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Plaintiffs are entitled to certain categories of damages related to their injuries. Generally, personal injury lawsuits are filed to recover compensation (“damages”) to compensate the plaintiff for harms and losses he or she has suffered as a result of a personal injury. The overall idea is that a personal injury victim has a right to compensation because he or she should not have to bear the financial hardship caused by another person or company’s actions. The bottom line is that you should not have to pay for damage caused by someone else.

Under Georgia law, there are several types of damages that you can get in a personal injury lawsuit. Some of these are considered “economic” damages and are related to actual costs incurred after an injury (medical bills, lost wages, etc.). There are also “noneconomic” damages which are more subjective and do not have “exact” dollar figures.

Medical bills. If you have been involved in a personal injury accident you will probably need medical care. This will include tests, surgeries, treatment, hospital visits, outpatient care, and other things to address your immediate injuries. But, the need for medical treatment often goes much further. You may need medical care on an ongoing basis for very severe and permanent injuries. This will lead to massive medical bills that can be thousands, or even hundreds of thousands of dollars. The damages in a personal injury lawsuit should cover all of this.

Lost wages. When you are injured, it is likely that you have had to miss work. Sometimes you may have had to take a very long time off of work while you recovered. Or, you may have been injured so severely that you can no longer work. Whether you had to miss a few days for doctors appointments, or you are no longer able to work in the future, you are entitled to compensation for lost wages.

Pain and Suffering. This compensation is based on the severity of the pain and suffering that you have gone through. As discussed above, the type of injury and medical treatment that you underwent will also factor into how much pain and suffering damages will be. To get pain and suffering compensation, which can exceed a million dollars in a jury trial in Georgia, we use as much evidence as we can to prove the true impact the injury has had on your life.

A personal injury lawyer will look at your medical records to help prove the true extent of your injuries and how long it has taken to recover from it. For example, if you had a long stay in the hospital that is proof of more severe pain and suffering. We also use photos and videos of your injuries to show pain and suffering.

By gathering the necessary evidence to show your condition, we are providing information and proof to the court, insurance company, or jury that shows how much money you should get for pain and suffering. There is not a calculator or certain way to provide a dollar amount for pain and suffering, because it is up to the jury. A jury can award compensation for pain and suffering based on many different factors including the credibility of the witnesses at trial. Having good records detailing your condition can help bolster your claim for pain and suffering compensation in light of the subjective factors.

Emotional distress. This compensation is related to the mental and emotional toll on the injured person after an accident. This makes sense. A severe injury does not just affect your body, but it also affects your mind and your emotions. Depending on the severity of the accident, a personal injury victim could suffer anxiety and depression, along with serious mental trauma from the accident. We often see people with post-traumatic stress disorder resulting from bad accidents.

In order to recover damages for emotional distress, you typically need records from a therapist, physiatrist, psychologist, or mental health professional.

Wrongful Death. A wrongful death claim is a civil action filed by the living survivors of a person who was killed in an accident due to the negligence or misconduct of someone else or a company. In these cases, the survivors are left without the companionship, love, support, and income of the person who was killed. Courts and juries can award compensation for this.

The compensation for damages in a wrongful death case can help the family with the financial burdens that come with the loss of a loved one. Wrongful death compensation is awarded to help cover the lost income, medical bills, and funeral expenses that the family will face because of the death of their loved one. Also, Georgia law allows for things such as loss of companionship, instruction, and guidance for a child who loses a parent.

Loss of consortium. This applied to married people. If you or someone you love are in an accident and injured in sucha way that you cannot have the same level of relationship with your spouse or partner–or if one of you were killed in an accident–then you may be eligible for damages for loss of consortium. This is also sometimes called “loss of companionship.”

Punitive Damages. Under Georgia law, a plaintiff can be eligible for something called “punitive damages” in certain cases. This type of damages is designed to punish defendants whose actions were particularly bad. These damages are not there to help make the plaintiff “whole” after an accident, but instead to punish the defendant and to deter the bad conduct in the future. In other words, punitive damages can show people and companies that the conduct was bad and they should not do it again in the future.

For a court to allow punitive damages compensation to a plaintiff, the actions that led to the injury must have been intentional or willful misconduct that was reckless. An example of this can be driving under the influence of alcohol and hurting someone. Georgia law allows compensation for punitive damages.