When you’re injured, it’s not just the immediate pain that makes it difficult but also the financial impact that can take its toll. Damages in personal injury cases are designed to provide compensation for the losses you’ve suffered. Understanding the distinction between economic and non-economic damages is essential to ensuring you’re rightfully compensated.
What are Economic Damages?
Economic damages cover the quantifiable, out-of-pocket expenses that are directly related to your injury. These damages are awarded to address the financial burdens you’ve encountered because of the accident.
The primary goal of economic damages is to reimburse you for the financial losses you directly sustained. These damages help alleviate the monetary pressure caused by the incident, ensuring you don’t bear the financial weight of an accident that wasn’t your fault. Some of the most common examples include:
- Medical Expenses: This includes all the costs associated with your healthcare needs arising from the injury. Hospital stays, surgeries, medications, physical therapy, and any other treatments fall under this umbrella. This should include future medical costs as well.
- Lost Wages: If you’ve missed work due to your injury or recovery time, economic damages cover the income you’ve lost during that period. This includes time taken off for medical appointments directly related to the incident.
- Loss of Earning Capacity: In cases where your injury leads to a permanent disability or limits your ability to work in the future, compensation will cover the estimated income you’re projected to lose.
- Property Damage: If a vehicle or any personal property was damaged in the accident, you can claim the costs associated with repairing or replacing these items.
- Other Out-of-Pocket Costs: Sometimes injuries bring unexpected expenses, such as transportation to and from medical appointments or making necessary modifications to your home. These costs can also be claimed as part of economic damages.
According to experienced personal injury lawyers in Louisville, understanding and pursuing economic damages is crucial to ensuring you receive the appropriate financial compensation for the various losses incurred due to an accident.
What are Non-Economic Damages?
Non-economic damages address intangible losses that don’t have a specific monetary value. These are the aspects of your life that change due to the accident and don’t come with a price tag but are important to acknowledge and compensate for.
The purpose of non-economic damages is to compensate for the emotional, physical, and psychological impact of the injury on your quality of life. It’s about recognizing how the incident has affected day-to-day living and addressing these changes in a meaningful way. Examples include:
- Pain and Suffering: This compensation covers the physical pain and discomfort directly caused by the injury. Whether it’s constant aches or reduced mobility, these are very real experiences that deserve acknowledgment.
- Emotional Distress: Accidents can take a toll on mental health, leading to anxiety, depression, PTSD, and more.
- Loss of Enjoyment of Life: When an injury limits your ability to enjoy hobbies, activities, or simply the little things in life, this is something you can receive compensation for.
- Loss of Consortium: These damages are about how the injury impacts your relationships with loved ones – in particular, the companionship and support you give and receive regarding a spouse.
Addressing non-economic damages can be difficult, but it is essential to ensure you receive everything you’re truly entitled to.
Calculating economic and non-economic damages can be complicated, so make sure you work with a personal injury lawyer to ensure you get the damages you deserve. Contact our firm today to schedule a free consultation with a personal injury lawyer.