After a serious accident, injury victims may have the right to pursue compensation for their losses through a personal injury case. Depending on the circumstances of the accident and your losses, you may be entitled to different types of damages.
Generally, compensable damages are divided into two separate categories: economic and non-economic damages.
Non-economic damages refer to the pain and suffering caused by an accident. These can include loss of enjoyment of life, mental anguish, and loss of consortium. Economic damages, meanwhile, are tied directly to the financial losses caused by an accident or injury.
If you have been in an accident, it is important to understand what types of damages you can recover. An experienced personal injury attorney can account for all of your losses – current and future – and pursue maximum compensation on your behalf. Contact Colombo Law today for a free consultation.
Medical Expenses
Healthcare is not cheap, especially emergency medical treatment and hospitalization. From ambulance rides and examinations to surgeries and overnight stays, medical bills can quickly add up after an accident, sometimes totaling hundreds of thousands of dollars.
These bills can weigh on injured accident victims and their families. However, if someone else is responsible for your injuries and the subsequent costs, you should not have to pay these expenses on your own. It is essential to work with a personal injury attorney who can fight for your rights and ensure you do not pay out of your own pocket for expenses that were caused by someone else’s negligence.
Immediate medical expenses are often only part of the equation. Serious injuries can have long-term and even permanent effects, resulting in additional bills beyond what you are currently facing. Your personal injury claim should also account for damages related to ongoing medical care, such as physical therapy, specialized treatment, and more.
Amid the struggles after a serious accident, it is difficult to think about the future – especially additional costs on the horizon. Experienced personal injury attorneys can take this burden for you, examining your injuries and consulting medical experts to determine your future medical needs and the expenses associated with them.
Lost Wages
Compounding the seriousness of medical expenses is the fact that many victims are unable to work after a serious injury. The loss of income makes it difficult to keep up with the seemingly endless tide of bills.
Lost wages often make up another significant portion of economic damages in a personal injury claim. Your attorney can evaluate your regular wage and calculate how much you are owed based on the time you miss from work.
Loss of Earning Capacity
In some cases, an injury does not just affect your ability to get back to work quickly. Brain injuries, spinal cord injuries, and other serious injuries can have long-term implications on your career. As a result, your earning capacity (the amount of money you might have earned had you not been injured) is adversely affected.
The loss of earning capacity can have a significant impact on your ability to provide for your family. If the injury was caused by someone else’s negligence, however, you may be entitled to compensation for the loss of future wages.
As with future medical expenses, expert testimony is often crucial for accurately calculating loss of earning capacity. Your personal injury attorney may consult economists and experts in your chosen profession to determine what you might have been able to earn over the course of your career, then pursue compensation on your behalf.
Out-of-Pocket Expenses
Beyond medical expenses and lost wages, you may incur additional costs as a result of an accident. For example, victims of spinal cord injuries may require modifications to their home and/or vehicle to accommodate a wheelchair. Out-of-pocket expenses also include medications, travel to and from appointments with doctors and therapists, assistive devices (such as a wheelchair), and more.
It is crucial to save any and all bills, receipts, and estimates related to your injury. An experienced attorney can advise you what expenses you may be able to pursue compensation for as part of your personal injury claim.
Contact a Personal Injury Lawyer Today
The costs associated with economic damages in a personal injury case are often great. When combined with non-economic damages for the trauma and emotional difficulty related to serious injuries, you may be entitled to significant compensation. However, recovering fair compensation is difficult without qualified legal assistance.
For more than 20 years, the personal injury attorneys at Colombo Law have been fighting for the rights of injury victims in a wide range of cases. Our goal is to focus on pursuing the compensation you deserve while you and your loved ones focus on recovering from the accident.
Please call Colombo Law at (304) 599-4229 today for a free consultation. Our personal injury attorneys serve clients in Morgantown and throughout West Virginia.
