Understanding Two Types of Damages in Paulding County Injury Settlements

by | Mar 13, 2020 | Personal Injury

A demand letter by a personal injury lawyer in Paulding County includes expenses legally known as hard costs or special damages. These are expenses that can be verified with an invoice, receipt or other financial documentation. The lawyer also might include a demand for general damages that do not have a specific monetary amount.

Special and General Damages

Special damages include expenses like lost wages, bills for hospitalization and surgery, and non-medical hired services such as housekeeping and child care. General damages address factors like physical pain and suffering, and emotional distress.

A Commonly Used Formula

A personal injury lawyer in Paulding County may use a mathematical formula to calculate a dollar amount for those intangible issues. For example, hard costs might equal $20,000. The injury attorney might double the hard costs when considering the general damages and then send a demand for a total amount of $40,000.

Negotiations

Insurance companies are more likely to dispute general damages. The adjusters might respond by denying any compensation for intangible costs, or they might include only a small amount. Negotiations may continue for some time.

Individuals trying to negotiate with insurance companies usually do not include any amount for general damages. If they do make the attempt, they are more likely to accept a settlement excluding those intangible costs. Attorneys are less easily intimidated by large corporate insurers and insist on a better result. A free consultation with Business Name can be scheduled.

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