If you’ve suffered a personal injury that’s caused you considerable pain, suffering, loss of wages and a ton of medical bills, you have every right to ask the responsible party to pay for those losses.
However, there are other types of compensation you may be able to ask for as well, depending on your situation.
While you should always discuss your legal options for personal injury compensation over with an experienced attorney, here are some types of damages available that you may not know exist:
1. Lost future earnings
Have your injuries permanently affected your career arc? Depending upon your profession, a long-lasting injury or a long period spent in recovery can have a devastating effect on your future career — possibly permanently impairing your ability to earn money in the future to the same extent that you would have if the accident hadn’t taken place.
For example, perhaps you were about to become a partner in a medical practice but that opportunity passed while you were recovering for a year from the serious car accident you were in. Now, you will have a significant wait before any opportunity like that comes along again — which will drastically affect your overall career and lifetime earnings. Factors like your age, your career, your training, your general health prior to the accident may all be important.
2. Permanent disfigurement
Injuries often heal with no sign that they ever were there. Others leave scars that range from “barely visible” to “severely disfiguring.”
The more disfiguring your scars are, particularly those on your face, neck, arms and hands (which are usually visible to most people), the more effect it might have on you.
3. Household services
A lot of people find themselves in a difficult spot when they’re recovering from an accident: They stop needing hospital or nursing care but they still aren’t able to care for themselves yet.
If you went through that situation, you may have had to hire help for routine household activities that you normally handled yourself — like someone to clean the floors and bathroom, do the dishes, cook your meals or cut your lawn.
These are only some examples of possible issues your claim should address. There are other possible damage claim that may also be available to you.
Source: FindLaw, “Economic Recovery for Accidents and Injuries,” accessed Dec. 01, 2017
