What Is an Injury Settlement?

An settlement for an injury is an agreement between the plaintiff and defendant to settle a case outside of court. This is a quick and efficient method of obtaining compensation.

Non-economic damages are more difficult to quantify in dollar amounts. This includes things like pain and discomfort.

Medical expenses

Depending on the severity an injury, medical expenses can be a substantial portion of the settlement. These may include doctor's visits or medications, injured surgeries and other procedures. In most cases, these costs are not covered by health insurance and can be extremely expensive. In many cases, there are also an additional cost that are associated with the injury like home health treatment such as adaptive devices, transportation to medical appointments and much more.

Medical bills are usually paid by your private health insurance, Medicare, Medicaid or PIP. If you receive a settlement with outstanding medical balances that are not paid, these must be paid from the settlement funds. Your lawyer can bargain with the billing companies and attempt to get the balances reduced.

Your attorney can also determine the proper amount of damages to compensate for any other non-medical loss. These include future income loss or pain and suffering and other damages that are not economic. In order to claim these damages your attorney will have to provide documentation and expert testimony of these other damages.

Loss of wages

In addition to the compensation for medical expenses, injured victims may also be entitled to lost wages. The amount of damages is determined by the length of time that the injured person was unable to work because of their injuries. A skilled personal injury attorney can assist clients in recovering the compensation for lost wages in a personal injury case.

A traumatic brain injury or spinal cord injury law firms for example, could cause you to miss a significant amount of work. This means that you'll need to prove that the time you missed was directly linked to your accident. It is essential to include all income sources in proving the loss of wages. This includes regular wage and overtime, bonuses and commissions. You can also include unused vacation or sick days.

If your doctor has determined that you are able to return work under certain work restrictions, the employer must adhere to these limitations. This could mean changing some aspects of your work or providing necessary equipment.

A seasoned personal injury lawyer will help you gather the necessary information needed to support a wage claim. They can also help in a case where the injured party is self-employed, or receives an undetermined salary. In such cases an insurance company will have to examine the earnings of the past and the future of the injured party and provide a fair estimate of the loss of future wages. This will require a full statement from the plaintiff’s accountant or financial professional.

Non-economic damages

When people think about personal injury damages, the first thing that comes to mind is the amount lost due to medical expenses and lost wages. There are other costs that are hard to quantify in dollars. These are known as non-economic losses. They cover the more intangible results of injuries sustained by a victim, like pain and suffering and loss of enjoyment of life.

Economic damages are simple for juries and courts to calculate since they can be documented with bills and pay stubs. Non-economic damages on the other hand are more difficult to calculate and may be based on subjective factors like suffering, pain, or emotional distress.

The term "pain and suffering" refers to any mental, physical or emotional pain that results from the accident. It could be the inability of a person to pursue their normal hobbies or social activities. A jury will consider the extent to which the injury has affected the victim's quality life.

Other damages that are not economic include disfigurement, loss in consortium, and loss of enjoyment of life. People may experience disfigurement after an accident that permanently alters their appearance. While this isn't an expense however, it can be extremely painful to live with marks and other permanent injuries.

Damages to relieve pain and Suffering

Pain and suffering is a class of non-economic damages to compensate for the physical pain and emotional distress you've experienced as a result of an accident. Contrary to medical bills and auto repair costs and lost wages they are more subjective damages that need to be decided by a jury. Each juror will have a different views on the amount of pain and suffering compensation is appropriate to your case.

Documentation is one way to help jurors comprehend the seriousness of an injury. Your attorney can gather written records from your doctors that provide details of your injuries, with videos and photos. Testimonies from relatives and friends are also persuasive. These testimonies may help create an atmosphere of sympathy for jurors and show how your injury affected your hobbies and activities with your family.

The length of your injuries can also affect the amount of your pain and suffering settlement. Acute, disabling injuries typically result in higher pain and suffering settlements than injuries that heal more quickly.

Injuries can create a lot of stress and emotional trauma, and a successful claim for injury should reflect that. Your personal injury lawyer will assist you in constructing an effective case and help you negotiate an equitable settlement for all of your injuries. If you have questions about a possible settlement for your injuries contact Adam S. Kutner & Associates to schedule a consultation.