What Is an Injury Settlement?
An injury settlement is an agreement between the plaintiff and defendant to settle the case outside of court. This can be a quick and efficient way to get compensation.
Non-economic damages are more difficult to quantify in dollars. This includes things like discomfort and pain.
Medical expenses
Medical expenses could constitute an important portion of a settlement, contingent on the extent of the injury. They can include doctor visits, medication as well as surgery. Most of the time, these expenses are not covered by health insurance and can be quite costly. In a lot of instances, there are additional costs due to the injury like home health treatment such as adaptive devices, transportation to medical appointments and more.
Medical bills are usually covered by your private health insurance plan, Medicare, Medicaid or PIP. If you get a settlement with medical bills unpaid and the money received from the settlement will be used to pay them. Your attorney can negotiate with billing companies to lower the amounts.
Your attorney can also determine the right amount of damages you should pay to pay for your other non-medical expenses. These include the loss of future income along with pain and suffering and other damages that are not economic. Your lawyer will have to present expert testimony and proof of these damages in order to make a proper claim.
Loss of wages
In addition to compensation for medical expenses, injured victims could also be entitled to compensation for lost wages. The amount of damages is by the amount of time that the victim was absent from working due to their injuries. A skilled personal injury attorney can help their clients recover lost wages in a personal injury claim.
A traumatic brain injury or spinal cord injury for instance, could force you to miss large amounts of work. This means you'll have to prove that the time you didn't work was directly linked to the accident. It is important to include all income sources in proving the loss of wages. This includes regular pay as well as overtime, bonuses and commissions. You can also include unused vacation or sick days.
If your doctor decides that you can return to work with certain restrictions, your employer must respect these restrictions. This could mean rearranging your job or providing you with helpful equipment.
A personal injury lawyer who is experienced can assist you with gathering the required information to back your claim for lost wages. They can also assist in cases when the person who has suffered an injury is self-employed or receives an undetermined salary. In these instances an insurance company must examine the earnings of the past and the future of the victim and give a reasonable estimate of the loss of future wages. This will require a detailed account from the plaintiff's accountant or financial expert.
Economic damages
When people think of personal injury claims, they usually consider the loss of money due to medical expenses and lost wages. There are additional costs that are difficult to quantify in dollars. These are known as non-economic damages. These damages are based on the intangible consequences of an injury to a person, like pain, suffering and loss enjoyment of life.
Economic damages are simple for courts and juries to calculate, as they can be substantiated by invoices and pay stubs. However non-economic damages are more difficult to determine and are dependent on subjective factors such as suffering and pain, as well as the emotional stress caused by the injury.
The suffering and pain could be physical, mental or emotional stress caused by the accident. It could be the inability of a person to engage in their normal hobbies or social activities. A jury will evaluate the impact of the injury on the victim's life.
Other non-economic damages are disfigurement, loss in consortium, and loss in enjoyment of life. For example one could suffer from disfigurement due to an accident that permanently alters their appearance. While this isn't a financial loss however, it can be extremely painful to live with the scars and other permanent injuries.
Damages for pain and suffering
Pain and suffering is a class of non-economic damages for the emotional and physical pain you've experienced as a result of an accident. These are subjective damages, that are the responsibility of the jury, and not medical bills and auto repairs as well as lost wages. Every juror has a different opinion on how much compensation for pain and suffering is appropriate in your case.
Documentation is one method to help jurors understand the seriousness of an injury. Your attorney can collect written documents from your doctor which detail the extent and severity of your injuries. injury lawyer rochester can also gather images and video footage. Testimonies from family and friends can also be persuasive. These testimonies may help build sympathy with jurors and show how your injury has impacted aspects of your life, including hobbies and family activities.
The duration of your injury can also impact the amount you receive for suffering and pain. Injuries that are severe and disabling typically require higher pain and suffering settlements than injuries that heal quicker.
Injuries can cause a lot of emotional and psychological trauma, and a successful injury claim should reflect the severity of the injury. Your personal injury attorney can help you create a strong case, and help you get fair amount of compensation for all your injuries. If you have questions regarding the possibility of settling your injury make a call to Adam S. Kutner & Associates for a free consultation.