Burn Injury Case – In personal injury cases like burn injury cases, it can be difficult to get even a rough idea of how much money you can get if your case is successful. This is one of the things that an experienced personal injury law firm like Wapner Newman can help you with. However, you may want to learn more about your law firm will come up with the damages that you may be entitled to receive. There are many components that can be included in the damages for a personal injury case. These components can include past and future medical care, past and future lost wages, compensation for physical pain, and compensation for emotional pain. You may even be eligible for future damages. Read on to learn what types of damages you may be entitled to receive for your burn injury case.
Emotional Suffering in Burn Injury Case
If you suffer a burn injury or another type of personal injury, you may be entitled to receive compensation for your emotional suffering. This is one of the types of damage that is subjective. This means that your law firm and the other party’s law firm will likely haggle over how much compensation you should receive for your emotional suffering.
Physical Pain in Burn Injury Case
Physical pain is another subjective category that is hard to quantify. However, if there is concrete evidence that your personal injury has caused you a great deal of physical pain (such as medical records written by a doctor that note your pain) you have a better chance of getting compensated for it when the damages are actually paid out. This is vital that you give all of your relevant medical records to your attorney.
Punitive Damages in Burn Injury Case
Punitive damages are not always awarded for personal injury cases. Generally, the defendant’s actions have to be so egregious that a judge or jury feels they should pay a financial penalty in addition to paying for your pain and suffering. It is rare for defendants to agree to pay punitive damages for cases settled out of court, as most personal injury cases are.
Medical Care
One of the most important categories of personal injury damages is medical care. Medical treatment expenses often make up the bulk of the damages received for a personal injury lawsuit. Medical treatment expenses can include doctor’s appointments, physical therapy, medical devices, and medication. Many lawyers prefer not to file a lawsuit until you have received all of the medical care that you need for your burn injury. This is because you will have incurred the largest amount of medical expenses, which means that you may be eligible for a larger settlement. It doesn’t mean that you have to wait until then to hire a lawyer, only that your lawyer will not be able to accurately calculate the damages until this time.
Future Medical Care
Future medical care is obviously harder to calculate than past medical care expenses. However, it can be estimated accurately by looking at your past medical expenses and seeing what the long-term treatments for your condition have cost you so far. Calculating future medical expenses accurately is not easy, but an experienced personal injury lawyer will be able to do so. To help your personal injury lawyer come up with an accurate estimate, you should have your doctor and/or physical therapist come up with a treatment plan. They will likely do this anyway so you know what to expect from the recovery process, but this treatment plan will also be very useful for your personal injury case.
Lost Wages
The second biggest component of many personal injury settlements is lost wages. If you have had to take time off work due to your burn injury, then you may be entitled to compensation for these lost wages. Lost wages include not only your salary, but also the monetary value of benefits like health insurance or a 401(k). Keep in mind that you can get damages for lost wages even if you do not lose your job. For example, if you have to transition from full-time work to part-time work due to your burn injury, you are still losing wages and you are still eligible to be compensated for these lost wages.
Future Lost Wages
Future lost wages can be calculated a bit more easily than future medical expenses. Your law firm can look at the wages you were earning before the accident and estimate how long you will have to be out of work due to your burn injury. They can simply multiply your lost wages per day or year by the amount of time you will be out of work. Your law firm will even be able to account for how your wages would have increased over time.