3 Non-Economic Damages After A Car Accident: All That You Need To Know
Having an automobile accident is unfortunate, particularly when you get injured in it. The injuries could range from minor ones to the more serious, debilitating ones. The latter can even disable you temporarily or permanently, resulting in loss of employment and regular income.
Fortunately, personal injury law comes to your rescue and gives you the right to claim compensation if you have sustained injuries in an accident caused due to someone else’s negligence. However, you really need to understand the law well enough to claim rightful compensation.
After a car accident, there are two basic forms of damages that you can claim as your compensation, namely economic and non-economic damages. The economic damages cover the victim for the financial losses they have suffered. Essentially, these include the compensation for medical bills, lost earnings and damage to their property.
This type of damage is easy to calculate as you can sum up the values of medical bills, expected a loss of wages and repair service fees to arrive at an amount. The real challenge relates to the calculation of non-economic damages because they are abstract in nature. The best approach would be to understand them better. Here are some facts that can help.
#1 What all comes under non-economic damages?
As the name suggests, non-economic damages are the ones that cannot be measured and defined in terms of money. These include the physical pain and suffering that the victim has to bear due to their injuries. At the same time, the emotional trauma and anxiety caused by the accident is also a part of these damages.
Moreover, people who face disability and loss of quality of life due to their injuries can also claim compensation for them as a part of non-economic damages.
The scope of these damages is not limited to the victims only but includes their family as well. When you get seriously injured in the accident, the family also faces emotional trauma and loss of companionship.
In the case of debilitating injuries or death of the victim, they are entitled to claim compensation for such damages as well. Just because these damages are hard to calculate in terms of money does not mean that you cannot claim them rightfully.
#2 How can you determine the value of non-economic damages?
Now that you know the scope and coverage of non-economic damages, you need to understand how to determine their value. This is the trickier part because it is hard to quantify the non-tangible emotions such as pain, suffering, trauma, and anxiety. Moreover, these injuries are non-specific and subjective, which means that you cannot follow a proven standard or method for making any calculations to determine them.
Still, this challenge should not dissuade you from claiming compensation for what you have gone through. The best thing to do would be to collaborate with car accident lawyers who are driven and effective because they will make sure that you get compensation for both economic and non-economic damages.
With their experience, they can help you work out a feasible value of non-economic damage based on the extent of injury and severity of the sufferings you have experienced due to the accident.
#3 Why do non-economic damages matter?
When it comes to claiming compensation for injuries in an accident, every single dollar you get matters. After all, you will need money to pay off your medical bills and service fees for the repairs of your property. Moreover, you will also require financial assistance to carry you through the period of non-employment if the injury is debilitating in nature. However, this is not all where it ends for the victim and the family.
Non-economic damages also matter a lot because these injuries can have a far-reaching impact on the quality of life of the victims and their families. Life can never be the same after the trauma they experience due to serious injuries and loss of employment.
Similarly, the family may be left helpless and scarred for life if a victim dies in an accident. By paying them optimal compensation for such non-economic damages, personal injury law tries to make life easier for them. These can increase your compensation amount to a significant extent and make a huge difference to your financial position and security in the long run.
Considering the immense importance of non-economic damages, this is one aspect of the car accident compensation that you cannot ignore at all. The best way to ensure that your claim covers both economic and non-economic damages is by getting the services of a seasoned lawyer who knows personal injury law inside out.
