Spinal cord injuries are very serious and can cause long-lasting and even permanent damage to someone’s body. While monetary compensation will not remove the pain and suffering someone has received due to their injuries, it can make living with the injuries a little easier. Having an experienced DC spinal cord injury lawyer by your side while you seek damages will make the process more efficient. A dedicated lawyer will work to help you receive what you are due.
Each personal injury attorney approaches the task of assessing damages in a different way. Overall, many spinal cord injury attorneys in DC draw upon their prior experience in handling cases to assess damages. Many cases are similar in terms of their injury, such as a spinal cord injury, a soft tissue injury, a broken bone, or a traumatic head injury, but, often times, can have something that makes it unique from all the others.
For example, the mechanism of injury may be different, the nature and extent of the injuries may be different, and the effect that the injury had on a particular person may be different when claimants are of different ages. Age is a factor that can affect the evaluation in many different ways. These various factors all have a role in how damages are assigned in a DC spinal cord injury case.
Attorneys consider the combination of all factors involved in a particular claim and try their best to boil the case down to a number. There is no exact science or mathematical calculation that can be done. Instead, it really comes down to experience and a strong command of all relevant facts.
Damages in DC spinal cord injury cases, as in all civil cases, consist of economic and non-economic damages. Economic damages are the medical bills that have been incurred, or may be incurred in the future, for injuries that were caused by the incident. Non-economic damages are awarded for non-tangible things, such as pain and suffering, inconvenience, and other more subjective factors.
When a case deals with a spinal cord injury that involves paralysis or some type of significant permanent ongoing disability, there may be an extra level of evaluation. This can include a physician opinion regarding the injured person’s expectation of recovery, and ongoing or future treatment among many other factors. In addition, there may be a potential evaluation by an economist, who would qualify as an expert witness, who can opine as to the injured person’s loss of earning capacity.
In terms of assessing damages, it is important for an attorney to have a good working relationship with their client in order to best assess damages. It is important for the client to keep their DC spinal cord injury lawyer involved in ongoing treatment, the current diagnosis, and the prognosis in terms of the level of recovery. It is vitally important for the client and the attorney to work together to evaluate all of these separate factors and determine what is the fair value for the claim. Open and direct communication means that a lawyer will be informed on their client’s condition and can assess damages with more accuracy.
