“Damages” are the monetary compensation a defendant owes you in a lawsuit. Personal injury damages attempt to remedy the defendant’s wrong and make up for the consequences you suffered due to their negligence.
According to the National Safety Council, the cost of the average car accident ranges from $6,100 (an accident with property damage only) to $1.87 million (a fatal accident). You’ll experience this first-hand if you’re ever involved in a car crash, as it’ll likely lead to you dealing with medical bills, auto repair costs, and more. Filing a lawsuit against the at-fault party in your accident can help you recover personal injury damages so you don’t have to foot the bill for unexpected expenses.
So, what are damages, and what are the different types of personal injury damages you can recover during an accident lawsuit? Find out what you need to know about damages before bringing a personal injury lawyer on board to represent you.
What Are Damages?
Americans file hundreds of thousands of personal injury lawsuits each year. They do it in the aftermath of car accidents, workplace accidents, slip-and-fall accidents, pedestrian accidents, construction accidents, and more. Their goal is always simple: to recover damages they can use to eliminate accident-related costs.
Damages refer to the compensation plaintiffs attempt to collect at the end of personal injury cases. Plaintiffs typically request specific amounts of money from defendants in these cases to recover personal injury damages. However, it’s worth noting that judges or juries in these legal proceedings have the power to increase or decrease these amounts based on the facts personal injury lawyers present in court.
Contact our team today so we can fight to help you get the compensation you deserve.
What Are the Types of Damages?
There are two main types of personal injury damages that plaintiffs can recover during personal injury cases — compensatory damages and punitive damages. Familiarizing yourself with these types of damages can help you understand what you may be able to recover in a personal injury lawsuit. Let’s take a closer look at what these types of damages entail.
What Are Compensatory Damages?
The compensatory damages awarded during personal injury cases are designed to make up for the losses caused by the accident. By providing personal injury damages, judges and juries can help accident victims recover from a financial, physical, and mental perspective.
Compensatory damages can be broken down further into monetary damages and non-monetary damages. Here is how these two types of compensatory damages are categorized.
What Are Compensatory Damages for Monetary Losses?
Compensatory damages for monetary losses are sometimes called special damages in court. These personal injury damages are easily calculated by evaluating an accident victim’s situation along with the documentation they provide to prove financial losses in relation to their injuries.
Some examples of compensatory damages for monetary losses include:
- Medical bills
- Auto repair costs
- Lost wages
Plaintiffs can ensure they aren’t stuck paying bills for medical treatment by working to secure compensation damages for monetary losses. They can also account for issues like lost earning capacity, which may occur after a long-term or chronic injury that impacts a person’s ability to return to their previous career.
What Are Compensatory Damages for Non-Monetary Losses?
You can’t always assign a price tag to the damages incurred in a personal injury case. That’s where non-economic damages come in.
Compensatory damages for non-monetary losses are routinely referred to as general damages in court. Unlike compensatory damages for monetary losses, these personal injury damages aren’t easy to calculate since plaintiffs can’t always point to hard evidence to prove financial losses.
A few examples of compensatory damages for non-monetary losses include:
- Pain and suffering
- Mental anguish
- Loss of consortium
- Loss of quality of life
- Emotional distress
It’s usually more challenging for judges and juries to come up with compensatory damages for non-monetary losses since they can change on a case-by-case basis. A personal injury lawyer can help you understand what you serve to gain by requesting non-monetary damages in your case.
What Are Punitive Damages?
While the compensatory damages awarded to plaintiffs in personal injury cases are designed to help accident victims, punitive damages are reserved for lawsuits in which judges and juries want to punish defendants. They’ll often only dish out punitive damages to plaintiffs when the defendants in cases have committed especially egregious acts that led to others sustaining serious injuries. These are common in cases involving:
- Driving under the influence of drugs or alcohol
- Reckless or aggressive driving
- Dangerous conditions that the property owner has known about for some time
- Malice, hatred, or ill will on the part of the defendant
Many states cap punitive damages at four times the amount of the compensatory damages awarded in a case. The U.S. Supreme Court has even weighed in on punitive damages in the past and argued against judges and juries awarding punitive damages worth over ten times the amount of compensatory damages.
How Are Damages Awarded to a Plaintiff in a Personal Injury Lawsuit?
Calculating the personal injury damages that should be awarded to the plaintiff in an accident lawsuit is an inexact science. There’s no formula for coming up with the appropriate compensatory damages or punitive damages in a case.
A personal injury lawyer can help a plaintiff determine the damages they should request during a lawsuit. They can generate a number based on the different expenses a plaintiff has faced and the value attributed to their pain and suffering. They can also review past cases with similar circumstances for reference.
A personal injury attorney can also try to keep a plaintiff’s case out of court by working out a fair settlement deal with a defendant before a trial begins.
Free Consultation 24/7, call 888-340-7454
Seek Damages After an Accident With the Help of Accident Hotline
Accident Hotline is a fantastic resource for those who would like to enlist the services of personal injury lawyers throughout the U.S. You can locate experienced attorneys in your state who can help you decide what to ask for when you’re seeking personal injury damages during an accident lawsuit.
Schedule a free consultation by calling us at (888) 340-7454.
For a free consultation, call 888-340-7454