How To Get Compensated For Accident Caused Damages?
The legal system gives the victim of an accident the right to seek compensation from the person that caused that same incident. In theory, the compensated victim has been made whole again. Do the workings of the legal system support that theory?
The types of damages that can diminish a victim’s “wholeness.”
Costs created by doctor’s visits and visits to treatment facilities. A listing of such costs could include the money spent on parking fees or on transportation.
Lost wages: The money that the injured person could have earned, if he or she had been able to work. A good lawyer could also highlight the forced usage of sick time or vacation time, in order to cover the time spent recovering from an injury.
Pain and suffering: Opportunities lost, due to the need to stay home or in the hospital. Struggles created by the need to rely on a certain piece of medical equipment. The need to make unplanned and unanticipated changes in future plans, due to creation of a disability or a disfigurement.
Emotional distress: Some accidents trigger development of fear. The victim fears to repeat the act that caused him or her to become injured. For instance, fear of driving, after being involved in a car collision, or fear of dogs, after getting bit by a pet dog.
Wrongful death: Term used when a loved one gets killed during the course of an accident. Family members have the right to demand compensation for their damaged life.
Loss of companionship/consortium: This is often a damage that gets suffered by someone that must deal with a wrongful death. Usually a wife or a child seeks to get compensated for loss of companionship/consortium.
Loss of ability to handle daily life with ease: Those victims that have been forced to rely on some sort of medical device, such as a wheel chair, could make this claim.
An additional type of damage:
Punitive damage: Its existence could become the reason for a punitive damage award. Such an award places an added financial burden on a defendant. Normally, that same defendant committed an especially egregious act, upon choosing to behave in a way that harmed the plaintiff.
Unlike all the other compensated damages, an award for punitive damage was not designed to make the plaintiff “whole.” For that reason, the money received as part of a punitive award can be taxed.
Injury lawyers in Encinitas seldom seek money for punitive damages, although a judge could elect to award someone that has experienced that sort of damage. In that way, a judge would hope to limit the chances for repetition of the defendant’s unacceptable behavior. Some defendants need more than imposition of a demand for the victim’s compensation.