Economic Damages vs. Pain and Suffering Compensation
After an accident or injury, you should speak to a personal injury attorney. By filing a lawsuit, you can recover compensation for your economic costs, pain, and suffering. Read on to find out more about these damages and how they are determined.
Economic Damages
Economic damages can be measured objectively in dollar amounts, like medical bills, lost wages, and property repairs. In personal injury law, these damages are also calculated for the future; a jury tries to award financial compensation for future medical treatment and lost wages. For example, if you injure your dominant hand and can longer use it, the jury or judge will try to calculate how this will affect your earning capacity, promotions you will miss out on because of your injury, and any other work-related losses. Though calculating economic damages can be tricky, it is possible to attach objective dollar amounts to these factors.
Pain and Suffering
Pain and suffering is a type of non-economic damages and cannot be absolutely, objectively measured in dollars. It encompasses present and future mental anguish and physical pain. Judges or juries consider factors like the victim’s age and the degree to which the injury will affect his life when awarding pain and suffering damages. Young people usually receive larger pain and suffering awards than older people, because they presumably have to live with the pain of the accident for longer. If any serious scarring is present, awards vary based on the visibility of the scar. Facial scarring, for example, will receive more financial compensation than a scar on the arm or leg, because facial scarring may affect the victim’s daily life.
Awarding damages in a personal injury case is never easy, but judges and juries do their best to be reasonable and impartial. If you would like to file a lawsuit to recover damages, call (312) 983-6193 to speak to an attorney at Malman Law. With more than 15 years of experience, our attorneys have a track record of helping victims get the compensation they need.
- Loading comments...