If you were recently hurt in a preventable accident and plan to hold the liable party financially accountable, it’s natural to wonder just how much your claim might be worth. Although an experienced personal injury attorney can explain all possible damages and even assign a rough estimate for each, there is no way to predict the final payout, nor is there a standard formula for calculating one. Certain factors affect all cases, though. Here, the personal injury team at the Law Offices of Alan M. Laskin explains what they are. 

Calculating Compensatory Damages

In every successful personal injury claim, compensatory damages include both economic and non-economic losses. Calculating the total value of economic losses, which might include medical bills, property damage, and lost income, is fairly straightforward. Non-economic damages, on the other hand, are intangible.

Factors that can influence their total amount include the severity of the injuries and their resulting disabilities, the extent of any scarring or disfigurement, the total duration of recovery, and the scope of emotional trauma. Once your personal injury attorney devises an appropriate settlement amount based on these factors to cover damages taking comparative fault into account.

Recovering Punitive Damages 

In the state of California, personal injury claimants can sometimes recover punitive damages. Unlike compensatory damages, punitive awards do not correspond to any losses incurred, financial or otherwise. Instead, they are designed to punish the defendant for malicious, fraudulent, criminal, or grossly negligent behavior. Factors that can influence punitive damages in cases where they apply include the defendant’s net worth, the scope of the transgression, and the total damage that it caused for the plaintiff. 

If you want to file a personal injury claim in California, the legal team at the Law Offices of Alan M. Laskin will help you. You have a right to medical treatment. Your health is the most important aspect of your case. The Law Offices of Alan M. Laskin will do everything they can to return you to the position you were in before you were injured. With one practice in Sacramento and another in Elk Grove, they represent accident victims throughout all of Sacramento County. You can schedule a free case evaluation with a compassionate lawyer on their team by calling (916) 689-0700. You can also visit their website to learn more about their attorneys.