FAQs

What Types of Damages Can I Recover in a Personal Injury Claim?

Personal Injury claims are designed to allow for the victims of another party’s reckless and negligent actions to recover compensation for the damages they have suffered as a result.

These damages take several forms, and include medical expenses, lost income, lost potential income, pain and suffering, and other related expenses like attorney’s fees or damages to property.

Not only can injury victims seek compensation for damages already suffered, it is also important, and often critical, to seek compensation for future damages as well.

Compensation for Medical Expenses

One of the most important types of damages that you will seek during your personal injury claim is that of medical expenses. While it can be fairly simple to add-up your medical bills, and seek compensation for whatever number that turns out to be, it becomes much more complicated when your injuries require on-going medical treatment, or medical treatment beyond the time that your personal injury claim is resolved.

When this is the case, our personal injury attorneys will work with experienced medical professionals in order to assess exactly what types of treatment you may need, how long you will need them for, and how much they will cost.

As soon as you accept any settlement for your personal injury claim, you legally cannot seek further compensation for those same injuries should your settlement prove insufficient to covering your expenses. For this reason, it is extremely important that you fully and accurately assess your medical expenses, both current and future, before accepting any kind of settlement.

Compensation for Lost Income and Wages

Now that we have a better understanding of contingency fees, and how they work, it is also important to know that you have a variety of options when coming to a contingency fee agreement with your attorney.

First and foremost is that by law, you and your attorney cannot enter into a contingency fee agreement without first discussing your ability to pay for their services up front. While many injury victims may not be in a position to assume this up front cost, it is still an option.

The second is that you and your attorney can agree to a “sliding scale” contingency fee agreement, meaning that for the first $100,000 recovered, for example, the contingency fee will be X, while for recoveries over $500,000, the contingency fee will be Y. It is up to your and your personal injury attorney to discuss your options, and what may work best for both parties.

Pain and Suffering Damages

While recovering compensation for your medical expenses and lost income may be your most pressing financial concerns, pain and suffering damages often represent the greatest portion of total recovery in personal injury claims.

When it comes to accident injuries, pain and suffering can mean a wide variety of different things. Physical pain, emotional distress resulting from the anxiety, stress, depression, and embarrassment many injuries can cause, and your loss of enjoyment of life when you can no longer participate in the activities you previously enjoyed with your friends and family can all be monetarily compensated in personal injury claims.

However, putting an exact number on your pain and suffering is one of the most difficult aspects of any personal injury case. A broken bone for one person may be extremely painful or stressful if it causes them to be unable to work, while for another causes little to no true hardships.

Having an experienced personal injury attorney who can listen to closely to you regarding the pain and suffering you have experienced, and then represent those hardships to a jury, or to the insurance company, is extremely important to the success of your case.

Extraneous Damages

Beyond the three main types of damages sought during personal injury claims, some situations may call for the reimbursement of damaged property, and potentially reimbursement of legal expenses as well.

While these types of damages are generally much less than the others already discussed, they can still be important. Speak with our personal injury attorneys today regarding your options for securing compensation for these additional damages during your personal injury claim.

Contact Our Injury Attorneys Today

At The Law Office of Fredson Statmore Bitterman, our attorneys have extensive experience helping clients across Wayne, Clifton, Paterson, West Milford, and the greater Passaic County area to successfully resolve personal injury claim of all kinds, including claims resulting from car accidents, truck accidents, bus and train accidents, construction accidents, accidents on dangerous premises, and more.

The goal of our firm is to keep each of our clients highly informed and involved throughout the legal process, as we believe that the more you know regarding your options and legal situation, the better we can work together to the secure the settlement which best meets your unique needs and concerns.

Having already secured many multi-million dollar settlements and verdicts for our previous clients, our track record of success and the quality of the service we provide to each client speaks for itself.

To speak with our firm today in a free and confidential consultation regarding your accident and a better understanding of your options for recovering compensation through a personal injury claim, please contact us online, or by phone.