Should You Add Special Circumstances To Your Damages?

Sometimes an attorney’s awareness of a client’s special circumstances can push him/her to increase the size of the requested award for damages.

What might be added to requested compensation for lost income?

Possible chances for advancement: Those chances might have vanished, after the victim missed time at work, while recovering from injuries.

Vacation days: Some of the victim’s vacation days might have been used-up, due to the length of the victim’s recovery time.

Paid time off or days of personal leave: Those might no longer be available to the victim, since he/she had to stay away from work while recovering from the accident-linked injuries. The circumstances surrounding vacation days, paid time off or days of personal leave would relate to victims working for an employer. Those would not apply to someone that was self-employed, or to a contractor.

Loss of potential earnings: That could be requested if the victim had suffered a catastrophic injury. The effects of that injury could limit the victim’s ability to perform the duties associated with his/her position at the time of the harmful incident.

What might be added to the medical expenses?

Likelihood of a need for medical treatment of victim in the future, as follow-up to what had been received: The recipient of an implanted device would face a future in which there would be a chance that the same device might become infected. That would necessitate the same device’s removal and replacement, by means of yet another invasive, surgical procedure.

Likelihood for development of complications as a result of the prescribed treatment: That could include mention of the chances for emergence of problems, as the treated victim begins to age.

Proof of the likelihood for future medical treatment, or for a complication would need to come from the victim’s medical records. A judge would not expect to see mention of more than “likelihood” in the medical records. In other words, a doctor would not need to provide a timeline for development of possible complications.

What situation might push a lawyer to come forward with evidence of a victim’s right to seek an award for the added damages?

If the judge was ready to award the lawyer’s client with punitive damages, he/she might feel compelled to introduce the client’s right to compensation for additional damages. The judge would need to see a balance between the value of the punitive damages and the ones suggested by the plaintiff’s lawyer.

Lawyers’ efforts at seeking compensation for added damages increases, if a client could become the recipient of punitive damages. The government has the right to place a tax on a plaintiff’s punitive damages. Personal injury lawyers in Sudbury appreciate their clients desire to avoid such a tax.