By Susan Melony
If you decide that you’re going to file a lawsuit, then maybe you took quite a bit of time to arrive at that decision. Perhaps you talked about it with your family for days beforehand. They likely know the time and energy that must go into one of these lawsuits. Hopefully, if you decide to go in this direction, then they will support you.
Collecting non-economic damages might become necessary, as well as economic ones. The term non-economic damages means money that you ask for from a defendant that you can’t easily quantify. In other words, if you ask for money for something like your pain and suffering or loss of consortium, that would fall into this somewhat nebulous category.
You should know a few facts about asking for and potentially collecting non-economic damages in a personal injury case. We will talk about some of them right now that the average plaintiff might not know.
You won’t end up getting anywhere near the amount the jury says
First, you should know that you’re not likely to get anywhere near the amount that the jury says, assuming the case gets all the way to a jury’s verdict. That actually happens seldom.
More often, the plaintiff and the defendant will come to terms on a settlement before they get to the part of the trial where a jury must make a determination of whether the plaintiff should get any money. However, even if you agree to a settlement amount that incudes money for non-economic damages, you’re not going to get that full amount, either.
That’s mostly because you will still need to pay your lawyer a large chunk of the money you get. The average personal injury attorney might get anywhere from 30%-40% of your winnings.
You might also lose a little more of that money in taxes. While the state and federal governments mostly consider damages from personal injury cases nontaxable, a few exceptions to that rule still exist.
You can ask for any monetary amount
You may also not know that as a plaintiff, you can ask for just about any amount in non-economic damages that you want. You can ask for 10 billion dollars if you like.
Just because you ask for it, though, that doesn’t mean you will get it. Usually, you will want to talk to your personal injury lawyer before you ever get to trial or negotiate with the defendant and their legal team.
You can calculate the amount of economic damages you want to ask for, and then you and your attorney can discuss the non-economic damages that you’ll request. You can talk with your lawyer about a number that you think makes sense.
You will probably want to think about things like whether you will ever fully recover from the illness or injury that you allege the defendant or defendants caused. If you’ve sustained an injury from which you will never recover fully, then it makes sense that you will want to ask for a larger amount in non-economic damages.
A judge can change the amount a jury gives you
You should also know that when it comes to non-economic damages, the judge can step in and adjudicate further, even after a jury reaches a verdict. The judge might knock the amount of non-economic damages down that they think you should get if they feel that the jury overstepped.
However, a judge might also tack on some additional non-economic damages to the amount that the jury gives you. If they do that, then it probably means that they think the defendant did something particularly callous or egregious.
For instance, if a drunk driver consumed 20 beers and then smashed into your car, seriously injuring you, then the judge might increase the amount that you’ll get in non-economic damages if they don’t feel like it’s enough. If a company made a product that hurt you, and you will never fully recover, then the judge might reward you some additional money in non-economic damages as well.
A jury looks at precedent when determining the amount to give you
You should also understand that a jury will likely look at precedent when determining the amount that they should give you for non-economic damages, if the case ever gets that far. Earlier, we mentioned how the amount that you’ll get in non-economic damages can seem somewhat arbitrary. That’s because it’s hard to put an amount of money on something like pain and suffering or anything else of a non-economic nature for which you want compensation.
A jury can at least look at similar cases to yours when determining an amount that seems fair, though. If a judge feels they gave you too much or too little, then they can always step in and change the final number.
It’s easier to convince a jury your case is valid than to convict criminals
You should know one additional thing about non-economic damages that you might collect in a personal injury lawsuit. There’s an adage in the legal system. It states that it’s easier for you to get a judgment in your favor in a personal injury case than it would be for a prosecutor to secure a criminal conviction for an alleged criminal in a jury trial.
That’s because there’s not as much of a burden of proof that you and your lawyer must meet if you allege that a person or company harmed you. If you seem to demonstrate that you can point to the action or inaction of the defendant as the reason why you sustained an injury or got sick, you can probably get both non-economic and economic damages as a result.
To make this outcome more likely, you just need to provide as much material and anecdotal evidence as possible when it’s time to present your case. If you can speak on your behalf convincingly enough, that might get you the result you desire.
