If you were injured in a car accident, suffered abuse at the hands of someone entrusted to protect you, or were otherwise harmed in a personal injury incident, you may have suffered considerable damages or losses. You could be saddled with thousands of dollars in medical bills and lost wages. You could also be enduring considerable pain and suffering.
Through a personal injury claim, you may be able to seek compensation, with the help of an experienced Seattle personal injury lawyer, for the economic and non-economic damages you’ve suffered.
Difference Between Economic and Non-Economic Damages
Most states, including Washington State, break damages in personal injury cases into two groups: economic and non-economic damages. Economic damages provide compensation for losses that can be quantified, such as the following:
- Medical expenses
- Lost wages
- Future loss of income
- Property damage
Economic damages are more straightforward to calculate, as doing so is normally a matter of gathering financial records.
Types of Non-Economic Damages Awarded in Seattle Personal Injury Cases
Although non-economic damages are not limited to the following definitions, Washington law specifically mentions these examples:
Pain and Suffering
Juries can award accident victims compensation for their mental and physical pain and suffering that they experienced, as well as pain and suffering they are likely to suffer in the future, based on a reasonable probability of that suffering.
Mental Anguish
Accidents and abuse can cause psychological trauma, for which accident victims can seek compensation.
Emotional Distress
Some personal injuries cause emotional distress, PTSD, anxiety, depression, and other emotional challenges. Accident victims can seek compensation for mental health counseling, as well as the non-economic aspects of these effects.
Inconvenience
Personal injury victims may have to attend multiple medical appointments, miss work, miss out on opportunities, and otherwise be inconvenienced due to the negligence or criminal acts of others. They can seek compensation for these inconveniences.
Disability or Disfigurement
Washington State statutes recognize that personal injury victims can seek compensation for damages they sustained by suffering a disability, which includes the incapacity to work and the inability to lead a normal life.
Additionally, victims can seek compensation if they have suffered scarring or disfigurement due to the damage to their self-esteem or feeling self-conscious because of their injuries.
Loss of Society and Companionship
Loss of society and companionship covers the losses a surviving family member sustains due to the injury or death of their loved one. It relates to the loss of the injured person’s love, affection, care, comfort, guidance, and protection.
Loss of Consortium
Loss of consortium refers to the loss of physical affection, comfort, and sexual relations. Typically, the spouse of an injury victim brings this type of claim because they are deprived of the benefits of the marital relationship. Domestic partners can also make this claim.
Children can claim damages for the loss of love, care, companionship, and guidance of a parent. Their claim for loss of parental consortium must be joined with the parent’s underlying claim, but the jury is instructed to consider the child’s damages separately from those of the injured parent.
Injury to Reputation and Humiliation
Injury to reputation and humiliation is most common in cases involving slander, false arrest, or other similar legal actions
Destruction of the Parent-Child Relationship
In some personal injury cases, juries may award compensation for the loss of love and companionship of the child, loss of the child’s emotional support, and injury to or destruction of the parent-child relationship in an amount found to be just under all the case’s circumstances. These damages provide financial recovery for parental grief, mental anguish, and suffering in cases involving a child’s death or injury.
How Are Non-Economic Damages Calculated?
Washington’s jury instructions specifically state that “noneconomic damages are not susceptible of precise measurement, and evidence that assigns an actual dollar value to the injury or that fixes the amount of damages with mathematical certainty is not required.” Juries are often instructed to consider what they would think is fair if the same thing happened to them.
That said, there are a few commonly used methods to calculate (or at least estimate) these damages that courts and insurance companies often use. One is called the “multiplier method,” which entails assigning a figure from 1.5 to 5 to your non-economic damages and then multiplying that by your economic damages. Another is the “per diem” method, which requires assigning a daily value to your non-economic damages and then multiplying that by the number of days you’ve experienced those damages.
Caps on Non-Economic Damages
Many states set caps on non-economic damages that limit the amount of compensation they can receive if they sue the at-fault party. However, Washington State does not impose such damage caps, so there’s no legal limit to the amount of compensation you can recover for your pain, suffering, and other non-economic damages.
Contact an Experienced Seattle Personal Injury Lawyer for Legal Assistance
When you work with Darrell Cochran Personal Injury Lawyer, you can trust that we will pursue the full extent of damages available for your claim, including all of your non-economic damages. Contact our Seattle personal injury attorneys today at (253) 948-0250 to get started with a free consultation.