You Can Get Compensation After an Accident…But Why?

When you are in an accident that is caused by someone else, and you are injured, you can get compensation for your injuries. You may know that. But why? Why does the law even allow this? It seems like a funny question–but it’s one that people in the general public often ask.

What’s the Goal?

The public often sees “suing people for money” as some kind of derogatory term, or something to be ashamed of, or something to be avoided. But the idea behind compensation for injuries is actually very simple, and even, quite moral: The goal is to make you whole again, as best as possible, for an accident that you didn’t cause.

Economic Damages

Most people have no real issue with economic damages, or out of pocket expenses, like lost wages or medical expenses. Most people understand that if you incur a medical bill or lose wages because of someone else’s actions, you shouldn’t have to pay or lose that money. You lose money because of someone else, you should get back that money, is the logic, which most understand.

Non-Economic Damages

But non-economic damages, such as compensation for pain, suffering, anxiety, loss of enjoyment of life, or similar damages, don’t have a price tag. It is less obvious how compensation helps accident victims who suffer these losses.

Many people say that money can’t bring back a loved one, or repair a broken bone, or stop us from being depressed after an accident. And that is somewhat true. But while money can’t undo any of these losses–it can make it easier to cope with them. Monetary compensation also acknowledges that these injuries, losses, or damages, have a value.

Ask yourself how much it is worth, for you to participate in your favorite hobby. Something that you perhaps love doing, or that defines you, or which makes your life a little bit better, because you can engage in that activity or hobby.

And now ask, if that activity was taken away from you through no fault of your own, and through the fault of someone else, how much money would adequately help your pain and sadness and sense of loss?

Money cannot fully compensate you for, say, the loss of the ability to carry your infant child because of your injury. But that doesn’t mean that that loss doesn’t have a value.

If I injure you, and I can still go home and carry my child, but you can’t because of the accident that I caused, how is that fair? Compensation helps make that a bit more fair–you get compensation for that loss, which I, who caused the accident, don’t get.

Ultimately, money isn’t everything–but it’s the best that we have in our legal system, and the fairest way of making an accident victim whole again after an accident.

Let’s talk about making you whole after your accident. Schedule a consultation with our Tampa personal injury lawyers at Barbas, Nunez, Sanders, Butler & Hovsepian today.

Source:

news.med.virginia.edu/mindfulness/2024/11/22/the-difference-between-pain-and-suffering/