What Are The Types Of Personal Injury Claims?
Before diving into the types of personal injury claims, let’s take a look at what personal injury law is. When you get injured physically or emotionally because of someone else’s carelessness, personal injury law, or tort law allows you to file a personal injury lawsuit against that person to demand compensation for the losses you’ve suffered because of that person.
Personal injury lawyers in West Palm Beach are experienced professionals, who represent you in front of the court or the jury. Hiring a personal injury lawyer is proven to have a huge positive impact on one’s personal injury case. A licensed and experienced personal injury attorney can guide you throughout your case since they have plenty of knowledge about tort law.
Personal Injury Claims: The Types
If you’re looking forward to dealing with a personal injury case, it’s important to understand what type of case you’re dealing with, it helps you get a better idea of your options and plan new strategies that can increase your chances of winning the personal injury lawsuit.
There are many types of personal injury claims, but the two main types of personal injury claims are;
- Compensatory damages.
- Punitive Damages.
These two main types of personal injury claims are further divided into several additional categories. Below you’ll be reading about the types of personal injury claims along with a detailed explanation of the additional categories of these types.
Compensatory Damages
Compensatory damages compensate you for all the injury-related finances. These types of damages are found in almost all personal injury cases.
Punitive Damages
Punitive damages are responsible for punishing the party who injured you. It is important to keep in mind that punitive damages are in no way related to the injury the plaintiff suffered.
Now that you know about the types of personal injury claims, let’s move forward and explore the additional categories of these types.
Personal Injury Claims: Compensatory Damages
The aim of personal injury law or tort law is to help people get compensated for their losses. The following text is just an overview of tort law. So make sure to consult an experienced personal injury lawyer in West Palm Beach or any other state before ruling out your chances of receiving a decent amount of compensation.
Following are the additional categories (branches) of compensatory damages;
Special Compensatory Damages
Special compensatory damages, otherwise known as “Economic damages” mostly include quantifiable expenses. In simpler words, special compensatory damages help you compensate for your out-of-pocket expenses. This means that while collecting special compensatory damages, you’re being compensated for the money you lost due to the accident while recovering the damages.
Following are some examples of special compensatory damages;
- All medical expenses related to the injury, e.g., medical treatment, physical therapy, medical transportation, etc.
- Losing any irreplaceable items
- Damage to property.
- Losing your earning capacity.
General Compensatory Damages
Some damages can be fixed by money, but others can not. For example, let’s say you had an accident and your car broke, now, with a decent amount of money, your car can be replaced if not repaired. But at the same time, the pain and trauma you suffered due to the accident can’t be fixed with money. General compensatory damages reimburse you for the non-quantifiable costs.
Following are some examples of general compensatory damages;
- Pain.
- Suffering.
- Trauma.
- Physical disfigurement.
Wrongful Death Damages
This type of compensatory damages is a combination of general and special compensatory damages. Wrongful Death Damages are only applicable in wrongful death cases. These damages are received by the surviving companions of the victim.
Following are some examples of general compensatory damages;
- Funeral expenses.
- Medical expenses before death.
- Emotional distress.
- Loss of companionship.
Personal Injury Claims: Punitive Damages
As it’s been mentioned above, punitive damages are not responsible for reimbursing you financially, instead, they’re responsible for punishing the party responsible for your loss. If the court or the jury thinks that compensatory damages fail to prevent the defendant from committing the same crime, or the same mistake again, you’ll be awarded punitive damages. The chances of you being awarded punitive damages increase if ;
- The defendant acted with extreme negligence.
- The defendant committed a crime.
- The accident caused you long-term financial issues.
Conclusion
As you would have already guessed by reading the above text, personal injury law can be very complicated, and representing yourself Infront of the court or jury is not always the best option, especially when you don’t have any knowledge about tort law. Then why risk it? Call an experienced, and licensed personal injury lawyer in West Palm Beach today and get a free consultation with one of the best personal injury attorneys in West Palm Beach.
Discuss your case with the attorney and if you think he’s capable of handling your case, hire him or her. You won’t have to worry about the fee since most personal injury lawyers have a CFA (Conditional Fee Agreement) policy.
