How to Calculate Damages in a Personal Injury Case?

If you are discovered lying or exaggerating about your injuries or damages, you may face legal repercussions such as fines or jail time.

Have you or someone you know suffered physical, mental, or emotional pain due to someone’s actions? Personal injury lawsuits can help victims seek compensation. Understanding how to calculate damages in a personal injury case is important. It allows you to ensure you receive the compensation you deserve. 

That’s where a personal injury payout guide comes in handy. In this article, you will find an overview of the guide. And how it can assist you in understanding the potential payout for your personal injury case. So, what are you waiting for?

Types of Damages in Personal Injury Lawsuits

First, you need to know about the different types of damage. The damages can be either in the form of economic or non-economical damages. These types are then further broken up into four major types of damages. These are as follows.

Medical Expenses

Medical expenses are a major part of personal injury claims. They can play a significant role in deciding your compensation amount. But what are they? Medical costs are the expenses you spend due to receiving treatment for your injury. It might range from hospital expenses and prescriptions. And can include physical rehabilitation and long-term care.

For example, assume you were in an automobile accident and suffered a fractured leg. You may need to go to the hospital. From there, you would have an X-ray and obtain a cast. Depending on how severe your injuries are, you may also require surgery, physical therapy, or other medical treatment. These charges are medical expenses, and they may rapidly pile up.

Losing Out On Pay

Losing out on pay is another type of damage that personal injury lawsuit help with. It refers to the income you lose as a result of the injury. And it includes time missed from work due to recovery. Furthermore, it includes a reduction in future earning capacity. It can result from your injuries stopping you from returning to your prior job.

For example, if you work as a construction worker and break your leg, you could be out of commission for several months. It can result in a loss of income you should receive compensation for. Additionally, it may prevent you from returning to work. You may need to find a different type of work that pays less. Resulting in a reduction in future earning capacity.

Property Damage

In a personal injury lawsuit, you might also be able to get money for damage to your property. It refers to the damage to any personal property due to the incident. For instance, if you were in a car accident and your car was damaged, you could get money to fix or replace it.

It’s important to remember that you need physical evidence of the damage to get compensation. That means you should take pictures or videos to prove the damage. Also, the compensation you get will be based on how bad the damage was.

Property damage compensation can pay for a lot of different things. For example, fixing a car, replacing broken personal items, or fixing a house. Depending on the situation, the amount of money you get can vary. So, you need to know what happened and how much fixing might cost.

Pain and Suffering

Pain and suffering are the by-products of getting hurt, both emotional and physical. It includes mental anguish, emotional distress, and physical pain. This kind of damage is hard to measure, but you can understand how much it costs by looking at how bad the injury was, how long it took to heal, and how it changed the victim’s life.

Pain and suffering are hard to calculate, and the way to do it depends on the case. There is no one right answer, and it depends on the person. A common calculation method is to multiply the total medical expenses by a number between one and five. The numbers depend on the severity of the injury.

For example, if a victim’s medical bills are $10,000 and their injuries are serious, you can apply a four-fold multiplier, resulting in a pain and suffering award of $40,000. It should be noted, however, that pain and suffering damages are subjective and can vary substantially based on the facts of each case.

How to Calculate Damages in a Personal Injury Case?

Regarding personal injury, you and your lawyer can try for punitive damages. Punitive damages are extra damages assessed in addition to compensatory damages in a case. The goal of these damages is to penalize the offender. Also, discouraging others from participating in similar behavior.

So, damages for personal injury are a summation of all the mentioned damages with the addition of punitive damages. But, it is best to have a lawyer such as knoxville personal injury lawyer calculate this for you. Trying to figure it out yourself can lead to inflated values, which can have consequences.

Consequences of Inflating Your Claim

If you overstate your claim, you may face several repercussions. First, you may harm your credibility, making it difficult to persuade the judge or jury to trust you. It might lead to a smaller settlement or judgment in the end.

Furthermore, if you are discovered lying or exaggerating about your injuries or damages, you may face legal repercussions such as fines or jail time. Inflating your claim may also lengthen and cost the legal procedure because the other party is more inclined to oppose the legitimacy of your claim. Furthermore, it is best to be factual and accurate while filing a personal injury claim.

Conclusion

If you or someone you love is looking to be compensated for damages filing a personal injury case may be the right choice. However, reaching out to a law firm such as knoxville personal injury lawyer, is safer and provides the best results. So don’t be shy and reach out to our attorneys so that you can be provided with the assistance you need.