What Is an Injury Settlement?

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

Non-economic damages are harder to quantify in dollars. This includes things like suffering and pain.

Medical expenses

Depending on the severity of an injury, medical expenses can be a substantial portion of the settlement. These can include doctor's visits, medications, surgery, and other procedures. Often, these expenses are not covered by health insurance, and can be quite costly. In many cases, there are also additional costs associated with the injury, like home health treatment, adaptive devices, transport to medical appointments and much more.

Medical bills are typically paid by your private health insurance plan, Medicare, Medicaid or PIP. If you get a settlement with medical bills unpaid the money from the settlement will be used to pay these. Your lawyer can negotiate with the billing companies and try to get the balances reduced.

Your attorney will also be able to determine the right amount of damages needed to pay for your other non-medical loss. These include future income loss as well as pain and suffering and other non-economic damages. Your attorney will need to provide expert testimony and evidence of these damages in order to make a proper claim.

Lost wages

In addition, to compensation for medical expenses the injured victim may also be entitled to compensation for lost wages. These damages are determined by the length of time the victim was unable work because of their injuries. An experienced personal injury attorney will assist clients to recover lost wages in a personal injury claim.

A traumatic brain injury or spinal cord injury, for instance, could force you to miss significant amounts of work. This means that you'll have to prove that the time you were unable to work was directly related to the accident. When proving lost wages, it is crucial to include all sources of income. This includes regular wage, overtime, bonuses, and commissions. You can also include unused vacation or sick days.

If your doctor concludes that you're able to return work under certain work restrictions, the employer must comply with these limitations. This could mean changing your job or providing you with helpful equipment.

A personal injury lawyer who's knowledgeable can assist you in gathering the evidence needed to prove your claim for lost wages. They can also help with a case where the person who is injured is self-employed or earns an undetermined salary. In such cases, an insurance company will have to examine the earnings of the past and the future of the person who was injured and provide an accurate estimate of the future loss of wages. This will require a full report from the plaintiff's accountant or financial expert.

Non-economic damages

When people think about personal injury case damages, the first thing they think of is the money lost through medical expenses and lost wages. There are other costs that are hard to quantify in dollars. These are known as non-economic damages. These damages are based on the intangible effects of a person's injury like pain, suffering and loss enjoyment of life.

Economic damages are easy for juries and courts to determine, since they can be documented by pay stubs and bills. Non-economic damages, however, on the other hand, are more difficult to calculate and may be based on subjective factors such as suffering, pain, and emotional distress.

Pain and injury attorneys suffering can refer to any mental, physical or emotional pain that results from the accident. This may include the inability to participate in their usual hobbies or social activities. A jury will evaluate the effects of the injury on the victim's life.

Other economic damages can include disfigurement loss of consortium, and loss of enjoyment life. For example an individual may be suffering from a disfigurement as a result of an accident that permanently alters their appearance. Although this isn't an expense however, it can be extremely painful to bear marks and other permanent injuries.

Damages for suffering and pain

Pain and suffering is a category of non-economic damages that compensate for the emotional and physical pain that you've suffered from your accident. These are subjective damages that are the responsibility of the jury, unlike medical bills and auto repairs as well as lost wages. Each juror will have different opinion on the amount of pain and suffering compensation is appropriate for your particular case.

Documentation is one way to help jurors understand the severity of an injury. Your lawyer can collect the medical records of your doctor which detail the severity of your injuries, with videos and photos. The testimony of family and friends can be persuasive. These testimonies can help to create sympathy with the jury and demonstrate how your injury has affected certain aspects of your life, such as hobbies and family activities.

The severity of your injury could affect the amount of compensation you receive for pain and suffering. Injuries that are severe and disabling typically result in higher pain and suffering settlements than injuries that heal more quickly.

Damage claims should be able to reflect the emotional and psychological trauma that is caused by an accident. Personal injury attorneys can assist you in building an impressive case, and negotiate a fair settlement for all of your injuries. If you have questions regarding a possible settlement for your injuries contact Adam S. Kutner & Associates for a free consultation.