If you have been injured by the negligence of another person, you may have several reasons why you deserve to be compensated. We call these reasons your “damages.”
These damages consist of: (1) Past, present and future medical expenses related to the accident (2) Lost wages (3) Impairment of the power to earn income in the future (4) Past, present and future pain and suffering You deserve a settlement award that adequately covers these damages. What that equates to however may be difficult to calculate. Let’s discuss each type of damages:
Medical expenses
Past medical expenses are easy to calculate. If your bills total $10,000.00, then you should receive $10,000.00. Future medical expenses however are more difficult to calculate as they may be speculative. In order to have a good claim for future medical expense, a doctor needs to be able to give an opinion that you will need medical treatment in the future, that it’s related to your accident and how much it will cost.
Lost wages
If you missed six (6) weeks of work due to your accident, you would simply need to show proof of income. Having a doctor’s opinion that you needed that time off of work would be helpful as well.
Impairment of your power to earn income in the future
If due to your injuries, you are no longer able to work or limited to what you can do, you will have a claim for impairment to earn income. Let’s say you had a job that paid you $100,000.00 per year, but due to your injuries, you couldn’t perform that job anymore. You have a new job that is much easier physically for you, but now you only earn $75,000.00 per year. If this is the case, you would have a claim for the lost wages of $25,000.00 per year.
Past, present and future pain and suffering
This is the most difficult area of damages to calculate. There is no formula or calculation that tells us how much someone should be compensated for the injuries they sustained. However, as you might guess, the worse the injuries, the more pain and suffering compensation should be given. An example would be whether a person had to have surgery for their injuries. If a person has to go under the knife, they should be entitled to more pain and suffering than someone who did not have to undergo surgery. If you’ve been injured to the negligence of another, you may be entitled to compensation. Call Edwards & Kautz Law Firm for a free consultation at 270-908-4914.