If you are injured in an accident and are looking for compensation, you may be wondering how much your claim is worth? This is a natural question to ask. But first, it’s important to know whether you have a case.
The amount of compensation (called damages in law) depends on how the injuries have impacted your life and what you can prove with evidence. It is very difficult for a personal injury lawyer to give you an accurate estimate of your damages right at the start of your case because factors change over time and little is known about your case at the beginning. For instance, you may fully recover, partially recover, or never recover at all. Your income losses may be temporary, long-term, or permanent. Your injuries may at first appear minor but develop into lifelong struggles.
It will take some time for your injury lawyer to be able to give you a reasonable range of what your case is worth. Once more is known about your injuries (from you and your medical records), the impact on your ability to work (based on medical evidence and work history) and how much you had to pay for expenses such as medical expenses (receipts for past and future medical treatments), your lawyer will be in a better position to provide you with a range of damages you can expect to receive from your case.
Find Out How Much Your Personal Injury Claim is Worth
Factors that your lawyer will consider in assessing how much your injury case is worth include the following:
- Type, nature, extent and duration of your injuries and any resulting disabilities.
- Your pre-existing medical history.
- The impact of the incident and injuries on your ability to earn income.
- The cost of expenses such as medical expenses and future anticipated expenses.
- Your ability to resume your pre-accident functions and activities.
- Your overall recovery from the accident and whether you have a long-term disability.
- General impact of the accident and injuries on your life.
- Availability of alternative funding such as private disability insurance, government funding etc.
Our team of lawyers will assess the liability and damages issues in your case and start working right away on obtaining the needed evidence to support all types of damages you may be entitled to receive.
The types of damages you may be able to claim will depend on your facts but in general they include the following general heads of damages:
- General Damages (also known as non-pecuniary damages) which is an amount to compensate you for the pain and suffering and loss of enjoyment of life caused by the accident.
- Special Damages (also known as pecuniary damages) which includes amounts that can be mathematically calculated such as out of pocket expenses, medical expenses, housekeeping expenses, rehabilitation expenses, care expenses and loss of income or loss of earning capacity.
- Punitive Damages may apply where the conduct of the at-fault party or parties is particularly egregious or high handed. The purpose of the punitive damages is to punish the person responsible for your accident. This type of damage is rarely awarded.
- Legal costs associated with pursuing your claim which includes legal fees, legal expenses and HST.
Assessing damages is a complicated task, requires extensive work and in serious injury cases our lawyers often retain experts to calculate damages. The types of experts we retain include Occupational Therapists, Future Care Cost Assessors, Functional Abilities Experts, Actuaries, Economists, Income Loss Specialists, Accountants and Medical Experts.
Our lawyers are experienced in assessing damages and obtaining evidence to support your damages. To learn more about how we can help you, contact us at 613-563-1131 for a free consultation. We accept files on a No Fee Until You Win Basis called contingency fee agreement.
