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How Is A Personal Injury Lawsuit Amount Determined?

Personal Injury Law Firm in Louisiana, New Orleans, Metairie

When a person has been injured in some type of accident due to the negligence of another, the law says that the negligent party is responsible to pay the injured party for damages in connection with the accident. Obviously, the negligent party cannot change the fact that the injured party is injured, so money damages are how our law compensates an injured person at the expense of the negligent party or, as in most cases, the negligent party’s insurance company.

Types of Monetary Damages You May be Owed

Past and Present Medical Expenses

Everyone’s accident is different and, more specifically, everyone’s precise damages are different. The first type of money damages that an injured party is owed are medical expenses for both past and future medical care resulting from the accident in question. If you’ve been injured in an accident and have sought medical treatment, you will have incurred medical expenses.

Any accident-related medical expenses that you incur are recoverable via your personal injury claim. The law also allows for the recovery of future medical expenses which, more likely than not, will need to be expended for the injured person’s future medical care.

General Damages

The second type of money damages that an injured party is owed are called general damages. General damages may include loss of enjoyment of life, both past and future pain and suffering, and both past and future mental anguish. General damage awards differ with each case; typically, the more severely injured a person is, the higher their pain and suffering damages will be.

Loss of enjoyment damages differ with each case as well. For example, an avid tennis player injured in an auto accident who is no longer able to play tennis will have a higher amount of loss of enjoyment of life damages than a person who, after being in an accident, is still able to do all the things he or she enjoyed doing.

For pain and suffering damages, the longer an injured person sees a healthcare provider for treatment of his or her accident-related injuries, the larger the pain and suffering award will be.

Lost Wages and Loss of Earning Capacity

The next type of money damages a person who is injured in an accident can recover is lost wages and loss of earning capacity. Lost wages are wages that the injured person would have earned but did not earn due to the injury sustained.

For example: if a person made $10 per hour and worked 40 hours per week before the subject accident, and, after the accident, said person was only able to work 20 hours per week, the person’s lost wage claim would amount to $200 per week that the injured person was unable to work full time due to the accident.

Loss of earning capacity is a type of damage that quantifies the diminishing of a person’s ability to earn income in the future due to an injury. For example, if a person loses their hand in an accident and that person was a carpenter, that person can no longer work as a carpenter, so the law allows him to recover loss of earning capacity damages to compensate him for the loss of his ability to earn a living in the future.

Every case is different, and the damages owed to an injured client always depend on how the client was injured and what precise damages they incurred. Breaux Law Firm strives to get each and every dollar that our clients deserve as a result of our clients’ accidents.
Call Breaux Law Firm now for a FREE consultation to discuss your case. We are available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, at (504) 882-0545 or you can email us at info@breauxlaw.com.

 

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Frequently Asked Questions

We don’t get paid until you do. The attorneys of Breaux Law Firm have what is called a “contingency fee arrangement” with each and every one of our clients. A contingency fee arrangement means that the attorney’s fee is taken out of the total amount of money recovered for the client, once the client’s case is settled. The attorneys at Breaux Law Firm are happy to meet with you FOR FREE to discuss your case, to answer any questions you may have, and to let you know if we think you have a good case.

The short answer is YES. If you’re the owner or the driver of the motor vehicle you were in at the time of the accident and neither you nor the vehicle you were driving has automobile insurance, then the adverse insurance company will get a credit for the first $15,000 in damages that they would have otherwise owed you, as described below. If you were a passenger in a vehicle where neither it nor its driver has insurance, you will still be able to recover, because you’re not the owner nor the operator of the uninsured vehicle. The attorneys at Breaux Law Firm stay informed on all laws involving insurance and the other legal areas we practice. We take the guesswork out of Louisiana state laws, and guide you through the process of recovering the compensation you deserve.

“There shall be no recovery for the first fifteen thousand dollars of bodily injury and no recovery for the first twenty-five thousand dollars of property damage based on any cause or right of action arising out of a motor vehicle accident, for such injury or damages occasioned by an owner or operator of a motor vehicle involved in such accident who fails to own or maintain compulsory motor vehicle liability security.
La. Stat. Ann. § 32:866

Breaux Law Firm is licensed to practice law throughout the state of Louisiana. However, Breaux Law Firm, in conjunction with other respected attorneys, has also represented clients from many other states, including Texas, Mississippi, Alabama, Florida, North Carolina, Illinois, California, and more.

Our office hours are Monday through Friday, 8:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m., excluding holidays. Our office is located at 111 Veterans Memorial Blvd., Suite 1820, Metairie, LA 70005. You’ll find plenty of parking available in our visitor parking lot, along with a wheelchair-accessible ramp. Of course, you can always reach us through our 24-hour phone line at (504) 914-7779.

NO, YOU DO NOT. We don’t get paid until you do. The vast majority of the time, the conscientious attorneys at Breaux Law Firm will be able to let you know if your case is likely to succeed at the FREE initial consultation. If the case doesn’t work out, you owe us nothing and we will bear our own costs.

In Louisiana, you have ONE YEAR FROM THE DATE OF THE ACCIDENT to file a lawsuit to recover damages due to an accident; this concept is known as the statute of limitations or prescriptive period. Once your accident occurs, the clock starts ticking. The attorneys at Breaux Law Firm stay informed on all laws involving injury law, as well as the other legal areas we practice. We know that legal language can be confusing and hard to understand, as you can see below, so we work hard to make the process of filing a claim as easy and positive as possible.
“Delictual actions are subject to a liberative prescription of one year. This prescription commences to run from the day injury or damage is sustained.”
La. Civ. Code Ann. art. 3492

YES, the law office of Breaux Law Firm works with all types of medical providers and will assist you in obtaining the medical care that you need for your injuries.

There are several ways to take care of your property damage after an accident. The most common way is to make a claim against the liable insurance company which covered the at-fault party at the time of the accident. After making a claim against the liable insurance company, the liable insurance company is supposed to appraise the damage to your vehicle by sending an appraiser to inspect the vehicle wherever it’s located. Within a reasonable time, the liable insurance company is supposed to make a liability determination. If the insurance company accepts liability, they will put you in a rental car and arrange for your vehicle to be repaired. You’re entitled to a rental car, paid for by the liable insurance company, until your car is fixed and ready for you to pick up. The liability insurance company must adjust the property damage within thirty (30) days of their receiving a satisfactory proof of loss. The attorneys at Breaux Law Firm stay informed on all laws involving insurance and the other legal areas we practice, translating confusing legal jargon, as you see below, into clear guidance for our clients.
“All insurers shall make a written offer to settle any property damage claim, including a third-party claim, within thirty days after receipt of satisfactory proofs of loss of that claim.”
La. Stat. Ann. § 22:1892