How Do Lawyers Determine Economic Damages?
Law seems like something that should be cut and dry, easy to understand, but that’s rarely the case. Lawyers shoulder the burden of having to play detective, debate champ, and insurance agents all in one go to ensure that their clients get everything they deserve. If this job amazes you, as it should, it’s no wonder that you’d start wondering how they work their magic.
Here’s how lawyers determine economic damages, and what’s done with that information.
What are economic damages?
Economic damages are the past, present, and future effects that your injury may cause on your life. This problem could mean lost wages, medical expenses like ambulances or medication, household services, and generally anything that hits your wallet while you’re figuring out what to do about this horrible life change.
They can’t sue for everything; usually, legal fees come from you directly, but they can cover almost everything else.
How do they gather this information?
With your permission, they can gather your up to date medical information. The lost wages projection is created using your last year or two of wages, finding your base salary, and then calculating that based on time passing. If you can’t ever heal, they’ll sue for disability for you if you want them to.
How is it used in court?
This information is used to show the court the financial burden placed on you, and advise it to help you by pulling the funds from whoever will be capable of helping support you. This supporting documentation will help your lawyer serve whoever they think is responsible so that only that party will be hurt.
Is this an everything or nothing deal?
No. Often, the courts will pay out partial amounts to what the judge decides is fair. Your lawyer will fight for the full amount, and if you choose to keep on, your lawyer will be able to file an appeal to help recover any other costs. These appeals may drag out how much time you spend in court, but you need every cent you can gather when it comes to recovering from this.
What are my options?
Your best option in this type of case is to work as thoroughly as possible with your lawyer. Discuss every part of your injury with them, how much it has cost you, what the physical and emotional toll has been, and what you want out of this case. Make it clear that this has changed your life for the worse, and you no longer have the quality of life that you loved before.
Everyone deserves to live their lives without having to be held back by finances or the pain of a severe injury. Working with your lawyer to gather financial information on your economic damage analysis, and sticking to your guns in court, can be all you need to afford to live your life. Unfortunately, these cases take time, patience, and money to survive, but if you stick to them you the payout you may get at the end will be worth it.
