If you’ve been involved in a personal injury incident due to the negligence of another—whether from a motor vehicle accident, slip and fall, defective product, dog bite, or anything else—there’s one question you may find yourself asking: What exactly can I sue for? What type of damages are considered fair and equitable to ask for?
Here are some of the main categories. There are others, but these are a good place to start.
Medical treatment of any kind—E.R. visits, hospital stays (both short and long term), physical and/or psychological therapy, adaptive medical devices, even transportation between your home and medical appointments. You can also sue for potential future care, therapy—you get the idea.
Pain and suffering sounds abstract and hard to quantify, but in reality, it’s not. It deals with both the physical pain and whatever mental and emotional discomfort you are experiencing. This can include anxiety, sleeplessness, and a host of other issues. Some insurance companies even use a pain multiplier formula to help calculate a dollar amount for pain and suffering.
Lost income includes short term, in the immediate aftermath of the accident as employment hours are lost to police and legal appointments, medical treatments, etc. It also includes long term, potential future lost income. If you’re not able to go back to the job you once had due to the consequences of the accident, you may be entitled to compensation you are no longer able to earn as well.
Should your property be damaged or destroyed due to another’s negligence, you are owed the full cost of repair or replacement. This can of course include vehicles involved, but also clothing, electronic equipment, and anything else of value.
If the unthinkable happens and a death results from the accident, your family members may bring a wrongful death suit against the responsible party. In this case, family members can sue for medical bills you may have racked up prior to dying, the pain and suffering of both the victim before dying and the family as a result of it happening, funeral costs, and more.
If the behavior of the guilty party is especially egregious—careless, negligent, or intentionally destructive, even criminal—you may be able to sue for punitive damages. These are damages designed and meant to punish the person at fault, to make them hurt financially. Punitive damage awards are often large. These are the ones you often read about.
If you or a loved one were injured due to the fault of another, contact the attorneys at LaSalvia Law. We will fight to win you the compensation you deserve.
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