Personal Injury Damages

What is my Case Worth? What are my Damages in a Houston Personal Injury Case?

Damages is a legal term used in personal injury cases that refers to the financial losses that an injured victim incurs as a result of suffering an injury. Damages does not refer to the actual damage of an injury, such as a broken leg, but to the costs associated with that broken leg.

The stated purpose of a personal injury case in Texas is for an aggrieved party to be compensated for the damages they’ve incurred due to the negligent behavior of another party. In Texas personal injury cases, an aggrieved party can seek two types of damages, known as general damages and special damages.

What Are General Damages in a Personal Injury Case?

General damages are damages that do not have a specific dollar amount connected to them. In other words, general damages are rather subjective in nature, often requiring the help of an experienced Houston personal injury attorney to be able to prove up damages in order to justify their inclusion in a personal injury lawsuit. General damages are highly circumstantial, meaning that the particular details of an accident and the victim’s injuries play a large role in correctly determining the amount of general damages that a plaintiff may have incurred. General damages can be sought for any or all of the following issues:

• Pain and suffering
• Mental distress
• Loss of consortium
• Emotional anguish
• Impairment
• Inconvenience
• Disfigurement

As an example of the ways in which general damages can vary based on the particular details of an injury accident in Houston, suppose that two workers were involved in a construction site accident fall. One worker became unconscious after the fall while the other worker maintained consciousness. As a simple example, the conscious worker would likely stand to be awarded more in compensation for pain and suffering since he experienced a greater amount of pain and suffering as a result of being awake after suffering a major injury. Even though the construction workers were injured in the same accident in the same way, their respective general damages could vary dependent on many factors.

Age can also be a factor in determining general damages. A small child may think that she is dying as a result of suffering a serious injury whereas an adult would likely understand that their injuries were not life-threatening. Such issues are taken into account by an experienced personal injury attorney in Houston to ensure that the injured party’s general damages are properly calculated so that such a victim can be fairly and fully compensated for the pain and suffering they experienced.

What Are Special Damages in a Personal Injury Case?

In contrast, special damages are attached to specific dollar amounts, which is why they’re also known as economic damages. Special damages can be sought for any or all of the following issues:

• Medical bills, both past and future
• Lost wages
• Property damage costs
• Court fees
• Loss of future earning capacity

On the whole, proving up special damages is a fairly straightforward calculation. Since many of the types of special damages will have bills or invoices connected to them, such as medical costs, including these types of special damages in a Texas personal injury lawsuit is often the first issue addressed so that an injured party can pay for the medical care they’ve liked already been billed for receiving.

However, loss of future earning capacity is slightly different in that a Houston personal injury attorney must be able to prove what an injured victim would have stood to have earned if their injury results in the victim not being able to return to work. For example, if a 35-year-old teacher making $40,000 a year suffers a debilitating injury in which she cannot return to work, her loss of future earnings could be estimated at 1.2 million dollars, i.e. 30 years times $40,000. However, such a claim may not take into consideration likely raises or other aspects that would likely alter the teacher’s salary in that course of time. Consequently, having an experienced personal injury attorney on your side can assist in proving up special damages in connection to loss of future earnings.

It’s important for both general damages and special damages to be correctly identified and justified in a Houston personal injury civil suit so that an injured party can stand to receive full compensation for their injury. If both types of damages are not correctly calculated and included in a plaintiff’s request for compensation, such an issue may result in a victim receiving less than fair compensation for their injury, resulting in further financial stress compounding a personal injury. Consequently, that is one of the reasons why an experienced Houston personal injury attorney can assist you in making sure that your damages are both identified and able to be proven for inclusion in a personal injury lawsuit in Houston, Texas.