There are two major parts to your personal injury lawsuit: liability and damages. A lot of focus is given to the liability aspect of a case. After all, if you can’t establish liability, then you won’t even get to the damages portion of your claim. But if you do succeed in imposing liability, then you need to be prepared with strong evidence that demonstrates the full extent of your damages if you hope to recover the compensation that you’re owed.
What can you recover?
In a personal injury lawsuit, you have the ability to recover both economic and noneconomic damages. Economic damages are those that directly affect your wallet. Think medical expenses, rehabilitation costs, and lost wages. Noneconomic damages, on the other hand, are those that certainly impact your life, but they don’t have direct financial implications. These damages include pain and suffering and loss of enjoyment of life.
Proving your damages
Damages won’t automatically be awarded to you, though. Instead, you’re going to have to put in the work to prove the extent of the harm that has been caused to you. When it comes to economic damages, that may be easy enough. After all, you can simply gather your medical records and pay stubs to show your losses here, right?
It’s not so simple. This is because you’re likely going to have damages from your accident even after your lawsuit resolves. Therefore, you may need an expert to testify as to your need for medical care moving forward, and you may have to demonstrate how your injuries have affected your career.
When it comes to noneconomic damages, you’ll want to paint a clear picture of how your injuries have affected your life for the worse. A journal of these impacts can be powerful in court, and so can witness testimony from family members, friends, and coworkers. So, do what you can to try to document how your life has changed and how it has made you and your family feel.
Take the holistic approach that your case deserves
There are a lot of moving parts to a personal injury claim, and you can’t overlook any of them if you hope to achieve the best outcome possible under the circumstances. That’s why it’s imperative that you know how to build a comprehensive legal claim from the beginning. Fortunately, skilled legal professionals like those at our firm stand ready to assist in that regard.