If you or a loved one has been injured in an automobile accident, you are legally entitled to be compensated for all losses directly sustained by reason of your injury. As noted below, these damages include those for economic damages (such as medical expenses and lost time from work), pain and suffering (including emotional damages), and future damages that are reasonably certain to be sustained (such as loss in earnings capacity due to the accident, future medical treatment, and future pain and suffering).
The purpose of awarding compensation to victims of car, truck, or other accidents is to make them whole again, or as whole as possible. As your attorney, I will carefully document all of the injuries that you have suffered and are likely to incur in the future, as these will be the damages that we will request and seek to prove at trial.
Calculating damages for pain and suffering, loss of income damages from a car or truck accident, and other damages from an accident often requires an economist. In many instances, calculating these damages requires making certain assumptions, such as future earning capacity and the number of years that a person would have continued to work if the person did not suffer a debilitating car or truck accident injury. Economists and other financial experts can provide evidence to support a claim for these damages at trial.
The Types of Damages – Examples
Damages for the injuries resulting from an automobile truck, or pedestrian accident can encompass a number of categories, including, but not limited to, the following:
- Medical expenses already incurred
- Future medical expenses
- Prescription medication
- Physical therapy
- Health aids / orthopedic devices
- Artificial limbs
- Disfigurement and the cost of plastic surgery
- Necessary household help
- Wages lost to the date of trial or settlement
- Impairment of future earning capacity
- Pain and suffering
- Lost enjoyment of life
- Mental and emotional distress
- Necessary travel expenses
- Costs of vocational rehabilitation
- Loss of affection to the non-injured spouse
Future Suffering and Medical Problems
Injuries suffered in an automobile accident, a truck crash, or a pedestrian accident may lead to medical problems including impairment damages and medical complications, particularly as a person ages. For example, a person with an injured knee may be unable to walk properly after the accident, and thus may be said to be “impaired” or “disabled.” That person may also develop arthritis in their knee as they age, which would be a “medical complication” resulting from the accident.
Medical complications from injuries suffered in an automobile accident can cause complications to seemingly unrelated parts of the body. Consider the same knee injury that can lead to arthritis as you age. Due to the injury, an individual may begin to limp when walking. The change in the way the person walks, or limps, then causes the person to put extra weight on the uninjured foot, knee, and hip. This then causes injury to the good leg because of the extra stress and strain placed on this side of the body.
At trial, it is important to present details and specific evidence regarding necessary future medical, psychological, or psychiatric treatment. Such evidence should include, but not be limited to, the projected length of such treatment, estimated expense of the treatment, and details of what the treatment will entail.
Determining Damages for Future Medical Treatment
Evidence of the approximate future cost and type of medical treatment can be based, at least in part, upon past expense and treatment. Where there is a pattern or history of medical treatment continuing to the present, and there is testimony that the same sort of treatment is likely to continue into the future, juries may conclude that similar costs will continue into the future, and award damages based upon these expected costs.
It is important in your car or truck accident injury case that we learn about all of the possible consequences of your injuries so that we can get you the full measure of damages to which you are entitled. To do so, if additional information is required, we may consult with your treating physician and/or other consulting experts who can assist in identifying related injuries and disorders which are the consequences of, or complications from, your injury.
Call Us Today to Learn More About Our Experience in Damage Identification
At The Dysart Law Firm, P.C., we have the experience in investigating in making a proper claim for all of the damages you are likely to suffer as a result of your injuries. In order to maximize recovery, all those responsible should be identified so that they can be held accountable for their share of causing damages. Please contact us today to schedule a free, no-obligation private consultation about your case to learn more.
There is no fee to us unless and until we recover damages for you. As with any personal injury case, it is important to retain an attorney as soon as possible after an accident so that the process of preserving important evidence can be started before evidence in lost or damaged.