What are the possible damage awards for a Texas motorcycle accident case?
Calculating Damages After A Fort Worth, Texas Motorcycle Accident
It is important to understand that these types of cases raise complex issues of fact and law. It is, therefore, crucial that you retain a personal injury attorney with experience in the handling of such matters. In this article we will discuss how a victim’s damages are calculated. If you or a loved one have been injured then it is important that you contact an attorney immediately.
The first component of a victim’s damages are past and future earnings which have been lost due to injury. The calculation of past earnings is simply a matter of adding up all the income which has been lost since the accident. The determination of future losses is more complicated. It will be necessary to determine the amount of money which the victim could have been expected to earn if the injury had not occurred. It will then be necessary to subtract, from that amount, the amount of money (if any) the victim can now be expected to earn in the future. The determination of such amounts will typically depend on the opinions of witnesses with expertise in the field of economics and vocational rehabilitation.
The second component of a victim’s damages is the past and future medical expenses which are a result of the accident. Again, determining the medical expenses incurred to date is a straightforward matter. Future care, however, involves the opinion of a medical expert as to the type of care the victim will need, the cost of such care, and the extent to which the victim can be expected to make a fully recovery. The cost of future care will include any necessary medical procedures, the cost of physical therapy, the expense for medications, and anything else related to the rehabilitate process.
The final component to a victim’s damages is the extent to which they have endured pain and suffering as a result of the accident. This includes physical pain and discomfort incurred to date as well as discomfort one can be expected to go through in the future. It will also be important to consider how the matter has impacted the victim’s emotional and psychological well-being as well as their overall enjoyment of life.
Damages are hotly contested in any personal injury case. The defense can often be expected to dispute the Plaintiff’s calculations as to each of the foregoing types of damages. The defense will be able to retain its own expert witnesses as to these amounts and the jury will decide which side is to be believed when it comes time to award compensation. It is important that you retain a Fort Worth motorcycle accident lawyer with the resources necessary to retain any needed experts. It is also important that your lawyer be able to present your damages to the jury in a way that is clear and easy to understand. This is why we suggest you retain a firm which is selective in the cases it accepts, which employs multiple attorneys, and in which the counsel are Board Certified in Personal Injury Law by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization.