Georgia Personal Injury Law Firm (912) 264-6465

Our clients often ask what type of compensation is recoverable after an injury or the death of a loved one.

Obtaining Fair Compensation

Financial loss is another term for monetary damages. It encompasses the damages sustained as a result of an injury that includes quantifiable damages like medical bills and lost wages.

The law recognizes that the quality of life of the spouse of an injured person also suffers, and it allows recovery for this injury even though the spouse did not suffer physical injury himself or herself. A loss of consortium case is separate from the injured victim’s case.

A personal injury plaintiff may be entitled to an award of the costs for future medical care for permanent injuries. Typically, this must be proven with expert testimony.

Most states allow additional recovery when an injury interferes with a plaintiff’s ability to lead a normal life. With an elderly client, this could mean the ability to play with one’s grandchildren, to walk and exercise as one did prior to an injury, to communicate meaningfully with others, or to engage in pastimes one previously enjoyed.

A patient who was injured as a result of the medical malpractice may be entitled to recover his or her lost wages, past and future, incurred as a result of the malpractice.

Although one might not think that mental anguish is something that will be addressed or compensated in a civil action, this is not so. Monetary damages may be awarded for a nursing home resident’s (or his or her survivor’s) pain, suffering, disfigurement, and impaired enjoyment of life. Damages awarded for the pain someone suffers can be for both physical and mental pain.

Mental suffering for which one may recover damages can include the following:

• Fear of the consequences of an injury while awaiting help;
• Fear experienced in the period between realizing an incident likely to cause injury was going to occur and the time of occurrence;
• Fear experienced after an injury about what else could have happened;
• Anxiety about one’s physical health and future well-being;
• Fear of the need for future surgery as a result of one’s injuries;
• Fear of increased vulnerability to future injury;
• Post-traumatic stress disorder.

In a personal injury case, an injured person may be entitled to recover the costs of treatment for injuries as a result of the negligence or intentional conduct of a third party.

Pain and suffering is the term of art used for damages designed to compensate someone for his or her injuries that are physical and emotional in nature. This is contrasted with out of pocket damages like lost wages and medical bills.

Courts generally do not recognize shortened life expectancy as a separate injury, but it may be considered in determining the seriousness of someone’s injury, decreased earning capacity, pain and suffering, and mental suffering from knowing one’s life with be shorter.

Jurors are typically told to determine a plaintiff’s future damages based on standard life expectancy tables. However, due to improvements in medical science and living conditions over the years, your attorney might argue that your life expectancy was/is actually greater than the standard tables would indicate, thereby entitling you to greater damages.

If you have followed good health practices, such as not smoking, exercising, maintaining a good weight, and eating properly, this information might help your attorney in arguing you are entitled to greater damages due to your longer life expectancy.

Punitive damages may be awarded in cases where it is shown that a nursing home engaged in malicious or reckless conduct. In such cases, it is sometimes argued that the nursing home resident was deprived of his or her statutory rights.

Because injured nursing home residents are generally older, in poor health, and have relatively short life expectancies, damage elements that are common in other personal injury cases, such as lost earning capacity, future pain and suffering, and future medical expenses, will not be as significant. Awards against nursing homes are comprised for the most part of punitive damages and damages for mental anguish, pain and suffering experienced by the injured person, medical expenses, and the loss of affection and companionship by the surviving spouse or children.

The attorneys and support staff at the Strom Law Firm, LLC, have experience dealing with incidents and can help ensure you receive fair compensation for all your injuries; current and future. Even those cases which do not involve life altering injuries or complex legal questions are often defended aggressively by insurance companies. The insurance companies who most often defend at-fault drivers spend millions of dollars teaching their adjusters how to successfully deny claims.

At the Strom Law Firm, LLC, in Georgia we are skilled in dealing with the various issues that arise during the course of your case.  (912) 264-6465