Buffalo Personal Injury Lawyer NewsWhat Are Special Damages?
Being the victim of an accident resulting from another’s negligence or recklessness can have earth-shattering ramifications. Victims who sustain serious injuries forfeit small fortunes in lost incomes, medical bills, and rehabilitation costs. Not to mention, many suffer from severe physical, psychological, and emotional complications. Obtaining reasonable compensation for your injuries is often the best way to start recovering. After suffering severe accident-related injuries, victims frequently pursue personal injury lawsuits to recoup their losses. One of the main types of compensation that courts award to plaintiffs is called special or economic damages.
Economic Damages Are Easily Verifiable
Special damages are generally straightforward and easier to authenticate than general damages, like pain and suffering. These damages can be determined without much difficulty because they are based on the victim’s tangible costs. Special damages are designed to help victims return to the same positions that they were in before their accidents. Put simply, the rationale behind special damages is to restore everything that a victim has lost.
Suppose you have been seriously injured in an accident because of another’s wrongdoing. You may be eligible to pursue monetary compensation through a personal injury lawsuit. However, to hold the other party financially liable for your damages, you must first prove that they were negligent. Understanding the legal elements of negligence can help you win your Buffalo, New York injury claim. 
Victims often turn to personal injury claims to recoup their losses after being injured in accidents. If the verdict is in the plaintiff’s favor, they can obtain a monetary award for their losses. One type of damage awarded to victims is called compensatory damages. Compensatory damages are designed to pay victims money to cover the costs related to their injuries and other losses. In other words, this type of damage is awarded to compensate plaintiffs for the actual losses they have suffered. For instance, if a careless motorist smashed into your car and totaled it, the compensatory damages would equal the fair market value of your vehicle when it was demolished, minus the salvage value or any usable parts. The two types of compensatory damages that courts can award to plaintiffs are special damages and general damages.
Victims suffer injuries in tens of millions of severe accidents every year, such as slips and falls, collisions, and dog bites. Most of these injuries are caused by someone else’s negligence or even recklessness. The consequences of being involved in an accident can range from serious personal injuries and post-traumatic stress disorder to the destruction of property and costly hospital bills. Over 40 million accident victims require medical care due to various personal injuries each year. If you or a loved one have been injured due to someone else’s negligence, you may be wondering what type of lawyer to call.
Many accident victims seeking damages in personal injury lawsuits are surprised to learn that an insurance company, doctor’s office, physical therapy clinic, or another party has placed a medical lien against their monetary compensation. As a result, victims may receive significantly less money than they anticipated. Since liens can substantially affect your financial outcome, knowing what they are and exactly how they work is crucial.
Loss of consortium is a term used in personal injury law that refers to the deprivation of the benefits of a family relationship because of injuries suffered in an accident. Under New York law, injured victims may be eligible to obtain monetary compensation for the loss of consortium and companionship. These claims are intended to remedy marital damages that the victim and their spouse have suffered. Loss of consortium claims are generally made when the injuries suffered are long-lasting, devastating, or debilitating. 
Unfortunately, even after an accident victim’s initial pain subsides, they could be left with permanent scarring and other disfigurements. Most scarring is caused by damage to the skin, such as scratches, abrasions, and puncture wounds. Depending upon the severity and location of the scar, it can significantly impact a victim’s ability to work and even perform routine tasks. Besides being a constant reminder of the traumatic injury, even the slightest alterations in a victim’s appearance can bring about overwhelming depression and emotional pain. Victims with scars in prominent places, such as the head, face, neck, or hands often struggle with terrible self-esteem and anxiety. 
In the wake of an accident, it can take victims who have suffered from herniated or bulging discs weeks or even months before these injuries become problematic. Consequently, back and spinal cord injuries are regularly overlooked and undiagnosed. Unfortunately, failure to detect bulging discs can result in long-lasting pain and suffering. A herniated or bulging disc occurs when one of the rubbery cushions positioned in-between the bones that make up the spinal cord is shifted out of alignment. While any region of the spine can endure a herniated disc, this type of injury tends to arise in the lower back.
Approximately 40 million accident victims require medical treatment for an assortment of personal injuries each year. With numerous types of accident-related damages, some have the potential to drastically alter victims’ lives forever. Most personal injuries result from accidents involving another’s negligence. Unfortunately, negligence can cause innocent victims to suffer severe injuries, which lead to costly hospital bills, rehabilitation, pain and suffering, and lost wages from missing work. 
A head injury that disrupts the regular functioning of the brain is known as a traumatic brain injury (TBI). Head injuries are a significant cause of disability and death. Approximately 2.9 million victims suffer traumatic brain injuries in the United States each year. Even relatively minor brain injuries can have catastrophic effects on a victim. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) most recent available data, there were nearly 61,000 TBI-related fatalities in 2019 alone. That is roughly 166 deaths per day. While anyone can suffer a head injury, figures suggest that children and elderly adults are at the most significant risk.