Hand injuries are the second-most common type of nonfatal injury in the workplace that causes victims to take time off work. If your hand is injured in West Virginia due to someone else’s negligence, you may be eligible for compensation under West Virginia personal injury law. Contact a seasoned West Virginia Personal Injury Lawyer today.
How much compensation can you get for a hand injury?
Your compensation depends on several factors, so it’s impossible to accurately state a figure without evaluating your situation. Among them are the damages you and your attorney decide to pursue. There are three types of damages, namely:
Economic damages
Also referred to as special damages, economic damages are compensation for monetary losses incurred or will be incurred due to the injury. They include:
- Past, current, and future medical expenses
- Wage losses
- Lost earning capacity
- The economic value of domestic services
They are easy to calculate and track.
The amount you will be compensated as economic damages depends on the severity of the injury. Hand injuries can be superficial, resulting in a single day off work and a one-time low medical expense, or severe, resulting in broken bones and lowering the quality of your life.
An attorney can help you collect evidence that proves the injury’s past, current, and future monetary losses so you can claim compensation successfully. Some of the evidence for proving economic damages include:
- Receipts
- Bills
- Invoices
- Fair market value prices
- Medical documents and other paperwork
- Records from similar hand injury lawsuits
They can also use photographs of the scene or video footage. If you and your personal injury attorney prove economic damages, the amount compensated is the total of the expenses incurred and yet to be incurred due to the hand injury.
Non-economic damages
Non-economic damages are compensation for losses for:
- Emotional and physical pain and suffering
- Impairment
- Inconvenience
- Suffering
- Loss of enjoyment of life
- Loss of consortium
- Injury to reputation, etc.
Non-economic damages compensate the plaintiff for non-monetary losses brought by the hand injury. Similar to economic damages, they have no cap.
To be compensated, you need to provide concrete evidence of your non-monetary losses, which your attorney will help you collect. Some evidence includes:
- Medical records on your pain and suffering
- Evidence of medications to deal with mental anguish and physical pain
- Your testimony regarding the losses
- Testimony from family, friends, and colleagues explaining the physical or psychological toll the hand injury has on you.
Non-economic damages are not calculated as straightforwardly as economic damages. To determine the amount to claim, insurance companies and attorneys use a multiplier. A multiplier is a number between one and five. The more severe your hand injury is, the higher the multiplier.
The amount of non-economic damages is calculated as the total economic damages multiplied by the multiplier. Your attorney will evaluate the situation and advise you.
Punitive damages
Punitive damages, also known as exemplary damages, are awarded to punish the defendant for their conduct and to stop others from doing the same thing.
Are you eligible to make a hand injury compensation claim?
Not everyone has the grounds to make a hand injury compensation claim. If you answer yes to the questions below, you are eligible and can contact an attorney immediately if you don’t have one yet.
- Did the person you blame owe you a duty of care? (If you’re their employee, then yes)
- Was the duty of care breached, which resulted in the accident?
- Did you get a hand injury as a result of the accident?
Start the hand injury claims process
If you have hurt your hand due to someone’s negligence, you should not bear the monetary and non-monetary losses. You can claim compensation from the negligent party, which requires you to prove their negligence led to the injury.
A personal injury attorney from The Miley Legal Group can help you collect the evidence to prove your case and represent you in court as you recuperate from your hand injury. They can also help you pursue all the damages you are eligible for so you don’t leave any money on the table.