the law office of dennis p. ryan

Frequently Asked Questions For damages on personal injury claims

What Damages Can I Recover for my Personal Injury Claim

What Damages Can I Recover for a Personal Injury Claim?

While each personal injury case is unique, most New York personal injury cases involve the following type of damages:

What Are Economic Damages in a Personal Injury Case?

Economic damages include your medical bills, future medical bills, lost wages, future lost wages, loss of pensionable income and out-of-pocket expenses.

Your expenses and financial losses related to the accident, injuries, and recovery are included in economic damages.

Medical Bills/Cost of Medical Care

You are entitled to collect medical bills which may include Hospital Bills, Physical Therapy Bills, Chiropractic Bills, MRI/X-Ray Bills, surgical costs, ambulance services, home health aide bills and pharmacy bills. Insurance may cover some, but not all, of these bills. If you can prove that your medical bills are related to your accident, you may collect for your medical bills, including future medical bills.  Often times, you may need a Life Care Planner to estimate your future expected medical needs. If you are going to need medical care for the foreseeable future, this must be factored into the settlement.

LOST WAGES/FUTURE LOSS OF INCOME

If you miss time from work, you are entitled to bring a claim for your lost wages. If your injury forces you to retire or shorten your work life, you can also bring a claim for that. If your injury results in a lower pension for you, you may also bring a claim for that.

What Are Non-Economic Damages in a Personal Injury Case?

Non-economic damages represent the pain and suffering that an accident victim suffers as a result of their accident.

Examples of non-economic damages include:

  • Physical pain and suffering

  • Mental trauma and anguish

  • Emotional distress and anxiety caused by the accident and your injuries

  • Scarring and disfigurement 

  • Disabilities and permanent impairments

  • Loss of consortium (marital relations)

Calculating the Value of Your Damages

An injured person's claim often involves both economic and non-economic damages. Proving these claims often requires expert reports or testimony. Your attorney may need to hire an economist, a Life Care Planner and call some of your treating doctors to testify about your injuries.

Insurance Companies will try to minimize an injured person's damages by arguing that the pain and suffering isn't as bad as the Plaintiff claims. They will also argue that the economic damages are not as severe as the Plaintiff claims.

This is why it is critical to produce documents that show a Plaintiff's lost wages. These documents usually include W-2's, work contracts, invoices, bills and receipts.  

A Plaintiff's pain and suffering is based on the quality and quantity of the medical evidence. A Plaintiff needs to have medical evidence that the his/her injuries are related to the accident and also matches the Plaintiff's subjective claims of pain.

Call Our New York Personal Injury Firm for a Free Consultation

Figuring out the value of damages of a case is unchartered territory for most people. That's why someone involved in an accident should contact an attorney before accepting a settlement offer for a personal injury claim. If you have been involved in an accident, contact our office for a free case review We've been representing clients just like you for many years, working to secure compensation and bring justice to every case we take on.

If you're ready to partner with us, give Law Office of Dennis P. Ryan a call today at (212) 441-4352.

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recent results

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recent results |

  • The Law Office of Dennis P. Ryan was able to win an important motion to allow a Department of Sanitation Supervisor to bring a Personal Injury Claim against the City of New York. Anyone who plans to sue a municipality in the State of New York, must file a Notice of Claim within 90 days of the date of the accident. A New York City Sanitation Supervisor recently contacted our law firm 5 months after the accident, and more than 2 months after the Notice of Deadline had passed. Our office was successfully able to convince the Court that our client's claim fell under an exception and should be allowed to proceed. Our client is now likely going to be able to receive money for his pain pain and suffering and lost wages.

  • Our client was a Sanitation Worker who was hit by a car while he was servicing his route. He suffered an ankle injury that required him to go for Physical Therapy for 1-2 months. Even though he did not need any injections or surgery, we were able to convince the insurance company to offer the full amount of its $25,000 to settle the case. We were able to achieve this settlement before our client needed to appear for a deposition.

  • Our client was a Sanitation Worker who was hit by a car while he was servicing his route. He had to have a shoulder surgery and missed several months of work, losing Chart Money, Truck Money and Overtime Money. We filed a lawsuit on his behalf in Kings County (Brooklyn). Our office was able to settle case for the full amount of the driver's Insurance Policy. We were able to achieve this settlement before our client needed to appear for a deposition.

  • Our office was able to settle a case for the full amount of Insurance Policy for Pedestrian who tripped and fell on sidewalk in Nassau County. This was a tough case in a tough venue for Plaintiff's attorneys. Our client had contacted 2 previous law firms who declined her case because they thought it would be too difficult to obtain a settlement. Our office was not only able to settle the case but we were able to persuade the insurance company to offer the full amount of its insurance policy to settle the case.

  • Our office was able to obtain a settlement for $95,000 (out of a total of $100,000) for a Sanitation Supervisor who hurt his ankle in a car crash. The insurance company for the other driver made several motions to the court asking the Judge to dismiss the case. We were able to defeat each of these motions and eventually settle the case for $95,000. This was more than 3 times the initial settlement offer that the insurance company made.

  • Our client fell on a broken sidewalk in the Bronx in front of a 1 family house. We brought a lawsuit against the City of New York and the insurance company for the homeowner. Our client aggravated injuries to his ankle that he had suffered years ago while playing sports. The Insurance Company made a Motion to the Court asking to dismiss our case. We were able to defeat this Motion and we were eventually able to settle this case against the City of New York and the Insurance Company for a total of $75,000.

  • Our office was able to obtain a settlement of $97,500 out of a possible $100,000 in available insurance coverage for a Car Crash that happened in New Jersey. Our client was involved in a 2 car crash. She had a stop sign and the other driver did not have a stop sign. For that reason, the insurance company claimed that the crash was completely the fault of our client. Our firm hired investigators who canvassed the scene for witnesses, photos and videos of the crash. We were able to prove that the other driver was driving too fast for the intersection and was also at fault for the crash.

  • Our office was able to obtain a settlement of $170,000 for a woman who slipped and fell on ice on the stairs of the house that she rented an apartment at. Her landlord's insurance company argued that the landlord had done everything it could to prevent our client's fall. We were able to prove that the landlord had not properly shoveled and salted the steps before our client's fall.

  • Our Office settled a case for a Sanitation Worker who tripped and fell on uneven pavement inside his Sanitation Garage and hurt his ankle. The Worker had several prior Line of Duty Injuries (LODIs) where he had also hurt his ankle. Our office was able to prove that this LODI aggravated the old injuries and made the injuries worse.