If you are injured as a result of someone else’s actions or inaction, you may be able to seek compensation through a personal injury lawsuit. When putting together a personal injury claim, you will make an argument as to why the named defendant is at fault for your injuries, and your lawsuit should clearly define what type of compensation you are seeking. Compensation awards are broken into two categories – compensatory and punitive damages.
Compensatory damages, as their name implies, compensate the victim for the physical and mental trauma they’ve suffered, while punitive damages are designed to punish the negligent party for their gross actions. Most injury cases do not involve punitive damages and instead focus solely on compensatory damages.
Compensatory damages can be broken down further into two sub-categories – special damages and general damages. Special damages compensate the individual for specific economic losses or hardships they’ve incurred as a result of the accident, while general damages provide compensation for things like pain and suffering or a loss in quality of life. In today’s blog, we take a closer look at types of special damages in Minnesota personal injury cases.
Examples Of Special Damages In Personal Injury Cases
As we touched on above, special damages compensate the victim for specific economic losses that they suffered as a result of their injuries caused by another party. Pretty much anything that you receive a bill for would be considered a special damage in your injury case, so be sure to track all expenses and hold onto your receipts. Common examples of expenses you may seek to recoup through a claim for special damages include:
- Medical bills
- Lost wages
- Travel expenses related to your injury (ambulance ride, trips to appointments, etc.)
- Property damage
- Recovery-related expenses (physical/occupational therapy, crutches, prescription medications, mobility scooter, etc.)
- Replacement services (Costs related to tasks you need to outsource because you can no longer perform them, like childcare expenses, yardwork, home cleaning expenses, etc.)
- Funeral expenses
When it comes to special damages, the court believes these should be simple to understand and itemize, which again speaks to the importance of thorough documentation and record keeping. Save your insurance statements, your bus tickets, and receipts related to any new expenses you incur as a direct result of your injuries. The simpler these costs are to understand, the quicker the court will be to greenlight special damages for these expenses.
Special damages are easier to understand and collect than non-economic damages, but don’t expect the insurance company to just agree with your numbers at face value. They will do everything they can to discredit your claim, so make sure you have a lawyer on your side who can build an airtight claim and defend it against questions from the insurance company. We’ve done that for countless clients in the past, and we can do the same for you. For more information, or for help with a different issue, reach out to the team at Hey Workers today at (844) 439-9675.
