If you’ve recently been injured in a motor vehicle accident, then you’re probably feeling the financial ramifications of that event. Medical bills can quickly become overwhelming, and missing work to focus on your recovery can lead to lost wages. Taken together, you can be left in a precarious financial predicament. Fortunately, a personal injury lawsuit may help alleviate these losses if the accident that left you hurt was caused by the negligence of another.
But economic damages like medical expenses, rehabilitation costs, and lost wages are not the only types of damages that can be inflicted upon you. If you’ve been hurt in a car accident, then you’ve probably also experienced some sort of pain and suffering. Through a personal injury lawsuit, you may be compensated for these damages, too.
The difficulty with pain and suffering damages is that, unlike economic damages, they are difficult to calculate. Pain and suffering, after all, is highly subjective. This is why judges and juries look at a number of factors to better calculate these types of damages. The severity of the injury will be considered, but so, too, will the expected recovery time and the expectation of any lingering pain, physical limitations, emotional trauma, and scarring or disfigurement. Since it’s nearly impossible to put an objective number on these harms, the matter is usually open to legal argument.
This is another area where a skilled attorney may prove beneficial. In addition to gathering evidence, presenting arguments, and fighting to impose liability, a competent legal professional can do the same to support your claim for damages. So, before proceeding on your legal claim against a negligent driver, it is wise to discuss the matter with your attorney to ensure that you are best prepared to seek the fullest amount of compensation for the damages that have been inflicted upon you.