After being involved in an accident, you may well be faced with physical, emotional, and financial issues you are not prepared to pay or adjust your life for. You may also be wondering if it’s possible to receive financial compensation for your injuries by filing a personal injury claim.
A personal injury claim may help you acquire compensation for injury to your body, mind, and spirit. A claim should be filed if your injuries are due to the negligence of another individual or group. The compensation you may receive will depend upon the circumstances of the case, and since no two cases are alike, it is always best to consult a personal injury attorney like Paul Powell to guarantee the right course of action is taken.
Below are 3 factors to consider when determining if you have a personal injury case or not.
If “yes” is your answer to all three questions, chances are you have a personal injury case for which you should receive compensation. Ultimately, the best way to know if you have a claim is to talk to a knowledgeable lawyer about the circumstances of your case.
1. Did you suffer an actual physical, psychological, or emotional injury?
The legal definition of personal injury applies to a variety of situations and circumstances, but you cannot have a claim without suffering from a personal injury. A personal injury can be physical, psychological, or emotional harm experienced as a result of the negligence, carelessness or wrongful conduct of another person or group. If you were not injured, then you cannot pursue a personal injury claim, and it is important to mention here that a personal injury is NOT the same as property damage.
For example, if you were involved in a minor accident that caused minimal damage to your vehicle and your body and psyche were unharmed, you would NOT have a valid personal injury claim. In this situation, contacting your insurance company or local small claims court would be the most advisable course of action.
Common physical injuries incurred from an accident range through cuts, burns, broken bones or fractures, soft tissue damage, back, spine or brain injuries and internal organ damage. Personal injuries also include psychological and emotional trauma and can be hard to document, but they are just as real as physical injuries.
Examples of psychological and emotional harm include:
- pain and suffering
- trauma
- loss of companionship
- diminished quality of life
- disfigurement
- anxiety or depression
- sleep disorders
- post traumatic stress disorder
2. Were your injuries caused by another party’s negligence?
The next important question to ask yourself about a personal injury is whether someone else was at fault. Was some else’s negligence or willful misconduct caused or is responsible for the injuries you suffered? When an individual or group acts carelessly (or negligently), resulting in injuries to another person, the negligent party is held liable for the harm caused.
Negligence is defined as a failure to take reasonable care to avoid causing injury or loss to another person.
Sometimes, you can point to a specific action or failure to act that caused the injury, and in this instance it is typically easy to identify the responsible party. Other times you may not be able to point to a specific act that led to injury, but you can demonstrate that a party is strictly liable for your safety in certain situations. For example, injuries occur due to defective products and manufacturers are held liable for that and the safety of their products.
3. Do you have recoverable damages?
Lastly, you must have suffered from personal or financial harm that can be recovered through monetary damages in a personal injury claim.
Monetary damages refer to the compensation granted to an injured party by a liable party for losses and injuries. The amount and type of damages you can pursue and receive include both economic and non-economic damages.
Economic damages are things like reimbursement or replacement for medical bills and lost wages. These amounts are typically easy to calculate.
Non-economic damages are more subjective factors, like pain and suffering and diminished quality of life, and are definitely more challenging tot evaluate and set a value to.
If your attorney is able to prove that the liable party acted negligently toward you, the court may award you a sum of money based on several factors including:
- Medical bills incurred to treat your injuries
- Physical pain, emotional suffering, and mental anguish caused by the injuries sustained
- Diminished earnings capacity due to lost wages and time away from work during the recovery period
- Disability accommodations for home and living arrangements
- Property damage and repair costs
- Decrease in your quality of life
- Loss of companionship