Ray Hrdlicka – Presenter – Attorneys.Media
“You mentioned that there were a couple of different types of specific damages involved in the case. He also mentioned the term “general damages”.
Andrew Dósa – Personal Injury Lawyer – Alameda County, CA
“General damages are the tangible human side of an injury. What have you suffered in terms of pain? I guess I could ask this question. If you could go back to the most significant pain you have ever experienced, and you were to experience that (pain) for 30 days straight. And all of that was the result of someone hurting you through their negligence. What would be the value of the pain and suffering you endured?
Would you just look at the amount of medical care you received in 30 days, or would you just say, ‘If someone gave me $2,000, I’d be willing to live with that amount of pain for another day ‘. If someone was willing to pay me $2,000 for 30 days, I would experience the worst pain of my life, so you can find out what that pain would be worth. There is no easy way to determine what that pain is…”
Ray Hrdlicka – Presenter – Attorneys.Media
“There is no easy answer.”
Andrew Dósa – Personal Injury Lawyer – Alameda County, CA
“There is no easy answer.”
Ray Hrdlicka – Presenter – Attorneys.Media
“Looks like the general damages are going to be the toughest argument with the insurance company.”
Andrew Dósa – Personal Injury Lawyer – Alameda County, CA
“Right. It’s also the biggest component, the biggest component of damage compared to special damage, overall. And that’s what makes the case attractive to a lawyer, if the pain and suffering is significant. Let me back up and say… pain and suffering doesn’t always include true pain and suffering. You can also include the consequence for your life.
For example, I had a client who had a scar on his face, on his cheek. And it wasn’t that significant that she wanted to go out in public with just a bag over her head, but she wasn’t a professional model either. An attractive woman, she didn’t really care too much about her appearance. She had the right kind of perspective. But she had a scar for the rest of her life. So while I was not misrepresenting what the client was doing, by living with this scar, which was a change in her appearance, though again not significant to her, I indicated that it was going to be permanent.
So, I identified the future doctor. How much will it cost to correct that scar if the client wanted to? And so that would also raise the question; there is the pain of going through the surgery, there is the pain of the discomfort and disruption of your life. How do you value that pain? Well, that scar was worth something much more important than just a sore shoulder, a headache, or a sore neck. Although those are also significant.”
Ray Hrdlicka – Presenter – Attorneys.Media
“Especially if they are chronic?”
Andrew Dósa – Personal Injury Lawyer – Alameda County, CA
“Especially if they become chronic. So the other challenge is… what if someone has a neck injury? Like there’s only one person who’s ever had a neck injury and that’s the person who just got hit by a car. We have all been hurt, we have all hurt. Think about it. If you’ve ever had a fracture, I broke my thumb in high school. My thumb was literally chipped off, and after three months in a cast my thumb was a bit sore. And I can feel it now, more than 40 years later. But it’s not really affecting me. I mean I’m going to get arthritis here and I probably have a little already, but it hasn’t bothered me much. But I hurt my back 25 years ago, and if I’m not careful, and if I’m under a lot of stress, or if I work hard, or if I exercise, I can feel my back come back and bother me.”
Ray Hrdlicka – Presenter – Attorneys.Media
“So that’s where it comes in…how is this affecting my life? What is that worth? How much is that impact worth? Depending on the accident and the cause of the discomfort or pain.”
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