What Is an Injury Settlement?

A settlement agreement is a contract between the defendant and plaintiff to settle the dispute outside of court. This can be a quick and effective way to receive compensation.

Non-economic damages are harder to quantify in dollar amounts. These include things like suffering and pain.

Medical expenses

Based on the severity of an injury, medical expenses could be a significant portion of a settlement. These expenses could include doctor visits, medications and even surgery. In most cases, these costs are not covered by health insurance and can be very expensive. In addition, in a lot of cases there are ancillary expenses associated with injuries such as home healthcare, adaptive devices transporting patients to medical appointments, and more.

Medical bills are usually paid by a private health insurance provider, the government's Medicare or Medicaid or your PIP coverage. If you are awarded a settlement with medical bills that have not been paid and the money received from the settlement will be used to pay these. Your attorney can negotiate with billing companies to reduce the amounts.

Your lawyer can also decide the appropriate amount to cover any other losses that are not medically related. This includes the loss of future earnings, pain and suffering and other non-economic damages. To be able to file a claim your attorney will have to prove the existence of these damages and provide an expert opinion on these other damages.

Lost wages

In addition to the compensation for medical expenses the injured victim may also be entitled to lost wage. 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 recover the compensation for lost wages in a personal injury claim.

A traumatic brain injury or spinal cord injury claim for instance, could cause you to miss significant amounts of work. This means that you'll have to prove that the time you were absent was directly linked to the accident. It is important to include all forms of income in proving your lost wages. This includes regular wages as well as overtime, bonuses and commissions. Include any vacation days that are not used or sick leave.

If your doctor has decided that you can return back to work, but with certain restrictions then your employer must comply with these restrictions. This could mean changing some aspects of your job or supplying necessary equipment.

A knowledgeable personal injury case lawyer can help you gather all of the information necessary to prove a lost wage claim. They can also assist when the person who is injured is self-employed, or receives a variable wage. In these situations an insurance company will have to review past and future earnings of the injured party and give a reasonable estimate of future lost wages. This is likely to require a thorough financial statement from the plaintiff's accountant or financial professional.

Economic damages

When people think of personal injury, the first thing they think about is the amount of money lost due to medical expenses and lost wages. There are other costs that are difficult to quantify in dollars. These are referred to as non-economic damages. These damages cover the non-economic effects a person's injury attorneys, such as pain, suffering and loss enjoyment of life.

Pay stubs and bills may be used to prove damages for economic reasons for injury settlement courts and juries. However non-economic damages are more difficult to calculate and are dependent on subjective factors like pain and suffering and the emotional stress caused by the injury.

Pain and suffering includes any mental, physical or emotional pain that results from the accident. It could also be the inability of a person to participate to their usual social or recreational activities. A jury will consider the impact of the injury on the victim's life.

Other non-economic damages include disfigurement loss of consortium, and loss of enjoyment of life. For instance an individual may be suffering from a disfigurement as a result of an accident that permanently alters their appearance. While this isn't necessarily an economic loss however, it can be extremely painful to endure scratches and other injuries that will last forever.

Damages for pain and suffering

Pain and suffering is a category of non-economic damages that compensate for the emotional and physical pain you've experienced as a result of an accident. Contrary to medical bills and auto repair costs and lost wages as well as lost wages, these are more subjective damages that have to be determined by jurors. Every juror will have a different views on the amount of pain and suffering compensation is appropriate for your case.

One method to help jurors understand the severity of your injuries is through documentation. Your lawyer can collect documents from your doctor that describe the severity of your injuries along with video and photographs. Testimonies from family and friends can also be persuasive. These testimony can help to create an atmosphere of sympathy for jurors and reveal 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. Severe, disabling injuries typically warrant higher pain and suffering awards than injuries that heal more quickly.

The claims for injury should reflect the emotional and psychological trauma that is caused by an accident. An attorney for personal injuries will help you build an effective case, and help you get reasonable amount of compensation for your injuries. If you have questions about a possible injury settlement contact Adam S. Kutner & Associates for a consultation.