You are legally entitled to a settlement if you have ever been injured in a personal injury accident where someone else was at fault. You’ll definitely hire a lawyer. The two of you can discuss the case at length. You need to understand how a personal injury lawyer will negotiate a settlement if you want to get a fair amount.
After that, you can decide if you want to sue the defendant in court or file a claim out of court. You may find it easier, faster, and cheaper to settle the case out of court. In any case, you need to know how to negotiate a personal injury settlement.
Before you start
Lawyers know that you need to see a doctor who is trained in treating your personal injuries before you can file any type of personal injury claim or lawsuit. The notes and documentation that the doctor will include in your medical records will serve as a baseline in terms of determining the type and amount of settlement that you can get. You need to follow some steps when trying to get a settlement:
Figure out what special damages are:
Special damages are also referred to as economic losses. Your personal injury lawyer will tell you this. The money that will be awarded will restore you to the condition that you were in before the accident took place. Another term for this is the ‘out-of-pocket rule.’ These damages tend to include:
● Lost wages
● Lost ability to earn
● Medical expenses
● Funeral expenses
● Property damage
Past economic losses – this is straightforward and easy to do. All that you and your personal injury lawyer have to do is add up some numbers to come up at a final amount. This is why you need to keep detailed accounts of all of your medical appointments and bills/statements/receipts that relate to medical expenses.
Future economic losses – this gets tricky since it’s hard to figure out what you could have earned in the future had you not been disabled because of your personal injury accident. You’ll probably have to hire a medical expert who will state that your claims for future economic losses are justified based on the personal injuries you have sustained and their long-term effects.
You may even need an economics expert to analyze what you could have earned and what you are currently foregoing in terms of income and wages because of your personal injuries.
You need to base your calculations on your expected retirement age, and life expectancy. Experts will take many financial and other factors into consideration when calculating and justifying your claims for lost future income and wages.
Calculating general damages
These are intangible. Money is only a rough substitute for these. These include:
● Physical pain and suffering
● Humiliation and embarrassment
● Shock and mental anguish
● Loss of reputation
● Loss of consortium
● Loss of social companionship
● Emotional distress
Damages are not straightforward
As you can see, there are many factors that go into calculating your damages and final settlement. Only a good injury lawyer in Kitchener that has ample experience at trials and negotiating an out of court settlement can help you get the deserved amount of compensation.