What is the Worth of My Personal Injury?
There are two important aspects of any personal injury claim – Determining who was liable for the accident and Calculating how much it is worth. When it comes to the second component, valuation starts with having a fair assessment of different kinds of compensable losses.
The simple and straightforward answer to ‘How much is my case worth” is the amount that fully covers physical, mental and monetary damages. In some cases, the calculation of damages also involves if the defendant’s action is punishable.
Winning Formula in Personal Injury Claims
A personal injury case involves handing damages to the injured person by the at-fault party or his/her insurance company. In the equation of money transfer, the responsible party is called defendant and the injured is called plaintiff.
The ‘Award’ for damages is usually agreed upon through a negotiation settlement between the two parties involved in the accident, their insurance companies and attorneys. Majority of the personal injury cases are solved through negotiations and the rest and rare of them proceed to the trial which sees the jury or judge ordering the award while delivering the verdict.
The article focuses on different types of damages resulting from personal injuries.
Compensatory Damages
Most personal injury damages come under the category of “Compensatory”. These are meant to compensate the claimant, who suffered an injury, for what the person suffered and lost due to injury. A compensatory damage award is designed with an aim to make the injured claimant “WHOLE” again from a monetary aspect.
The assessment of compensatory damages involves translating all the consequences of the accident into dollars. Some compensatory damages such as medical bills and property damage reimbursement are comparatively easier to quantify. But it’s very challenging to quantify ‘Pain and Suffering’ or the injured plaintiff’s inability to enjoy entertainment or hobbies due to his/her physical limitations caused by lingering injuries from the accident.
Medical Treatment: A compensatory damage in personal injury cases always covers the expenses for medical treatment and care. It has two important components – reimbursement for medical bills and compensation for estimated medical care expenses.
Income: Depending on how your salary and wages might be impacted by the accident and injury, you will be entitled to compensation. It’s granted for not only what you have lost but also the amount of money you would have earned in future were it not for your accident and injury. In law jargon, a compensation award based on estimated loss of future income is often called as compensation for the plaintiff’s “Loss of Earning Capacity”.
Pain and Suffering: Though it is not easy to place a dollar on your mental pain and suffering, these are integral to any physical injury in the event of an accident and that is why, a compensatory damage award always involves ‘as perfect as possible’ assessment of depression that an injured goes through in the aftermath of an accident.
Property Loss: A part of the compensation goes towards reimbursing for repairs or replacement of any kind of damages to your car, clothes or other items due to the accident.
Reach out to your Seattle Personal Injury Attorney to learn the worth of your personal injury and draft the reasonable steps towards obtaining the amount.
