When a person is seriously injured, the injury victim endures several kinds of hardship. The purpose of a personal injury lawsuit is to compensate the victim for the hardships they suffer when the injury is the result of someone’s negligence or recklessness. But while that compensation is always in the form of an amount of money, not all the hardships an injury victim suffers are easy to put a dollar value on. These are typically referred to as “non-economic damages.”
Financial hardships resulting from medical bills, lost wages, loss of future earning potential, cost of hiring help with chores the victim no longer can do on his or her own, and similar losses are fairly easy to calculate. These are known as “economic damages.” However, things like the pain a person endures due to an injury, discouragement from the inability to participate in a favorite sport, or the anguish of missing out on intimacy with a loved one do not come with a price tag, bill or invoice. Their value is not monetary in nature, yet non-economic damages like these are just as important to a person as financial concerns. Actually they are more important as these things are what make life enjoyable.
Non-economic damages play an important role in personal injury lawsuits as the person liable for a victim’s injuries is liable not just for the financial losses the victim suffers but also the anguish, inconveniences and frustrations that are caused by the injury. It is not uncommon, in cases of serious injury, that an award or settlement for non-economic damages exceeds the award or settlement for economic damages. After all, medical treatment, in most cases, eventually comes to an end or becomes periodic and predictable. But the anguish of a permanent disability or disfigurement lasts a lifetime and takes an unimaginable emotional toll and the victim and his or her family.
The following are some types non-economic damages commonly included in a personal injury lawsuit. The list is not exhaustive:
Economic damages are typically a part of any personal injury lawsuit involving any serious injury or death. The one exception in Michigan is injuries resulting from an automobile accident. Serious injuries and deaths resulting from negligent property maintenance, defective products, dog attacks, willful and malicious acts, and other liability cases usually involve non-economic damages that can be included in an injury claim or lawsuit against the liable party.
As previously noted, non-economic damages for injuries incurred in a car accident work differently than for other types of personal injury cases. This is because of Michigan’s no-fault auto insurance laws. Under these laws anyone involved in an automobile accident (except someone driving their own uninsured vehicle) in Michigan is entitled to unlimited compensation for medical services and limited but extensive compensation for lost income and certain other economic damages without having to file a lawsuit against the party at fault. While this makes it easier for accident victims to obtain compensation for their medical costs, the tradeoff is that victims of car accidents are not permitted to sue the at-fault party for non-economic damages unless the injuries are catastrophic in nature.
In order to sue for non-economic damages related to injuries from a Michigan car accident, the injuries must involve serious disfigurement or permanent disability. For more about which car accident injuries qualify for a lawsuit for non-economic damages, please see our previous article on Threshold Injuries.
Get Expert Help Recovering Non-economic Damages from the Party Liable for Your Injuries
Recovering compensation for non-economic damages is not easy. Insurance companies and defense lawyers fight hard to avoid paying large sums for damages and limit their liability. They defend against personal injury lawsuits every day and are very experienced in employing tactics that undermine an injury victim’s claims — some of which are not above board — even though the injuries and the suffering they cause are very real.
To fight these tactics and receive appropriate compensation for your injuries, including both economic and non-economic damages, you need an experienced attorney who is familiar with those tactics and knows how to combat them. In Michigan, the personal injury attorneys at Sachs Waldman, P.C., have extensive experience fighting for the rights of injury victims and winning personal injury lawsuits against insurance companies and experienced defense lawyers. We can assist in getting you the benefits you’re entitled to for your injuries whether they are the result of a Michigan car accident or another cause.
Call our Detroit personal injury attorneys’ office at 1-800-638-6722 to schedule a free consultation.
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