Damages

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General Damages

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Consequences of an injury atare areal but cannot be evaluated in terms of typical monetary transactions are called general damages. These damages include, Pain and suffereing, inconvenience, mental angusih, disability, or disfigurement incurred by the injured party, emotional distress, losss of soceity and companionship, loss of consortium, injury to reputation and humilation, an destruction of the parent-child relationship.

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Pain and Suffering

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Pain and suffering is a subjective test and most states require medical expert testimony to support claims for pain and suffering for subjective injuries, injuries with which the time of pain claimed would not be obviously be associated.

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Additur

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A courts rasing damage amounts to justify what is reasonable (some jurisdictions do not allow).

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Remittitur

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a courts reducing of jury damage awards (all jurisdictions allow this)

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Survival Damages

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are awarded to the estate of the person whose death is caused by the tortfeasor's act

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Wrongful Death Damages

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are awarded to those who depend on the decedent for emotional or financial support.

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Survival Statutes (WILL BE ON FINAL)

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The victim may recovery damages through the victim's estate that would have been recovered by the victim had the victim survived. This undid the old common law that didn't allow people to recover from anothers estate to recover damages after a person was deceased (or killed). Essentially if you killed someone you were better off than had they survived.

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Wrongful death Statutes

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Pure wrongful death statutes create a new cause of action in favor of the victims for their loss occasioned by the death of the decedent (usually a family members loss).

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Per Diem Arguments

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Per diem arguments are usually expressed by the plaintiff's council suggesting to the jury amount of damages the plaintiff should be entitled each day multiplied by the time estimated the plaintiff will suffer pain and suffering.

Some states permit per diem arguments for pain and suffering amounts arguments suggesting that the jury consider a specific dollar amount for a unit of time multiplied by the length of time the plaintiff will suffer the pain. Some states don't allow these arguments at all. Some states allowing per diem arguments give juries specific cautionary instructions that the dollar amounts suggested by the attorney's making these arguments are not evidence and its up to the jury to decide on the proper pain and suffering award.

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Hedonic Damages

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Hedonic damages are losses related to the loss of the ability to enjoy life. In most states hedonic damages are considered separate from pain and suffering. They are based on evidence specific to the plaintiff.

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Lost wages damages

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The general rule for lost wages is to look at what the plaintiff earned before and after the accident for the remainder of the plaintiff's working life. For future lost wages two methods are used to estaimate lost wages: (1) Offset Present Value Method which cacluates the inflation each year based on the plaintiff's life expectancy then earnings are discounted to the present value by the "real" discount rate. (2) Total Offset Method the court does not discount to present valud but assumes that the effect of the future inflation will offset the interest rate.

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Punitive Damages

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Punitive damages are appropriate when an act was committed with malice, willfulness, or wanton and reckless disregard to the rights of others, or when the act was wrongful and attended with an insult or other circumstances of aggravation. Punitive damages are intended to punish and deter.

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Collateral Source Rule

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Allows an injured party to recover the value of medical treatement from a culpable party, irrespective of payment of actual medical expense by the injured party's insurance carrier. The purpose of the collateral source rule is to preserve the party's right to seek tort recovery from a tortfeasor without jeopardizing his or her right to receive insurance payments for medical care. The rule prohibits tortfeasors from reducing payment of a tort judgment by the amount of money received by an injured party from other sources and bars the submission of evidence that the injured plaintiff received payment for any part of his damages, including medical expenses, from other sources.