How Wisconsin Determines Damages in a Personal Injury Claim

 

Person Injury damages will be determined by a number of factors

When you file a personal injury case, the damages available depend on a number of factors. Understanding the categories can be complicated. When you discuss your claim with your lawyer, you can learn about how the courts will determine and describe the damages that make up your potential recovery.

Who Is Liable?

The first issue that arises is liability. Before you can recover for your personal injury, the person or company you are suing has to be at fault, or liable, for your injuries. If they are at least half responsible, you are entitled to recover. That said, the court may also reduce your recovery based on any percentage that it finds your injuries to be your own fault. For example, if the jury determines that you are 30% responsible for what happened, and your damages total $100,000, the amount available for you to recover would only be $70,000.

Economic Damages

Once you pass the liability hurdle, the damages you seek fall into two main categories: economic (or “special”) damages and non-economic (or “general”) damages. Economic damages include everything to which you can easily assign a monetary amount. The cost of your medical care, the value of any property damaged or destroyed, lost wages, and other costs you incur because of the accident or injury fall into this category. Your lawyer can help you understand these costs, as many may not be obvious to you.

General Damages

General damages can be harder to quantify, but are just as important to your case. This includes damages for pain and suffering, loss of consortium, metal anguish, and other damages that are real to you but don’t come with clear dollar amounts attached. Working with a lawyer will help you identify amounts that an insurance company may not, and help you receive the full recovery to which you are entitled.

Insurers will often fail to include some damages when offering you a settlement for your injuries. Before you try to negotiate or accept an offer, contact Eisenberg Law Offices, online or at  (608)256-8356. We will help get the recovery you deserve.

This post was originally published at https://www.eisenberglaw.org/how-wisconsin-determines-damages-in-a-personal-injury-claim/