How Will Personal Injury Lawyer In Waterloo Decide The Worth of A Personal Injury Case

Personal injury lawyers in Waterloo often find it difficult to place a value on damages suffered by a victim when it comes to personal injury cases. Once you decide to file a personal injury claim for an auto accident or a wrongful death case or even a slip and fall accident, you will need to understand and calculate the actual value of all the losses and sufferings in terms of money. To understand this, one will need to first figure out the damages that one has suffered. For instance, the injuries suffered by the plaintiff, the cost of the medical treatments for the injuries, both mentally and physically.

In most personal injury lawsuits, the damages are monetary value paid to the injured person or the victim in this case, by the legally negligent party or the defendant, or even the insurance company who sponsors the defendant who caused the accident. The damages calculated could be negotiated and agreed upon between the two affected parties, their insurance companies as well as their appointed personal injury lawyer in Waterloo. Some lawsuits get settled out of court, while others get settled after a trial, in the presence of a judge and jury, who will resolve the case by deciding and awarding the damages.

Different Types of Damages in a Claim

In the various types of personal injury cases that you may come across, there are basically two types of damages, according to personal injury lawyer in Waterloo, that could literally define the outcome of the case and the entire worth of the damages. Here are both types of damages you should familiarize yourself with:

Compensatory Damages

These damages, as the name speaks for itself compensates the plaintiff for all their losses caused by the accident or the injuries suffered. This award is intended to help the victim recoup from a financial standpoint. There are different categories to compensatory damages -

• Medical Bills and Treatment Costs
• Loss of wages
• Property Damage and Loss
• Physical Pain and Suffering
• Emotional suffering
• Loss of a hobby
• Loss of Companionship

While some compensatory damages are easy to place a value on, for instance, property damage, medical bills or even loss of wages. But placing a financial value on mental suffering and loss or even the inability to enjoy one's hobby due to the physical limitations caused by the accident is quite difficult and harder than one may think.

Punitive Damages - Personal injury cases caused due to the misconduct or actions that can be considered particularly egregious or in some cases reckless and outrageously careless hold the plaintiff eligible for punitive damages apart from the compensatory damages. Although this award is aimed at punishing the defendant and making them realize their folly.

The plaintiff should also be aware that their actions too can decide the outcome of the case and affect the damages at large. Situations that can affect a victim's damages are:

Comparative Negligence - If the plaintiff was at fault for the accident caused by even a minuscule percentage, it can be considered comparative negligence and reduce their damages to a certain degree.

Contributory Negligence - If the plaintiff can be proved to be partially at blame for the accident, then personal injury lawyer in Waterloo claim they cannot be eligible for any damages at all in some states.

Failure to Mitigate damages - If the plaintiff does not take any steps to shoulder even a portion of the damages suffered which is reasonable as per law, the damages awarded can be significantly reduced in favor of the defense. To read more Click Here