Articles Posted in Damages in Personal Injury Cases

 I was hurt in a car wreck.  My back and leg were injuried.  I don’t need surgery right now but who knows what will happen 10 years from now.  Can I settle my case for my medical bills, my lost wages, and my pain and suffering and an agreement that the at-fault driver will pay my future medical bills if I have any?

You can try, but in 30 years as a lawyer I have never seen the argument work.  If the at-fault driver’s insurance company believes that its driver is at fault and they want to settle the case, they want to settle all personal injury-related claims at one time.   (They will usually settle property damage claims seperately.)   They will not agree to leave open the issue of future medical expenses.

Thus, if a doctor says you will probably need a future surgery because of the injuries you sustained in the wreck, the cost of that surgery and related damages can be part of settlement negotiations.  If the doctor says that future surgery is possible, then the amount of the possible surgery cannot be included.  If there is a trial, the court will allow testimony only on whether a future surgery is probable and, if a doctor says it is, then the court will allow presentation of evidence on the cost of the surgery and related damages.

I have a personal injury case that must be filed in Tennessee.  Are there any caps on damages in these cases? 

Not under current law.  However, the Tennessee General Assembly has recently passed a law that the Governor is expected to sign that will cap non-economic losses in most cases at $750,000.  In a few cases the cap is raised to $1,000,000.

Non-economic damages are damages for pain, suffering, disfigurement, disability, and loss of enjoyment of life.

I haven’t filed tax returns in over filed years – I have been working and making money but I just didn’t get around to filing the returns.  I was hurt in a wreck and missed four weeks of work.  

You might, but if you push too hard you may find yourself in the situation where the IRS finds out that you have not filed tax returns and you may face criminal and civil penalties.   Also, if the jury finds out that you have not been filing tax returns and paying taxes as you should it may hurt your case.

Defendants in cases frequently ask for income tax returns to prove loss of earnings claims, and it your income is not reported it makes it very difficult to recover it.  This is often a problem in cases involving small business owners, who all too often understate their income and overstate their expenses in an effort to reduce their taxes.  Doing so is not only illegal but also hurts your ability to prove your true damages in a personal injury or wrongful death case.

My daughter is 21 years old and is a college student.  She is has no declared major but she is doing well in school.  She was in a bad car wreck and had severe injuries to her leg.  Can she include a claim for loss of future earnings as part of her personal injury claim? 

Yes, but she will have to be able to prove how the injuries affected her ability to earn money in the future.  This will require evidence of what she was wanted and able to do before the wreck and evidence of how the wreck limited those opportunities.  Those lost opportunities then need to be converted to dollars.

At our office, in appropriate cases, we utilize the service of a vocational expert to help us make the assessment of how an injury affects future work opportunities.  We then use an economist to demonstrate the amount of economic loss as a result.

What types of damages can be recovered in a personal injury case?

 In most personal injury cases, you can recover monetary damages for medical bills, past and future physical pain and suffering, past and future mental or emotional pain and suffering, loss of earning capacity, disability, lost capacity for the enjoyment of life, and disfigurement.  

These categories of damages are explained below.