An injury can completely derail your way of life. It can make you rethink everything, from how you make your living to how you move throughout your home. A personal injury, both large and small, can disrupt your financial outlook and can be the cause of future concern. If you have been hurt in a personal injury case, it is important to know where you stand legally. If you were not at fault and have a case pending, it is vital you understand what expenses may be covered through the lawsuit. Below, let’s take a closer look at the top 3 expenses covered in a personal injury case.
Top 3 expenses covered in a personal injury case
1. Medical Expenses
No matter which way you look at it, medical expenses can be outrageous. Emergency services, time spent in the hospital, medication, and rehabilitative services can cost a small fortune, and often medical insurance will not cover the expenses in a personal injury case. Luckily, when working through a personal injury legal case, medical expenses are one of the top expenses that will be covered with a successful case. This can not only include the emergency medical services and hospitalization required, but can help cover follow up visits, physical therapy, medication, medical devices, and diagnostic tests performed while in the hospital.
Paid medical expenses can also include any liens that may have been levied against you. A lien is a financial obligation that a large insurance entity may put against a patient or client in response to unpaid services rendered. This can be in the form of a health insurance lien, Medicare lien, Medicaid lien, or auto insurance lien. Luckily, in most personal injury lawsuits, any liens are included in the total medical expenses that will be paid out and resolved for the client.
2. Wage Loss
If you are seriously hurt chances are high that you have had to take a significant time off of work. This could be time spent in the hospital, time spent at appointments, or even time spent at home recovering. Further, wage loss can even be applied to any time you miss at work because you must attend appointments or physical therapy directly related to the injury you sustained. For jobs that require a great deal of physical labor, many people cannot go back to full duty until they are medically cleared by a doctor resulting in even more unpaid time spent at home or the hospital. Also, Medical Equipment You Must Have at Home
Missing time at work can start to add up, and soon wage loss becomes a very real concern for people. Luckily, wage loss is often covered in personal injury cases. Wage loss is very easy to calculate for most law firms. Your wages and time are simply tabulated and totaled, to give a lump sum amount of money that you have lost as a result of your personal injury. Your lost wage amount can be calculated from an existing pay stub, past tax returns, or a past history of pay statements to verify your regular, average pay. If you are self-employed, it is still possible to calculate lost wages. This takes into account the profits that you would have made if you were not injured. A 1099 form can suffice for calculating self-employed loss wages, as well as invoices or bookkeeping tabulations.
3. Pain and Suffering
One of the most common expenses that will be paid in a personal injury case is the cost of “pain and suffering”. Admittedly, this is a very abstract concept as everyone’s definition of pain and suffering may be different. In a personal injury case covering medical expenses and lost wages are rather quantifiable amounts, but how do you measure the amount of pain and suffering a person must go through as a result of the accident?
That is where having a legal team in your corner can help. There is no set value for different elements involved with a person’s pain and suffering, so typically it is up to a court of law to decide the amount of money that should be awarded. Pain and suffering can cover a wide range of elements and can cover anything from physical anguish, such as being in pain every time you walk, to mental anguish, which could be the long-lasting impact of working through Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome caused by your personal injury. Pain and suffering can also cover having a lower quality of life, dealing with the loss of companionship, or the loss of a career all stemming from your personal injury.
At Kaplan Lawyers we understand that personal injury can impact you and the ones you love for a lifetime. Making sure that your expenses are covered and do not further hinder your quality of life can be paramount. Trust our team to help you navigate the complicated legal world so that you can get your expenses covered, allowing you to move on comfortably, happy, and with peace of mind.
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