What Is an Injury Settlement?

A settlement agreement is an agreement between the plaintiff and defendant to settle the matter outside of court. This is a quick and efficient way to get compensation.

Contrary to special damages that can be easily calculated, non-economic damages are harder to pinpoint in a specific dollar amount. This includes things like discomfort and pain.

Medical expenses

Depending on the severity of an injury, medical expenses can be a substantial portion of a settlement. This could include doctor's visits, medications, surgery, and other procedures. The majority of these costs are not covered by health insurance and can be very expensive. In many cases, there are also an additional cost due to the injury such as home health treatment such as adaptive devices, transportation to medical appointments and more.

Medical bills are typically paid by your private health insurance, Medicare, Medicaid or PIP. If you receive a settlement with unpaid medical bills, these will need to be satisfied from the settlement funds. Your attorney can negotiate with billing companies to lower the amounts.

Your attorney can also determine the proper amount of damages that will be used to cover other non-medical losses. This includes the loss of future earnings, pain and suffering and other non-economic damage. Your attorney will need to present expert testimony and proof of these other damages in order to establish a valid claim.

Lost wages

In addition to the compensation for medical costs, injured victims may be entitled to lost wage. These damages are calculated by the amount of time that the victim was off work due to injuries. An experienced personal injury attorney will assist clients to recover lost wages in a personal injury case.

You may be unable to perform a significant amount of work if you sustain a severe brain injury, a spinal cord injury, or both. This means you will need to prove that the time you didn't work was directly connected to your accident. It is essential to include all forms of income when proving your loss of wages. This includes regular pay such as overtime, injury attorneys bonuses, bonuses and commissions. You could also include vacation days or sick days.

If your doctor has decided that you can return back to work with a few restrictions, then the employer must respect these limitations. This could mean rearranging your job or providing you with helpful equipment.

A skilled personal injury lawyer can help you collect all the evidence required to support a lost wage claim. They can also help in cases where the person who is injured is self-employed, or receives an undetermined amount of money. In these situations, the insurance company will need to review the person's past and future earnings and provide an accurate estimate of future lost wages. This will require a full statement from the plaintiff’s accountant or financial expert.

Economic damages

When people think about personal injury injuries the first thing that comes to mind is the loss of money due to medical expenses and lost wages. But, there are other costs associated with injury which are more difficult to quantify in terms of dollar amounts. These are referred to as non-economic damages. They cover the more intangible effects of injuries suffered by a person such as suffering and pain, and loss of enjoyment of life.

Bills and pay stubs can be used to establish economic damages for juries and courts. However, injury attorneys non-economic damages are much more difficult to quantify and are determined by subjective factors such as suffering and pain, as well as the emotional stress caused by the injury.

The suffering and pain can include physical, mental or emotional pain caused by the accident. It can also include an individual's inability to their usual social or recreational activities. A jury will evaluate the effects of the injury on the victim's life.

Other economic damages can include disfigurement loss of consortium and loss of enjoyment of life. People may experience disfigurement as a result of an accident that permanently alters their appearance. It's not a expense in terms of money however, it is painful to live with scars and other permanent injuries.

Damages for suffering and pain

Pain and suffering are non-economic damages which provide you with compensation for the physical and emotional trauma caused by your accident. These are subjective damages that are the responsibility of the jury, not unlike medical bills or auto repairs. They also do not include lost wages. Every juror has a different opinion on the amount of compensation for the pain and suffering that they suffer is appropriate in your particular case.

One way to help a jury to understand the severity of your injuries is to provide documentation. Your attorney can compile the medical records of your doctor that detail the extent of your injuries, along with video footage and photographs. Testimonies from family and friends can also be compelling. These testimonies may help create feelings of sympathy among jurors and also show how your injury affected your hobbies and family activities.

The severity of your injury may affect the amount of compensation you receive for pain and suffering. Compensation for pain and suffering is typically higher for severe, disabling injuries than for injuries that heal quicker.

Injuries can cause significant emotional trauma and stress, and a successful claim for injury should reflect the severity of the injury. Personal injury attorneys will help you build a strong case, and help you get fair amount of compensation for all your injuries. Adam S. Kutner and Associates can provide you with a consultation should you have any concerns about a settlement that could be possible for an injury.