Personal Injury Compensation

Personal injury lawsuits provide individuals with an opportunity to sue the person or persons responsible for the accident or actions that was the proximate cause of their injuries. Through a personal injury lawsuit, victims seek to obtain monetary compensation for things such as medical expenses, lost wages, and mental and physical anguish that resulted from their injuries. The financial compensation ordered by the courts in personal injury cases is known as damages. Damages may take the form of nominal damages, punitive damages, or compensatory damages. Personal injury compensation most commonly takes the form of compensatory damages.

Personal injury cases result from an injury incurred due to the negligence of the party deemed responsible for the accident or harmful act. In personal injury lawsuits involving negligence, compensatory damages are awarded by the courts in an effort to compensate the injured victim for their present and future economic and non-economic losses. Economic losses include things such as: hospital and medical bills, car repairs due to an automobile accident, loss of present and future earnings, and loss of profit. Non-economic damages include things such as: pain and suffering, humiliation, grief, or embarrassment. Compensatory damages are awarded in an effort to make right the unjustified actions to which the victim was subjected.

In personal injury cases the amount of damages awarded to the victim by the courts is at the discretion of the jury or the judge. The amount of financial compensation awarded for economic damages is usually based on common sense and general knowledge of social and economic indicators. Monetary remuneration for non-economic damages, such as emotional trauma, is more difficult to quantify and is typically based on what the judge or jury deems to be appropriate compensation for the extent or severity of the injuries. The goal of personal injury compensation is to make the victim of personal injury “whole” by ensuring that both present and future losses are recouped by the individual.