|
Statistics
Members: 237
News: 1054
Web Links: 17
Visitors: 640401
|
|
Compensation for Car Accident Injuries |
|
|
|
Seniors Choice, September 2005
If you are hurt in a car accident, you will be entitled to compensation for your injuries if someone else negligently caused the accident. There are different categories of compensation called "heads of damages," summarized below.
You will be entitled to your reasonable out of pocket expenses, including your bills for medical expenses, rehabilitation expenses, and drugs. It is important to keep receipts.
You will be entitled to a sum of money to compensate you for a reasonable estimate of the cost of future care if your injuries are permanent or of a long term nature, and you have ongoing expenses.
If you are employed outside of the home, and miss work because of your injuries, you are entitled to recover your loss of income.
You will be entitled to compensation for loss of earning capacity if you suffer a permanent or long-term injury that may affect your capacity to earn income in the future. In some cases injured people can still do their jobs, but their injuries may limit them from promotions or other opportunities. In these cases they have a valid claim for loss of earning capacity.
What if you do not work outside the home, but because of your injuries, you are unable to continue to do the housework. You would then have a claim for the expense of hiring people to do housework for you. Even if relatives do the housework for you, you may recover reasonable payments to them, or you may make a claim on their behalf to compensate those that have assisted you. It is important to keep a record of any housework your friends or relatives do for you in these circumstances.
If your injuries are of a permanent or long-term nature, you may be compensated for your loss of capacity to do housework.
In some cases, you may have only a small financial loss, but your injuries may cause you considerable pain, loss of sleep, diminish your ability to carry on and enjoy your hobbies, recreation, or volunteer work. You are entitled to compensation for your pain, suffering and loss of enjoyment of life. This head of damages is by its nature difficult to measure and fairly subjective. Judges will consider previous court decisions involving people with similar injuries when deciding how much to award for pain and suffering, but comparisons are often difficult, and even similar injuries will affect different people differently. If a case goes before a jury in British Columbia, the jury is not even told about previous court awards for damages for pain and suffering.
Comparing different awards in different cases can be problematic. Consider three people who have suffered the same permanent injury to a finger that significantly affects their piano playing ability. One is a famous young concert pianist, another is an amateur pianist, and the third doesn't play piano, nor does the finger injury affect the third's work or hobbies. The concert pianist would likely have a very large claim for hundreds of thousands of dollars or more, the amateur piano player would have much more modest claim, but would be entitled to significantly more for pain and suffering than would the third person.
If you have to sue the person at fault for an accident, and you are successful, the court may award you court costs which will provide you with compensation for a portion of your legal expenses.
It can be a difficult task to determine the amount of compensation someone is entitled to for his or her injuries. The process is not a science, but there are established principles that the courts apply when assessing compensation, and these principles can be used to negotiate settlements with the Insurance Corporation of British Columbia if one has a good understanding of them.
By Stanley Rule of the law firm Tinker, Churchill, Rule. You may read Stanley Rule's weblog, "Rule of Law" at http://rulelaw.blogspot.com |
|
Subscription
Special OfferOrder 12 ISSUES of the CHOICE for family and friends for only $12.00 plus gst (Canada only). Send your name and address and a cheque to Seniors Choice at Box 41075 RPO South, Lake Country, BC V4V 1Z7
MYRA CANYON KELOWNA BC
SILVER STAR VERNON BC
|
