Recovering Compensation in a Personal Injury Lawsuit
To recover compensation in a personal injury lawsuit, you must prove three things. First, you must show that you suffered some form of injury that caused damages or losses. Second, you must be able to prove that someone else is responsible for your injuries. Lastly, there should be access to financial recovery through the insurance policy or personal assets of the person responsible for your injuries.
Negligence
Negligence is a concept at the heart of every personal injury claim. In our society, every person has a duty to take reasonable precautions to avoid harm to others. Negligence occurs when someone violates this duty. In simpler terms, negligence means that someone was careless, and their carelessness caused an injury to another person.
Some examples of negligence include:
- A driver who fails to stop at a stop sign
- A truck driver who fails to yield when merging onto the highway
- A shop owner who fails to clean a slippery and dangerous surface
In each of the examples above, the driver, the trucker, and the shop owner owed a duty of care to follow the rules of the road, take reasonable precautions to avoid an accident, or protect the safety of customers on their premises. Anyone injured by their failure to abide by the required duty of care would have a personal injury claim against them.
Sometimes, proving that someone acted negligently is difficult — especially when the at-fault party is represented by an insurance defense attorney. Moreover, it can be difficult to uncover all sources of recovery available to you. That is where an experienced personal injury attorney can help. Contact Bengal Law today to discuss the facts of your accident and determine whether or not you have a valid personal injury claim.
How Much Is My Accident Case Worth?
The goal of every personal injury case is to turn back the clock to place the accident victim in the same financial position as they were before the accident occurred. For example, if you have accrued medical expenses, lost wages, and incurred other expenses related to your injuries, the law is designed to compensate you for the total value of those losses.
The value of a case is determined by several factors, including the extent of your injuries, medical bills, property damage, pain and suffering and loss of enjoyment of life. Some of these factors, such as medical bills, are tied to a literal dollar amount. These are known as “economic damages.” Other factors, such as pain and suffering, are known as “non-economic damages.” This form of damages is often difficult to calculate without the assessment of an experienced Orlando accident attorney.
Economic Damages
Personal injury lawsuits seek to compensate victims in the form of damages, which include both economic and non-economic losses. For example, if you were injured in an accident, you may have medical bills, lost wages, property damage, and other costs associated with your recovery. These are considered forms of “economic damages.” If you have experienced damages such as these, you are entitled by law to seek compensation to recover financially for your economic losses.
Non-Economic Damages
In addition to economic damages, you may also be entitled to seek compensation for non-economic damages. This form of damages includes things such as pain and suffering, loss of enjoyment for life, trauma, and other psychological and emotional harm. Non-economic damages are often difficult to calculate and even harder to prove. An experienced personal injury attorney can help you determine the true value of your non-economic damages so that you can maximize your recovery under the law.
