If you are a victim of a pedestrian accident, you have the legal rights to claim compensation for your injuries as well as the consequent pain and suffering. In Virginia, claims for personal injuries in a pedestrian accident typically fall into two categories: economic and non-economic damages.
Economic Damages in a Pedestrian Injury
The economic damages include your medical treatment bills, lost income due to the injuries, property damage, future health care that you might need, or loss of earning capacity because of a permanent disability.
Calculating Economic Damages
Although most of the economic damages suffered because of your personal injuries in a pedestrian accident are straightforward and easily verifiable, some of the factors need expert testimony to assign a precise value to them.
If a permanent injury or disability hampers your return to your previous employment, an economist and a vocational rehabilitation specialist can combine to forecast the type of work you can potentially undertake and your potential future earnings. While the vocational rehabilitation expert can assess your capacity and match it with the availability of suitable jobs in the market, the economist can predict your potential future incomes and benefits.
Similarly, expert testimony from a life-care and medical rehabilitation professional can establish the monetary value of a life-care plan and future medical expenses if your permanent injuries need long-term care and rehabilitation treatments.
Non-Economic Damages in a Pedestrian Injury
Non-economic damages, which are commonly referred to as pain and suffering, include the repercussions of your injuries on daily activities that may not be measurable in purely monetary terms. These can be simple acts of daily living like cooking a meal, taking a shower, driving a car.
Impact on recreational or lifestyle activities like playing golf or a visit to the gym also falls under non-economic damages from your injuries in a pedestrian accident. Your pain and suffering claim may also include compensation for persistent and chronic pain from your accident injuries.
Calculating Non-Economic Damages
While it might not be too difficult to determine medical costs and other accident-related expenses incurred by the victim of a pedestrian accident; calculating, and assigning a monetary value to the pain and suffering can prove to be complicated and contentious.
It may be hard to assign a precise dollar figure to your non-economic harms and losses and the emotional trauma you suffer because of your injuries. However, if you and your personal injury attorney can establish that your injuries are a result of the defendant’s negligence or misconduct, you are legally entitled to compensation for both economic and non-economic damages.
The final decision to assign a value to the non-economic compensation claim rests with the jury, and it comes down to the experience, skills, and the ability of a plaintiff’s attorney to fight and advocate for a rightful and just compensation on behalf of their client.
What Constitutes a Pain and Suffering Compensation Claim?
Calculation of compensation for your pain and suffering claim involves several factors, including:
- Inconveniences in daily activities because of your injuries
- Damage to personal relationships because of your injuries
- Inability to enjoy life because of your injuries
- Mental trauma resulting in conditions like anxiety or depression
- Mental trauma due to disfigurement or permanent disability
- Chronic pain
While collecting evidence of pain and suffering may not be easy, your medical records can help establish the severity of your injuries and the kind of impact those injuries can have on the quality of your life. Our attorneys can help you calculate your pain and suffering compensation with our tried and tested methods for calculating a rightful compensatory amount.
The First Step in Seeking Compensation is to Establish Fault
Once you can prove the fault of another party in causing the accident and your subsequent injuries, you have the right to seek monetary compensation for medical bills, lost wages, and other expenses related to the accident.
Apart from establishing fault, you must be ready to defend any contributory claim that may aim to prove that you were partly at fault for your injuries. The complicated Virginia laws for non-economic compensation claims can be confusing, and retaining a skillful pedestrian accident attorney goes a long way towards a successful claim.
Is There a Limit on Pedestrian Injury Compensation?
Although the law does not place a limit on the maximum amount of compensation for damages in most cases, there are some restrictions for compensation claims against government entities and medical providers. In addition, the law does not allow pain and suffering claims in workers’ compensation cases.
The Key to Maximize the Compensation Amount
Although each pedestrian injury case has its unique characteristics, your attorney’s ability to explore every possibility of probable recovery can help maximize the value of your claim and recover fair compensation for your personal injuries from a pedestrian accident.
The process of calculating compensation can be complicated, and it is advisable to retain an experienced pedestrian accident attorney who can work to seek and recover maximum compensation for you.
Do You Have a Pedestrian Accident Injury Claim?
Our pedestrian accident attorneys will provide you a free consultation to understand the specific details of your accident and guide you accordingly. At Shapiro, Washburn & Sharp, we will work diligently to get you the best possible outcome based on the circumstances of your case. Call us today at (833) 997-1774 today or contact us online to find out how our legal team can help get you the financial compensation you deserve.
References:
https://www.hsinjurylaw.com/library/financial-compensation-for-scarring-and-disfigurement.cfm
https://www.hsinjurylaw.com/library/do-you-qualify-for-pain-and-suffering-damages.cfm