How Does a Personal Injury Attorney Help Measure Your Suffering and Damages?

Accidents happen. However, when the accident leaves you severely injured, out of work and in distress, it's not OK. When the accident could have been prevented but, as the result of someone's negligence, wasn't, it's time to take action.

When you suffer a serious injury at the fault of another person or entity, it can seriously shake your world. Hospital bills can snowball quickly, and having an injury that keeps you out of work can quickly put you under a mountain of personal and financial stress. In a time like this, it may be wise to call on the services of a personal injury attorney.

A personal injury attorney will fight to get you a settlement based on the "damages" you've suffered. The cost of these is damages are determined by the sum of your medical bills, time missed at work and pain and suffering. How are these determined?

The hospital bills are the easy part. The cost of the original hospital stay will be added to an estimate of future follow-up visits, prescriptions that may need to be filled and any type of physical therapy that will be needed in the future.

The amount of pay a person would miss out on from lost work days resulting from the injury would be calculated using the amount of time spent out of work multiplied by the amount of pay one would typically be compensated for that time.

But how does one measure "pain and suffering?" A top-notch personal injury attorney will be able to prove not only that all or most of the fault lies upon the defendant but also that you, the plaintiff, have suffered a great amount from the injury itself. There are several ways to do this.

One example could be a back injury from a car accident that is predicted to cause the victim pain, stiffness and limited mobility for the rest of his or her life. If the person worked in a physically demanding field, such as construction, more damages could be awarded because the person would be working harder, taking more time to do said work and should be compensated for the extra time and suffering that will be added to his or her everyday life.

Once the total damages have been compiled, the amount of fault or negligence must be determined. For example, say a neighbor's doberman attacks your 13-year-old son. That could warrant a personal injury suit. But it may be revealed, when brought to court, that the boy got attacked because you were not properly supervising him and allowed him to wander onto their property and come into contact with an aggressive dog. The court may determine that part of the negligence is at the fault of the neighbor for having a dangerous dog that is not locked up. But a percentage, maybe 30 percent, could be placed on you for not having kept him from obvious harm.

In a case like this, only 70 percent of the predetermined damages would be actually be awarded to you, the plaintiff.