Four Specific Values Lawyers May Attach In A Personal Injury Case

Most people are familiar with getting money from a personal injury case to pay for medical bills, but what else can the settlements cover? If you're looking to bring an injury case against a defendant, check out some of these types of economic recovery that go into settlement values.

Loss Of Consortium

This more obscure type of settlement value involves the relationship between spouses or partners. When an injury impairs that relationship, lawyers may try to seek amounts for loss of consortium. In fact, both spouses can claim this type of loss, which lawyers may be able to work into a settlement value in some situations.

Household Services

Just like settlement values often cover lost wages from work that the injury victim is unable to do, lawyers may also try to get amounts for the loss of household services. This involves things like cleaning, cooking and long-term bottom improvement or maintenance. The reality is that many recovering injury victims will not be able to do these things for a while, so lawyers may factor that loss into the figures that they propose to defense attorneys.

Lost Future Earnings

In some cases, especially where an injury victim's conditions impair the ability to do his or her most valuable work, lawyers will look at settlement values that reflect the damage to a person's long-term career. The idea behind this is that the value of that person's full capability relates to what he or she would have earned over a series of years had he or she never been injured.

Pain And Suffering

This is a complex aspect of a personal injury case. Different states have their own legal rules on pain and suffering. In addition, lawyers need to put dollar figures on pain and suffering in specific ways. Many laws will separate ordinary injuries from "grave injuries," which includes things like the loss of a limb, putting these more serious injuries into a different category for pain and suffering compensation. If the injured person died, a claim may have to separate settlement amounts for pain and suffering experienced by the victim prior to death from the pain and suffering claimed by the victim's family after his or her death. Skilled lawyers in a particular state know how to attach reasonable and fair values to pain and suffering according to the severity of the injury and other factors. Some of the key information may come from medical professionals involved in treating the injury victims.

All of these things may factor into how your injury settlement is calculated. For more information, contact a professional like those at Otorowski Johnston Morrow & Golden P.L.L.C.