury claim should be made up of economic damages, since these are damages that you can prove. For example, you can show that you suffered medical injuries and offer an accurate assessment of the value of those injuries by submitting copies of your medical records to the court. Your medical records will include bills for treatments you have already received in addition to your need for future treatments and therapy. Similarly, the accident may have impacted you emotionally, requiring a need for ongoing counseling. The costs of seeing a therapist may also be included in a claim for damages.
Other personal injury damages that fall into this category include lost wages, missed days from work, and property damages. If the accident resulted in a permanent or long-term disability, you may also seek damages to cover your loss of employment. If you need to go back to school to learn a new trade, damages may cover the costs of your education as well.
What Other Damages Can You Claim?
There are some non-economic damages that you can claim along with the previously mentioned damages. This includes pain and suffering. While it can be difficult to measure someone’s pain, it can be estimated through statements offered by the plaintiff and their medical caregivers. Pain and suffering can refer to immediate experiences of pain as well as ongoing or chronic pain that the individual’s injuries may cause.
An injury claim can also seek emotional damages that resulted from the injuries sustained in the accident. When severe injuries prevent someone from returning to work or from engaging in their favorite activities, their mental health is affected. They may develop depression as they’re prevented from engaging in the activities that gave their life meaning. Frequent worrying about when their life will return to normal can also cause them to experience anxiety. These types of mental illnesses are other harmful effects of the accident, which means the costs for treatment should also be considered in a claim for damages.
Punitive Damages May Also Apply
In some cases, a jury will also award punitive damages. While compensatory damages are intended to compensate a plaintiff for the losses they suffered, punitive damages are intended to punish the defendant. The amount awarded in punitive damages is also up to the jury. While they can award $1 up to millions, a low award defeats the purpose of punitive damages. The goal is to award a sufficient amount that the defendant will be adversely affected by the punitive damages. This is more common when the defendant is a large corporation and will likely continue their acts of negligence without the economic harm that a significant loss of funds would cause.
If you have been the victim in an accident, consulting a personal injury attorney will help you gain an accurate assessment of the value of your claim. Your lawyer can tell you which damages you’re eligible to claim and how much those damages are worth in your case. An initial consultation with Jesse Minc is free, so requesting a case evaluation from an experienced injury attorney will cost you nothing out of pocket.
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