Accidents involve more than just physical injuries and loss of income. They have an immediate impact on your health and well-being, but that’s not where their influence stops. In the days following an accident, you can find yourself contending not only with injuries, but with stress, emotional pain, and other mental conditions brought on by your circumstances.
These losses are known as “non-economic losses.” While they do not have an assigned dollar value, you can still include them in a civil complaint. Our attorneys at Setareh Law can present proof of their value and help you win the financial support you need to fully recover from your personal injury incident.
Economic Versus Non-Economic Losses
Injured parties have to contend with two kinds of losses after their accidents. Economic losses are losses that come with bills. These can include the cost of medical treatment or essential home care aids. Non-economic losses, comparatively, are more difficult to assign value to. These losses can include pain and suffering, emotional distress, and the effect of an accident on your mental health.
Economic losses are not inherently better than non-economic losses. Rather, it can be easier to calculate the value of economic losses. That, however, doesn’t bar you from requesting financial support based on your non-economic losses. You can reference legal precedent throughout the state to determine what other parties have received for non-economic losses similar to yours.
Common Non-Economic Losses
As mentioned, pain and suffering, emotional distress, and stress are some of the most common non-economic losses to appear in post-accident civil claims. Others can include:
- Inconvenience
- Loss of companionship
- Loss of consortium
- Loss of enjoyment of life
- Loss of society
- Wrongful death
You may even request non-economic damages for conditions like PTSD or accident-related trauma. These conditions do qualify as non-economic losses even if you pursue therapy for them because the conditions themselves do not come with a pre-assigned economic value. The conditions themselves are non-economic, while the cost of therapy or treatment constitutes an economic loss.
Non-Economic Multipliers and Your Accident Compensation
When attorneys calculate the value of your accident’s losses, they begin by establishing the cost of your economic recovery. These calculations can see you present all of the bills related to your recovery as evidence of the cost forced on you by a negligent party.
Once attorneys establish the economic value of your accident, we can use that number to elaborate on your non-economic losses. More specifically, we can apply a multiplier to your economic estimate. That multiplier, as pre-determined by the state, can represent the overall value of your accident’s non-economic expenses.
What Is the Purpose of Non-Economic Damages?
At first glance, calculating the non-economic losses related to your case may seem unnecessarily complicated. However, it’s important to acknowledge these losses as a consequence of your accident. When we estimate the value of these losses, we hold your pain and suffering in as high of a value as your physical injuries.
What’s more, calculating your non-economic damages allows us to help you fight for additional case compensation. Should you win your case, you can use this compensation to restore your previous quality of life.
Reach Out to a Personal Injury Lawyer at Setareh Law for Help Calculating Your Damages
As you’re recovering from an accident, you need to know all about your right to request financial support for your losses. Non-economic damages allow you to include unbillable losses, like emotional distress, in your accident claim.
If you’re struggling to estimate the compensation you might be owed after an accident, contact Setareh Law. Our attorneys can discuss the extent of your losses and how you can include them in a personal injury complaint. Call (310) 659-1826 or contact us online to schedule your first case consultation today. We also speak Spanish.