Why You Should Hire a Lawyer to Ensure You Aren’t Leaving Money on the Table

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If you are injured due to someone or something else, then it might be possible to obtain compensation for your damages and injuries by initiating a personal injury lawsuit. If you are involved in a personal injury case, you might think that you can handle it without the help of a personal injury attorney, but you don’t know what you are entitled to, there is no way to be sure you aren’t leaving money on the table. The only way to know for sure that you are getting all that you deserve for your injury is to have the help of a trusted personal injury firms.

 

Do you have a personal injury case?

 

To have a personal injury case you must prove three main things related to your injury. The first thing that you must prove is that the person that you are suing had a duty of care. Duty of care means that the defendant in the case had a relationship with you involving an obligation to care for you. If you can establish a duty of care, then to win your personal injury suit, you must show that the person breached that duty. If you can also prove that your injuries were personal and that you have recoverable damages, your personal injury lawsuit has a higher chance of being successful.

 

What are you entitled to?

 

If you can prove your personal injury case, then you are entitled to both economic and noneconomic damages. Things like medical costs and lost wages are included in economic damages. noneconomic damages are other things that aren’t as concrete such as pain, suffering and emotional distress.

 

Unlike economic damages that are concrete and quantifiable, noneconomic damages tend to be more subjective. Since no two individuals experience suffering and pain in the same manner, putting a price on their experience is arbitrary at best. Therefore, if you don’t know what your pain and suffering is worth, there is no way to know if you are being offered a settlement that is fair. For this reason, you should consult a professional.

 

What is a settlement?

 

A staggering number of all personal injury lawsuits never see a courtroom–95% to be exact. Most cases are settled out of court during the negotiation phase of the case. The negotiation phase is where the defendant and the plaintiff work together to find a fair price to compensate the plaintiff for their injuries and damages. If the two parties can agree mutually, then the case doesn’t have to go to court.

 

A settlement is made by adding the economic and noneconomic damages together to come up with a price that will adequately compensate the victim. If you don’t know how to calculate noneconomic damages, there is no way for you to know if you are getting all that you are entitled to. If you don’t hire an attorney to represent you, then you are almost guaranteed not to get all that you deserve.

 

How are noneconomic damages calculated?

 

Representation for both the defendant and the plaintiff will calculate noneconomic damages using either the multiplier method or the per diem method.

 

The multiplier method is when someone’s injuries are rated on a scale of one to five, with five being the most severe. That rating becomes the multiplier. Once the economic damages are totaled, they are multiplied by the severity of the injuries and the product comes the total amount the noneconomic damages are worth.

 

The per diem method uses a daily allowance. The total noneconomic award is calculated by multiplying the daily allowance by the number of days that the person was injured.

 

It is likely that the two parties will have a different calculation of damages and injuries, especially when it comes to noneconomic damages. If you aren’t sure how to calculate noneconomic damages, you are not going to know what they are worth and you are likely going to receive less without a professional by your side.

 

Don’t struggle with a personal injury suit. Hire the right professional for the job.