If you have a car wreck, you are likely to incur medical bills, and you may need to take time off work while recovering from your injuries. Medical bills, lost wages, prescription costs, and out-of-pocket expenses make up your economic damages, or damages you can put a hard number on. When you are involved in a car wreck, you can seek to recover your monetary damages (medical bills, lost wages) and your non-economic damages.
What are non-economic damages, and how are they calculated? Pain and suffering are considered non-economic damages. Non-economic damages do not have a set dollar value assigned to them. They are also called intangible losses because you cannot put a price tag on the losses you have suffered.
Some examples of non-economic damages are
- Physical pain
- Mental anguish
- Disfigurement
- Loss of consortium
- Future pain and suffering
- Loss of a normal life
How are non-economic damages calculated?
There is no set formula for how to calculate non-economic damages. A variety of elements are looked to when trying to assign a dollar amount to these types of injuries.
First and foremost, your testimony regarding how the car wreck has impacted you is crucial to proving your non-economic damages. Your medical records are reviewed along with your doctor’s notes regarding your pain levels. That is why it is essential to fully describe the pain you are experiencing when seeing your doctors and not to downplay it. These records capture a moment in time regarding how you were feeling on a particular day, and defense attorneys and their insurance companies will go through each note, detail by detail, looking for anything they can to minimize your pain and suffering damages.
In addition, testimony from your loved ones, whether it be your spouse, family members, close friends, or co-workers, will also assist in proving your pain and suffering damages. These people have a unique point of view, looking from the outside in, and can testify what they have personally observed regarding how the car wreck has impacted you and your life. Often these people can give a unique perspective regarding your pain and suffering, which you may not be able to convey since you live with it day in and day out.
If you have been in a car wreck, you must reach out to our team so that we can begin the process and help guide you with gathering vital evidence to help prove both your economic and non-economic damages. Do not wait to seek help from our team. We are here to fight for your maximum recovery available under the law.