What Falls Under Personal Injury Law?

Apr 30, 2021 | Personal Injury

What Falls Under Personal Injury Law?

Often when people think about personal injury law, they picture car accidents. While that is certainly a common reason for someone to contact a personal injury lawyer, it isn’t the only one. Personal injury can include most situations where a person has been injured or even died as the result of another’s negligence. (“Another,” in this case, can mean another individual or an entity like a corporation.) This encompasses a wide variety of scenarios, including boating accidents, plane or train crashes, slip and falls, defective products, medical malpractice, inadequate security and other premises liabilities, and many others.

What are Personal Injury Damages?

In a general sense, “damages” means the amount of money awarded to the plaintiff if they win a personal injury lawsuit. When deciding on damages, the court attempts to choose an amount that covers the following: medical expenses, lost wages or earnings, future medical bills, disfigurement and humiliation, pain and suffering, diminished earning capacity, inconvenience, and mental anguish.

Types of Personal Injury Damages

There are several kinds of damages to consider in a personal injury case:

Special Compensatory Damages

These are intended to cover monetary expenses resulting from an injury. It’s important to note there is no cap on the amount you can claim in special compensatory damages. Your attorney will talk with you and ask questions to help determine what expenses you have from your injury. These can include:

Loss of earnings
Loss of future earnings
Medical bills (and future medical expenses if you need continued care)
Household expenses
Any costs from canceled trips or plans

General Compensatory Damages

These are damages that aren’t financial, or that you don’t receive a bill for. All personal injury cases are expected to have some general compensatory damages. They commonly include pain and suffering, mental anguish, and loss of consortium or companionship.

What are pain and suffering damages? This question comes up a lot. There are two kinds of damages here, mental and physical. You can sue for one or both.

Physical pain and suffering refers to both the physical pain and discomfort you’ve suffered, as well as the effects you’ll likely deal with in the future. This may include continued pain from a back injury, the inability to continue some of your normal activities, etc.

Mental pain and suffering is just as real as physical pain and suffering. This can include mental anguish, emotional distress, loss of enjoyment of life, fear, anger, humiliation, anxiety, depression, and shock. In some cases, it can also include lack of energy, sexual dysfunction, mood swings, loss of appetite, and sleep disturbances. Particularly serious cases may be diagnosed as PTSD. If you are having any of these symptoms after your injury, be sure to tell your personal injury lawyer right away.

Wrongful Death Damages

These damages occur to the surviving family after someone has died due to an injury. The following are commonly claimed under wrongful death damages:

Funeral and burial costs
Medical care prior to death
Emotional distress of the surviving family and loved ones
Loss of the deceased person’s income to the family
Loss of services and support
Loss of companionship and consortium

Punitive Damages

These are considered to be an extra punishment for defendants who behaved in a reprehensible or despicable way. Some examples may include aggravated battery, sexual assault, or widespread fraud that causes massive financial damage. Occasionally punitive damages also come up in high-profile cases where a defective product or medication can harm a large number of people. Your attorney can advise you on whether your claim may be eligible for punitive damages.

Virginia Personal Injury Statute of Limitations

Under Virginia law, the time frame for filing a personal injury lawsuit is two years from the date the injury occurred. It can take time to prepare for a lawsuit, so if you are thinking of filing one, it’s best to contact a Virginia personal injury attorney as soon as possible. Look for a lawyer who offers a free consultation on personal injury claims if you’re unsure whether you have a case.

Personal Injury Minor Statute of Limitations

The rules are a little different if your minor child has suffered an injury. There are many ways a child can be injured, and the problem may not be immediately apparent. For example, a child exposed to lead paint at their school or apartment building may suffer many health challenges as a result. But they may not show symptoms right away, diagnosis may take time, and it may then take even more time to figure out how and where the exposure occurred. Children are also still growing, and even the effects of injuries received in a car accident may change with the child’s continued growth.

For all these reasons, under Virginia state law, the statute of limitations is two years after their eighteenth birthday, unless the child is emancipated. Parents can sue for the child’s medical bills for five years following an accident. However, the child is entitled to make a separate claim for pain and suffering, as the parents can only sue for the cost of medical treatment for the child.

If you have questions about your minor child who has suffered an injury, a personal injury attorney can help answer them for you.

How to Calculate Personal Injury Damages?

This is another common question. Unfortunately, there is no exact formula for calculating how much you will get. However, your attorney may be able to estimate a likely figure based on the details of you case.

As described above, there are different types of damages. Your medical costs and lost wages are fairly easy to calculate as you typically have an exact figure for those. You may also be able to use these to estimate how many much more you will need to spend on medical care, how much more work you are likely to miss, etc.

Pain and suffering is a bit more difficult to quantify. The more severe your injury, the higher the award is likely to be. People who suffer permanent injury or disability will usually get larger awards than those who have recovered from their injuries. It is also difficult to predict if the jury will award punitive damages, and how much. Your attorney may be able to estimate a range of figures based on similar cases, but your actual award in court may be higher or lower depending on many factors.

Is Personal Injury Protection worth it?

Personal Injury Protection (PIP), which provides motorists with insurance coverage in the event they are sued for a car accident, is not required in the state of Virginia (unlike other states, such as Florida). In fact, drivers are not required to carry car insurance at all. Virginia car insurance policies offer medical payouts (MedPay) instead of PIP coverage.

Although MedPay is not required, it has a minimum coverage of $2,000 if you do buy it. As it covers at-fault accidents, many drivers feel it is unnecessary. However, it can be easy to make mistakes when driving, and even a small error can sometimes lead to a big accident. Some drivers like the peace of mind of knowing they will have coverage if an unfortunate accident occurs.

If you have any questions about your rights in a personal injury situation, please contact a Virginia personal injury attorney for a free consultation.