Folks pursuing personal injury claims and lawsuits may run into a basic division between the two main types of damages. The first group, economic damages, is fairly easy to understand because it includes quantifiable things like medical bills and long-term care costs. In the second group, non-economic damages, things can be harder to understand. Let's look at three things a personal injury attorney wants all of their clients to understand about non-economic damages.

What Counts

The most likely form of non-economic damages a person is likely to recover is for pain and suffering. Some folks may find it a little odd that this is separated from economic damages. However, the big reason for this is that fixing a broken bone always comes with a number attached, but it's harder to quantify what value is assigned to the pain and suffering you experienced due to the injury.

Emotional trauma is another form of non-economic damages. Trauma is different from pain and suffering because you might experience it even if you're not still in pain. For example, someone who suffered a dog bite may experience a feeling of trauma every time a dog barks at them.

Punitive damages are non-economic, too. Notably, these are virtually never awarded in insurance claims. Most companies would consider that an unnecessary admission of wrongdoing. However, juries may award punitive damages if they feel particular conduct merits taking a financial "pound of flesh" from the defendant to teach them a lesson or to deter future bad acts.

Not Always an Option

Many states have caps on the recovery of non-economic damages. Also, a few states prohibit the recovery of even damages for pain and suffering. Your medical expenses, however, should be uncapped. Usually, caps are between a few thousand and the low millions of dollars.

Thorough Documentation

Especially if you're pursuing damages for pain, suffering, or emotional trauma, it's important to keep track of how you feel each day. Most personal injury attorney services encourage their clients to fill out journals. Details in the journals should be light, focusing on when issues occurred, what they were, and how long they lasted.

Never go overboard with journals. The goal is to provide the insurance company or jury a sense of what you've been through. Stick to the facts. The idea that you might have had a bone fragment in your wrist causing pain for two years, for example, is usually more than enough to get the point across.

To learn more, contact a personal injury attorney.

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