What Is an Injury Settlement?
An injury settlement is a deal between the plaintiff and the defendant to settle a case outside of court. This can be an effective way to receive quick compensation.
As opposed to special damages, which can be easily calculated but non-economic damages are difficult to pinpoint in a specific dollar amount. These include things like pain and suffering.
Medical expenses
Depending on the severity of an injury, medical costs can constitute a substantial part of the settlement. These expenses could include doctor visits, medication and surgeries. These expenses are not usually covered by insurance and may be expensive. In many cases, there are also other expenses that are due to the injury like home health treatment such as adaptive devices, transportation to medical appointments, and many more.
Medical bills are usually covered by your private health insurance, Medicare, Medicaid or PIP. If you settle that has medical bills that are not paid the funds received from the settlement will be used to pay these. Your attorney can work to bargain with the billing companies and try to reduce the amount due.
Your lawyer can also decide the proper amount to cover any other losses that aren't medically related. These include loss of future income, pain and suffering, and other non-economic damages. Your attorney will need to provide expert testimony and evidence of these damages in order in order to establish a valid claim.
Lost wages
In addition to the compensation for medical expenses, injured victims could also be entitled to lost wages. The amount of damages is calculated according to the time that the victim was unable to work as a result of their injuries. A personal injury lawyer can help their client collect lost wages as compensation in a personal injury case.
A brain injury that is traumatic or spinal cord injury, for instance, could force you to miss large amounts of work. This means you'll have to prove that the amount of time you were absent was directly related to the accident. In order to prove lost wages, it is essential to include all sources of income. This includes regular pay as well as overtime, bonuses and commissions. You could also include vacation days or sick days.
If your doctor determines that you can return to work with certain restrictions, the employer must comply with these restrictions. This could mean changing certain aspects of your work or providing beneficial equipment.
A personal
injury lawyer who's knowledgeable can assist you with gathering the required information to back your claim for lost wages. They can also assist with cases when the person who has suffered an injury is self-employed or receives a variable salary. In such cases an insurance company will need to look at the past and future earnings of the injured party and provide a reasonable estimation of future lost wages. This will require a complete declaration from the plaintiff's accountant or financial professional.
Non-economic damages
When people think of personal injury damages, they usually consider the loss of money due to medical expenses and lost wages. But there are other costs associated with injury that are difficult to quantify in dollar amounts. These are known as non-economic damages. They cover the more intangible effects of a person's injuries, such as suffering and pain, as well as loss of enjoyment of life.
Pay stubs, bills and other documents can be used to establish economic damages for courts and juries. Non-economic damages, however, on the contrary are more difficult to determine and could be based on subjective factors such as suffering, pain, and emotional distress.
The pain and suffering can include any mental, physical or emotional stress caused by the accident. It can also refer to the person's inability to engage at their normal social or recreational activities. A jury will evaluate the consequences of the injury to the victim's life.
Other economic damages can include disfigurement loss of consortium, and loss of 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 but it can be painful to live with marks and other permanent injuries.
Damages for pain and suffering
Pain and suffering are not economic damages which provide you with compensation for the physical and emotional trauma caused by your accident. Contrary to medical bills and auto repair costs and lost wages, these are more subjective damages that need to be decided by jurors. Every juror will have a different views about the amount of pain and suffering compensation is appropriate for your situation.
Documentation is a way to help jurors understand the seriousness of an injury. Your attorney can compile written records from your doctors that detail the extent of your injuries, with photographs and video footage. The testimony of family members and friends can be persuasive. These testimony can help build sympathy with jurors and show how your injury has impacted aspects of your life, like hobbies and family activities.
The length of your injury can also affect the amount you receive for pain and suffering. The amount of pain and suffering awarded is generally higher for serious and disabling injuries than injuries that heal quickly.
The claims for injury should reflect the emotional and psychological trauma that is caused by an accident. Personal
injury attorneys can assist you in constructing a strong case, and negotiate a fair settlement for all of your injuries. Adam S. Kutner and Associates can offer you an initial consultation should you have any concerns about a possible settlement to an injury.