The Types of Monetary Compensation In A Personal Injury Case

When the victims of an accident make a personal injury claim, each victim has the right to seek compensation for 2 different categories of losses. The legal system refers to each loss as damage. General damages, also called non-economic damages are usually categorized as pain and suffering, emotional/mental trauma, loss of enjoyment of life.

How does a lawyer approach the task of demonstrating the existence of general damages?

Personal injury lawyers in Waterloo must show that such a loss is real and significant. If the client has kept a journal or diary, and has recorded the instances of pain, then that can support a claim of pain.

Observations by witnesses can help. Did a neighbor or co-worker notice an increased irritability in the victim/plaintiff? Had the victim/plaintiff complained to anyone about problems with sleeping? Had any witnesses noted signs of depression?

Some lawyers create what are known as “day-in-the-life” films/videos, in order to show a loss of enjoyment of life.

Special/economic damages

These can be calculated with precision. Examples of special damages: medical bills, property damage and lost wages

How can an attorney offer proof, concerning the level of a special damage?

For proof of a client’s lost wages, an attorney needs both a doctor’s certification of the client’s inability to work and records that show the client’s absence from the workplace.

Copies of bills can be used to show the extent of medical expenses. A client’s collection of stubs from the parking lots at visited medical facilities might be used to supplement a group of medical bills.

Documentation of property damage could consist of a photograph. It could also take the form of an estimate for the cost of repair work, or a bill presented once the repairs had been completed. In order to document a loss of property, it helps to have pictures of the item that was owned by the client before it was lost. A bill of sale, demonstrating ownership of the pictured item would aid creation of even stronger evidence.

An automobile owner that has had a stereo system stolen from an automobile might want to seek out some witnesses. Those would be people that had ridden in the car earlier, and had listened to the stereo system. If someone has mistaken a piece of your clothing for one of theirs, that mistake can provide a policyholder with grounds for declaring a loss of property. An explanation of the scene where the exchange took place might add sufficient support to the claim.

For instance, suppose someone goes to a church function in the winter, and wears a camel’s hair coat. That gets mistaken for someone else’s camel’s hair coat. A coat was lost.