Your personal injury claim could arise because of injuries suffered in a car accident, a fall, or an animal attack. However, a personal injury case can potentially be made anytime you have been injured by someone else’s negligence. Just as the cause of your case varies, your damages can vary widely also. Let’s look at ten types of damages for which you could seek compensation.
Personal injury claims generally include physical damage. So, incurring medical bills is the norm. In fact, your bills might be astronomical if you were seriously harmed. Who should pay for your medical expenses? You might be able to seek compensation from the person or company that caused them.
It’s relatively common for people injured in accidents to need medical care for weeks, months, and even years. As with your current medical bills, you can ask for future medical expenses to be included in your compensation.
Many people who file a personal injury claim have missed at least a few days of work. Sometimes people can only go back to work part-time or can only handle light-duty work.
Here, again, is a potential damage that your personal injury claim could include. This type of damage can be easy to calculate because you know exactly how many days, weeks, or months you missed.
This potential damage involves your earnings but is not the same as your lost wages claim. ‘Lost earning capacity’ means that your ability to earn money was affected by your injury. For example, someone with a job that requires a lot of standing or walking might be unable to return to work because of orthopedic injuries.
This term usually refers to your inability to use your vehicle for a time after a car accident. Your lawyer might add this to your request for compensation from the person or company that injured you.
Even people with relatively minor injuries might find that they need help with daily activities or home maintenance. If you have to hire someone to help you around the house, shouldn’t the person who caused your injuries have to pay for it?
This non-economic damage typically relates to how a person’s injuries affect their marital relationship. While sometimes difficult to calculate, it is still an important damage to consider as part of your personal injury recovery.
Another non-economic damage, pain and suffering damages also are sometimes difficult to calculate. However, many accident victims deserve to be compensated for the sheer amount of pain they have had to undergo. You and your personal injury lawyer can discuss whether pain and suffering damages are appropriate in your case.
In some cases, ‘pain and suffering’ might relate to physical injuries. However, emotional distress generally is understood to be caused by the trauma of the accident. So people who were not physical injured in an accident might still be able to claim emotional distress damages.
In most personal injury claims, this type of damage usually is only awarded when the wrongdoer’s actions were malicious or extreme.
If you have been hurt because of someone else’s negligence, you need top-rated, hard-working legal representatives. At Shapiro|Delgado, our attorneys put their injury law experience to work for you. And we handle cases on a contingency basis, which means we don’t get paid unless you do.
We represent clients throughout Florida, including Sarasota, Bradenton, Tampa, Saint Petersburg, Pinellas County, and surrounding communities.
To set up a free personal consultation, call 941-954-4000 or use our convenient online contact form.
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