If you choose to take your personal injury case to court, there are different types of compensation that you might be eligible for. Your injury lawyer will be able to advise you on which types of compensation apply to your particular case. This is one reason why it’s important to always have a legal professional on your side. According to the United States Department of Justice, 90-95% of personal injury cases are settled before even making it to trial, though. To help you better understand what you might be entitled to, let’s look at a few different types of compensation that are available in a personal injury case.
What Classifies as a Personal Injury?
First, let’s look at what qualifies as a personal injury. Personal injury is defined as an area of civil law that deals with physical injuries. It can also cover the emotional trauma that a victim would suffer during their accident and after the accident because of it. A personal injury that results in death can also be fought as a wrongful death case. Personal injury can cover bodily harm, pain and suffering, and emotional distress. This could include PTSD symptoms that result from the injury.
Bodily harm would include injuries such as broken bones, fractures, spinal cord injuries, brain injuries, and more. Any type of physical injury that would have a significant impact on your ability to function and earn an income qualifies as bodily harm. Evidence that would need to be collected for bodily injury would include documented medical bills.
Pain and suffering is more of a mental health issue. An injury lawyer will encourage you to also record any mental health treatments you might have needed following your accident. Emotional distress also falls under mental health and would need to be properly documented by a mental health professional. Now that we have a background of what defines a personal injury case, we can look at the different types of compensation you might be entitled to.
1. Special Compensatory Damages
Most personal injury cases will result in compensatory damages. This is money paid to the victim to help pay for the expenses that the accident and injury caused. The damages are often easy to calculate as they are a direct calculation of all past, current, and future expenses the victim pays throughout their recovery process. It can also include financial losses that might be incurred due to the accident.
This type of compensation usually includes medical expenses such as hospital stays, medication, physical therapy, and more. It can also include property damage, lost wages due to lost time at work, and the expense of other losses resulting from the accident.
2. General Compensatory Damages
The above-mentioned compensations are easily quantifiable, but general compensatory damages are not. That is because this type of compensation deals with feelings resulting from the accident and the injuries. It has more to do with the overall well-being of the victim and how their quality of life was affected by the accident. This type of compensation looks at things such as pain and suffering, mental anguish, emotional distress, lessened quality of life, loss of enjoyment of life, loss of companionship, and general inconvenience. Although difficult to quantify, these are important aspects of life that can be permanently altered due to an accident and injuries, so your attorney will fight to ensure you receive the compensation you deserve. An injury lawyer can help you determine which of these individual elements applies to your unique case.
3. Punitive Damages
Punitive damages are another key part of a personal injury case. These are intended to punish the at-fault party. In some cases, the court may find that the compensatory damages do not adequately punish the party that was at fault. In this situation, further damages will be calculated. This is in an effort to deter the at-fault party from making the same choices or mistakes in the future. Although an accident lawyer can make suggestions for how much this amount should be, the court usually makes the final decision concerning these types of damages.
This is a short description of the types of compensation you might be qualified for after your accident. If you’ve been in an accident resulting in personal injuries, you need legal assistance. Contact the Law Offices of Burton & Beale if you’d like a free consultation with an experienced personal injury lawyer. We are here for your legal needs.
