After a serious injury, you may be unsure about your options. Medical bills, missed work, and damage to your vehicle can add up to a substantial financial expense on top of any emotional or mental distress you’re experiencing. Understanding whether your situation qualifies for a personal injury claim will help you decide how to proceed.
How Does the Law Define a Personal Injury?
A personal injury claim is a civil lawsuit that people injured because of someone else’s negligence can use to seek compensation. To demonstrate negligence, your lawyer must show that the other person had a duty to act a certain way, that they failed to do so, and that this failure caused your injuries. Personal injury damages can cover both short and long-term physical, mental, and property damage. Damages fall into two categories: economic and non-economic.
Economic damages are concrete expenses you incur because of the accident. These can include medical bills, lost wages, vehicle repair or replacement costs, retraining if you cannot return to your previous job, or lost future wages if you cannot work. Non-economic damages are intended to compensate for emotional distress, mental suffering, and loss of enjoyment of life. Since these factors can’t be directly tied to a dollar amount, calculating and predicting how much you might receive is more complicated.
When researching examples of personal injury, you might also encounter the term “bodily injury.” While it sounds similar to personal injury, bodily injury is the relevant term for your civil legal case. The bodily injury usually refers to a victim’s injuries in a civil case.
What Are Some Common Examples of Personal Injury?
Looking at examples of personal injury can help you understand whether your situation might qualify. Personal injury cases can include car accidents, injuries caused by dog bites, medical malpractice, wrongful deaths, and slip and fall injuries. The injury itself is not enough to have a case. Your injuries need to have been caused by someone else’s negligence. For example, drivers must follow the rules of the road, and doctors must provide the appropriate care based on a patient’s symptoms. Causing an injury by failing to do this can leave the negligent party open to a lawsuit. You’d likely have a claim if a car accident happened because another driver hit your car after running a stop sign. An owner of a dog fails to catch their dog and the dog bites you is another example.
Does Emotional Distress Count as a Personal Injury?
Most personal injury cases involve a physical injury. However, it is possible to sue for emotional distress if you experience anxiety, depression, insomnia, post-traumatic stress disorder, or other emotional or mental suffering because of someone else’s negligence, even without a physical injury. For example, you could have a claim if you were in a car crash and had ongoing mental suffering despite not being physically injured. Demonstrating your level of suffering and connecting it to negligence is usually more complex than in cases involving a physical injury.
Your Personal Injury Case Deserves Personalized Attention – Choose Scherline Injury Law
While some general guidelines can give you an idea of what to expect in a personal injury case, every situation is unique. If you believe you might have a personal injury claim, your next step should be to talk with a lawyer. Contact Scherline Injury Law to discuss your personal injury case today!
IMG Credit: Lisa F. Young
