Under basic legal principles, you are entitled to be made whole if you have been injured as a result of someone else’s actions. To put it another way, you are entitled to be compensated for your losses. In legal jargon, the losses you suffer are referred to as your “damages.” As a result, when you pursue a personal injury claim, you are typically seeking “compensatory damages” – a monetary amount that is intended to pay you for your losses. Compensatory damages include both economic and non-economic losses.
Generally speaking, economic losses are those losses that represent a specific dollar amount. They are easily identified because they can be clearly documented. Economic losses in a personal injury typically consist of the following:
This is not an exhaustive list. One of the advantages of working with our Atlanta personal injury attorneys is that they can help you compile and document all of your losses suffered as a result of your accident.
Our Atlanta Personal Injury Attorneys Fight for Your Non-Economic Losses
If you’ve been injured through someone else’s fault, you are not limited to seeking compensation only for your economic losses. You are also entitled to seek compensation for your pain and suffering – the mental anguish and physical discomfort you experience as a result of your injury. Although pain and suffering are subjective in nature, any accident victim will tell you that they are very real. Georgia law expressly recognizes your right to pursue compensation for your pain and suffering.
Unfortunately, it can be quite difficult to assign value to your pain and suffering. Thankfully, Georgia does not establish a cap on damages for pain and suffering, allowing victims and their attorneys to seek as much as needed to recover and offer justice At the same time, there is no established formula to provide guidance. Some of the factors that can be used to assign a value to your claim are as follows:
- The impact your injuries have on your day-to-day life
- The severity of your injuries
- Whether your injuries resulted in a permanent disability
- Whether you will no longer be able to work in your chosen profession
- The pain and discomfort normally associated with the injuries you have suffered
The experienced Atlanta personal injury attorneys at Gilormo Injury Law can help you determine the value of your pain and suffering and help you get the compensation you deserve.
Understanding Fault in Personal Injury Claims
In order to pursue a claim for compensation, you need to be able to demonstrate that the other party was responsible for your accident. In other words, you have to eventually prove that they were at fault. When it comes to personal injury cases, most claims fall into the following categories when it comes to proving fault:
- Intentional harm. The other party intended to cause you harm. Assault and battery are examples of intentional harms.
- Negligence. Most personal injury cases are based on negligence. Negligence is when someone didn’t intend to cause harm, but instead, failed to take reasonable care to prevent the accident that caused your harm.
- Reckless or wanton actions. This is similar to negligent behavior in that the other party may not have intended to cause your injury. However, the other party’s behavior was beyond typical negligence, and in certain cases, may entitle you to additional compensation.
With these categories of fault in mind, our Atlanta personal injury attorneys then have to prove the following in order to prove your case:
- The other party owed you a legal duty. For example, all motorists owe other drivers a legal duty to drive safely and follow the rules of the road.
- The other party breached that legal duty. This is the step where you show that the other party intentionally, negligently, or recklessly caused your accident.
- You were harmed as a result of the breach. This may seem obvious, but you need to prove that your injuries were sustained as a result of the accident.
This may all seem very straightforward, but it can be more complicated than it appears. Seemingly insignificant facts can make a huge difference in the outcome of your case. If you’ve been injured and believe someone else is at fault, our experienced Atlanta personal injury attorneys will know how to prove your claim and how the law will apply to your case.
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