What Are Economic Damages?
If you have been hurt in an accident, your financial losses can be very high. Medical and other bills can add up quickly after an accident. And you may lose income from missing work while you recover.
A personal injury lawsuit can compensate for your medical bills, lost wages, pain and suffering, and more. When calculating your potential award in a personal injury case, your claim will deal with economic damages. These damages compensate you for your financial losses after your injury. You can specifically calculate them using bills, pay stubs, and other documentation.
If you have specific questions about your own personal injury case, then it is important that you speak to an experienced personal injury attorney for legal advice.
Types of Damages Available in Personal Injury Cases
Legal damages are the amount of money that is meant to compensate the victim in a personal injury case. There are three types of damages that you can seek in a personal injury case: economic, non-economic, and punitive damages.
Economic damages: are the legal damages that can be easily counted. Economic damages include things such as medical bills, lost wages, and property damage.
Non-economic damages: are the legal damages that compensate a victim for the additional difficulties experienced because of an accident. These damages are not as easy to add up as economic damages because they are non-monetary. They compensate a victim for the psychological and emotional losses after their injury, like pain and suffering.
Punitive damages: These damages are meant as a punishment towards the responsible party. These are additional damages that are not meant to actually compensate the victim for anything. A court can order punitive damages if it finds that the defendant’s conduct was especially shocking and that future similar conduct should be deterred.
Common Types of Economic Damages
Injuries after an accident can be extremely costly in several ways.
If you have suffered a personal injury due to the negligence or recklessness of another, then you can seek economic damages, which include:
- Medical expenses
- Rehabilitation expenses
- Lost wages
- Lost future wages
- Property damages
- Legal expenses
- Funeral costs in the case of a wrongful death
Any money damages that can be calculated with a bill or proof of payment can be considered economic damages. Economic damages can be significant in personal injury cases, especially if the injuries sustained are serious or life-threatening.
How Courts Determine the Proper Amount of Economic Damages
You can get a pretty good idea of how a jury or court might calculate your economic damages because you know your financial losses. A court and/or insurance company will consider a variety of items when determining economic damages as long as you can easily prove and calculate the costs. You will be expected to submit proof of the costs incurred because of your injuries and a reasonable estimate of any future costs to be incurred to get your maximum payout.
Is There a Cap on Economic Damages in Florida?
While there might be caps on other forms of damages in Florida (non-economic or punitive), there is no cap on economic damages. It doesn’t matter how serious your injuries are. As long as you can show you incurred a reasonable injury-related expense, the responsible party will be ordered to pay the full value of your losses.
This amount can be in the millions of dollars, depending on the circumstances. Since there is no cap on economic damages in Florida, it is important to get every bit of money that might be available for your injuries.
How Do I Calculate My Economic Damages?
To properly calculate your economic damages, you will need to first obtain and examine all of your bills that have come because of your accident. This includes things such as medical bills, rehabilitation bills, lost wages because of the inability to work, and property damage expenses, among other things. These provide evidence of your past and present costs.
However, you might bear future financial burdens as a result of your injury, including future medical expenses, future lost wages, or reduced earning capacity. These are not easy to calculate on your own. Generally, medical and/or economic experts will have to make projections of your future economic damages. Your personal injury attorney will arrange to have experts make these calculations as part of your claim or lawsuit.
Get a Free Consultation Today to Have Your Questions Answered
If you have been injured in an accident and have questions about your next steps, then it is important that you speak to an experienced personal injury attorney as soon as possible. It is important to understand your case’s full value so you don’t leave money on the table. We offer a free consultation so you can have your case assessed by a seasoned professional.
