If you or a loved one were injured in an accident caused by a negligent driver, you could have important legal rights. Monetary damages in a personal injury claim can include economic damages and non-economic damages. An experienced personal injury lawyer can help you pursue both types of damages in your claim.
Economic damages are damages such as medical bills, lost wages, out-of-pocket costs, and other financial losses. In other words, economic damages are those that can be tallied up on a spreadsheet. These are the “dollars and cents” impacts of an accident you’ve gone through.
Non-economic damages are different but equally important. The emotional distress, pain and suffering, loss of enjoyment of life, depression, anxiety, and other intangible costs of a devastating accident are included in non-economic damages. In some cases, non-economic damages can far outweigh the economic damages an accident victim receives in their cases.
Here, we’ll talk more about non-economic damages and what they mean in a personal injury claim.
What Are Non-Economic Damages?
Non-economic damages are a category of compensation created to cover ongoing emotional suffering, mental anguish, loss of companionship, and other forms of suffering caused by an accident. It is well recognized that the damages suffered by an accident victim can go far beyond the dollars-and-cents losses they face due to medical bills and economic costs.
If you were injured in an accident caused by negligence, your personal injury lawyer will carefully review the details of your accident to establish liability. They will also carefully review all losses caused by the accident – including the unseen losses known as non-economic damages. Experienced personal lawyers will then pursue the maximum value available for your non-economic losses.
Non-economic damages contain types that can be sought through a personal injury claim. The total value of your non-economic damages can vary based on the accident and the injuries sustained. Common categories of non-economic damages in a personal injury case can include:
Pain and Suffering
What is pain and suffering in a personal injury claim? This sub-category addresses the physical and emotional distress related to the accident. After a devastating accident, you could experience shock, cognitive problems, anxiety, depression, fatigue, chronic stress, and other outcomes of a serious crash.
Emotional Distress
Emotional distress goes hand in hand with pain and suffering. Accident victims will worry every day about getting their lives back on track and recovering from their injuries – physical and mental. In serious cases, victims might go through the distress of knowing they will not return to their pre-accident condition. This severe mental anguish will be addressed by your lawyer as non-economic damages.
Disability, Disfigurement, and Scarring
Injuries from an accident can lead to long-term disfigurement and disability. When disfigurement, scarring, or long-term loss of bodily function impacts your mental well-being, these issues can be covered as non-economic damages.
Loss of Enjoyment of Life
Non-economic damages can include the overall loss of enjoyment of life that an accident victim can suffer. Suppose you enjoyed certain hobbies, sports, gardening, cooking, or other activities you loved but can no longer do because of the accident. In that case, you can seek compensation for your reduced enjoyment of life. Be sure to make your lawyer aware of all activities – no matter how small they seem – that were impacted by the accident.
Loss of Consortium
Loss of consortium refers to the loss of love, companionship, and affection when one spouse suffers a serious injury in an accident. In the tragic event of a wrongful death claim, the loss of consortium carries tremendous weight. Courts and insurance companies alike will assign monetary values to the loss of consortium in personal injury cases.
How Do I Prove and Calculate Non-Economic Damages?
In many cases, proving economic damages in a personal injury case can be straightforward. Plaintiffs and defendants will concede certain amounts based on the numbers in front of them. Proving non-economic damages is where things can get murky, since these values are not so black-and-white.
The plaintiff will first need to prove negligence by the defendant, then establish economic damages, before moving onto non-economic damages.
Non-economic damages are often calculated using two methods:
- The Per Diem Method. Using this calculation, daily monetary values are given for pain, suffering, mental anguish, and other non-economic damages. This value would then be multiplied by the days estimated that a victim is anticipated to experience the non-economic damages in question.
- The Multiplier Method. Under this approach, parties agree to a fixed number (usually between 1 and 5) to use as a multiplier, then multiply total economic damages by that amount. For example, if economic damages were calculated at $100,000, and a multiplier of 4 is used, non-economic damages would then be $400,000 – creating a total financial award of $500,000.
Due to the complicated nature of calculating non-economic damages in a personal injury case, you’ll want to hire a lawyer with significant experience in this area.
Contact a Northbrook, IL Personal Injury Lawyer To Learn More About Non-Economic Damages in Your Case
If you were injured in a motorcycle accident or any other vehicle accident, your pain and suffering might continue beyond the accident scene. Accident victims can suffer emotional pain and trauma from the accident, and non-economic damages are there to cover such losses. A dedicated personal injury lawyer can help you pursue the non-economic damages you deserve. Schedule a free consultation today with Kass & Moses at (847) 513-9582
