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By Blaire Bayliss
When making the decision whether to hire a Denver personal injury attorney, one of the first things you might want to know is how much your case is worth. Especially for those with unpaid medical bills, those with upcoming medical treatment, or those who lost money following an injury, it may be important to quickly determine how much you might be able to recoup by bringing a case. In determining the amount your case is worth, a good attorney and their team should analyze the multiple types of damages available under the law, and should work with you to determine how much you can claim.
Most Damages Fall Into One of Two Categories: Economic Damages or Non-economic Damages.
“Economic damages” is a phrase that refers to a person’s financial losses as a result of an injury. If you lost money or incurred bills as a result of an injury, you suffered economic damages. It doesn’t have to be limited to the past either – future damages are also an important part of a personal injury claim. Some types of economic damages include:
After your injury, you may have sought medical treatment or physical therapy for your injuries. Take a look at your bill: any amount that your medical provider charged you may be recoverable as economic damages. This includes bills from doctors, surgeons, EMTs, physical therapists, therapists or psychiatrists, chiropractors, or anyone else who provided treatment or care for your injuries. If you paid for your medical treatment through Medicaid, Medicare, or health insurance, don’t worry: in Colorado, you can recover the total amount billed, not just the amount you paid out of pocket.
If you expect to have medical treatment in the future due to the injuries you suffered, you may be able to recover the cost of your future medical care as well. If your doctor has recommended future care or treatment for your injuries, you may be able to recover the full cost of any medical care or treatment you will need at any point in the future.
Many people take time off from work to recover after a car crash, slip and fall, or other type of personal injury. This means many people lose income or business opportunities as a direct result of their injuries. If you have documentation to show how much income you’ve lost, your lost income might be recoverable.
For example, if you are forced to take unpaid leave or time off from your job to recover or seek medical treatment, you may be able to recover the amount you would have earned during that time. If you work an hourly job and you keep track of how many hours of work you missed to recover from your injuries or go to the doctor for treatment, you may be able to recover the full amount of income you would have earned. If you work in a freelance or independent contracting position, you may be able to collect the amount of profit you would have earned from any jobs you had to turn down or business opportunities you lost due to your injuries.
If you believe you may lose some of your ability to work in the future, you may have a claim based on loss of earning capacity. For example, a person who has to permanently work one fewer hour per day due to their injuries might be able to recover an amount equal to their hourly wage multiplied by the number of working days that would have been left in their life if they were not injured.
If you suffered any property damage, you may be able to recover the amount of that property damage. The most common case is following a Denver car accident, where the individual who was hit may be entitled to the full value of damage to their vehicle. But property value damages can come in other forms, too. If any of your property was damaged or destroyed, you may be able to make a claim for anything you need to replace.
You may be able to recover most other expenses, no matter what they were, if they directly resulted from your injury. If you had to drive several hours to see a specialist your doctor recommended for your injuries, you may be able to recover the amount you spent on gas. If you had to buy medical devices or supportive equipment to help your pain, you may be able to recover the cost of those assistive devices. If you purchased over-the-counter pain medication, shoe inserts, or any other expenses to help you deal with your injuries, make sure to save your receipts!
“Non-Economic damages” include most types of damages which cannot be categorized as economic damages. These are losses for things that should never have to be bought or sold. So, we see them as the most important damages. Some types of non-economic damages include:
We have a bit of a unique non-economic damages scheme in Colorado, because some of our non-economic damages are capped by law, and some are not. In Colorado, if your injury took place before January 1, 2020, most non-economic damages are capped at $468,010.00. If your injury took place after January 1, 2020, the cap on most non-economic damages is $613,760.00. Damages for impairment or disfigurement are never capped.
Non-economic damages range widely, from case to case. Your Denver personal injury attorney can work with you to determine how much your case may be worth, and how much you may be able to claim in non-economic damages.
There’s no one-size-fits-all when it comes to how much a case might be worth. A good lawyer will consider your case carefully after investigating it thoroughly and reviewing all of the relevant documents. While the above examples may be recoverable in some cases, other cases might warrant other types of damages. Our attorneys recognize that your case is unique, and will work with you to make sure you are paid back the full and fair value of everything taken from you as a result of your injuries.