Monetary Compensation from Pursuing a Personal Injury Claim

When you are involved in a personal injury claim, you will collect what are known as “damages” from another party, which is essentially the compensation paid to you. Damages are made as a way to “make you whole” after you have suffered from a life-changing injury and wish to get on with your life. It may be difficult to put a dollar number on your personal injury, which is the problem that the courts sometimes run into. For instance, what if you are taking a party for pain and suffering? How much do you deserve? This is why compensation becomes complicated in many ways.

There are many types of damages that may be available to you that act in different ways and help you get what you need. Depending on your case, there may be different damages that are available to you. In general, however, they may include the following:

Compensation for Medical Bills: Let’s say that the defendant caused you serious injuries – if you have medical treatment for these injuries, you are entitled to medical bill repayment by the defendant. Medical bills can become quite expensive over time, which is why they will be held liable to take care of it. Some of these bills include payment for physical therapy, hospital stays, nursing home stays, and more. If a health insurer has been paying your bills, the money will go directly to them to continue caring for you in your time of need.

Lost Wages: Lost wages will typically include payment for any work that a plaintiff had to miss because of the injury itself or treatment. If there was no vacation time given for it, then they will have to be compensated for those days. The same goes for if there is a loss in the future ability to earn due to the injury.

Pain and Suffering: In many cases, pain and suffering comes into play in a personal injury. If the injury was particularly significant, you should expect to see pain and suffering in your case. Many insurance companies will use something known as a “pain multiplier” to come up with the perfect amount for pain and suffering damages. This will include multiplying the actual financial losses times an appropriate number.

Emotional Distress: If the injury damaged the plaintiff emotionally, emotional distress can be proven. This is typically proven through psychiatric records or a diagnosis of PSTD. From there, compensation will be decided.

Wrongful Death: If a worker’s life was taken through an accident or by someone’s negligence, a family can bring a wrongful death lawsuit on their behalf. A spouse will be able to bring about a lawsuit and the parents of a minor child can as well.

Loss of Companionship/Consortium: In these cases, the general idea is that a family member should be compensated for the loss of relationship to a victim after they have passed away due to an accident. In the event of loss of consortium, a spouse may be able to recover if they have lost the ability to have an intimate relationship due to an injury.

Punitive Damages: You may not see punitive damages in every single case. However, they are not intended to make a plaintiff whole, which is why they are a bit different from other damages. Their purpose is to punish the negligent acts of the defendant and keep them from doing the same thing a second time.

Do you believe you should be entitled to economic damages for your injuries? Accidents can be very alarming and tedious, which is why you should speak to an experienced attorney. Call us today at Maggiano, DiGirolamo & Lizzi for more information. We can help you every step of your case, from start to finish.