What Kind of Compensation Can I Ask for in my Personal Injury Claim?

If you have suffered injuries in an accident due to the reckless behavior or careless conduct of someone else, you are eligible to sue the accountable party under personal injury law. Although most of us are aware of the basic rights that a victim of personal injury can fight for, many don’t know the essential details of personal injury compensation and the manner in which the final amount is calculated.

Since the whole point of granting compensation to the victim is to reimburse them for the losses they have suffered due to someone else’s negligence, it is important for them to understand the kind of compensation they are eligible to claim and the factors that may affect their rights.

Although the amount of personal injury compensation varies from one case to the other, most claims usually fall under one or more of the following types of damages:

Economic Damages: These types of damages are tangible damages that can be easily quantified. They include all financial losses, which a victim has suffered because of the accident and may include present and future medical expenses, loss of current source of income, household expenses, professional rehabilitation, property damages and lost future earning capacity, etc. Personal injury attorneys in New Orleans can help you evaluate your economic damages.

Non-economic Damages: Unlike economic damages which reimburse victims for their monetary losses resulting from an accident, non-economic damages compensate a victim for non-monetary losses and cannot be quantified. These damages are highly subjective in nature and may vary extensively from person to person. Since juries find it very difficult to calculate such claims they are subject to strict regulations.

Punitive damages: These types of damages aren’t awarded frequently, but only in situations where compensatory damages aren’t adequate to recover the losses suffered because the defendant acted with gross negligence. A court awards punitive damages to the victim when the liable party shows a deliberate and flagrant disregard for the safety of others.

Several factors are taken into consideration while calculating compensation, which make the entire process a complicated one. No matter how testing it becomes to reach the final figure, it is important to determine a ballpark estimate, which can have a strong bearing on the outcome of a case. With an experienced New Orleans personal injury lawyer by your side, you can rest be assured of obtaining complete compensation for your losses.