When a friend does wrong by you, the hope is that you work things out with an explanation and an apology. When a stranger harms you through negligence, you’re entitled to more than an apology. You are due compensation to cover any losses you’ve suffered because of the negligent acts.
You can seek two core types of damages in a personal injury claim: economic and non-economic. Economic damages are items you can back up with a bill or invoice. They include the following:
- Emergency room visits
- Doctor visits
- Surgery
- Hospitalization
- Prescriptions
- Medical Supplies
- Lost Wages
- Car repairs (if applicable)
Non-economic damages are not as quantifiable. They must be defined on a case-by-case basis and assigned a unique value. An experienced Mount Vernon personal injury lawyer can support that calculation. First, you have to determine which non-economic damages would apply to your injuries.
What Qualifies as Non-Economic Damages in Illinois?
The best way to define a non-economic damage is anything that doesn’t have a bill attached to it. Those damages are different for each individual, but they can include the following:
Pain and Suffering
This would be all the physical discomfort, chronic pain, and ongoing complications you experience that are the direct result of an injury. The pain is what you feel. Suffering is how it affects your daily life.
For example, if you get into a car accident that breaks your arm, you’re going to feel that pain for several weeks. You may also be extremely uncomfortable as you go about your day or try to sleep at night. That would be the suffering.
Emotional Distress
It is very common for victims who have been involved in an accident to suffer from some level of emotional distress. That can show up as anxiety, depression, fear, psychological trauma, and other emotional issues such as PTSD. This can manifest as nightmares, recurring flashes of the accident that trigger stress and other anxiety, like fear of driving.
Therapy can help manage this, but it is an ongoing process.
Loss of Enjoyment of Life
Your injury might prevent you from participating in hobbies, recreational activities, family events, or other previously enjoyed experiences.
Disfigurement and Scarring
Permanent changes to your physical appearance could include scars from burns or surgery that cause you embarrassment.
Disability and Loss Of Normal Life
An injury such as a traumatic brain injury can leave you with physical or cognitive limitations that interfere with daily activities. That can affect your sense of independence and your personal relationships.
Loss of Consortium
In certain situations, an injury’s negative effects can affect a marital relationship, including companionship and intimacy.
Illinois law generally permits compensation for past occurrences from the date of the accident and for reasonably certain future non-economic losses.
How Are Non-Economic Damages Calculated?
Assigning value to non-economic damages is a unique challenge. No fixed chart lists costs for each line item. Instead, your attorney and insurance adjusters can use the multiplier or per diem method. Here’s how it works:
Multiplier Method
You multiply your total economic damages by a selected number between 1.5 and 5, depending on the injury’s severity. For example, if you are slated to receive $100,000 in economic damages, a 3 rating would mean an estimated $300,000 in non-economic damages.
Per Diem Method
A daily dollar amount is assigned to your pain and suffering and multiplied by the number of days affected. This method is often used for injuries with a fixed recovery period, such as a broken bone or whiplash. For example, $150 per day over 500 days would equal $75,000.
These are the circumstances that can determine the number assigned to your non-economic damages:
- Severity and nature of the injuries
- Duration of physical pain and medical treatment
- Whether the victim suffers permanent impairment or disfigurement
- Psychological and emotional consequences
- Interference with employment, family responsibilities, and recreational activities
- Expected future suffering and limitations
- Credibility and consistency of the supporting evidence
Keep in mind that these are informal, but widely accepted estimation techniques. Illinois law does not endorse these as formulas. If your claim goes into litigation, the courts do not require juries to use either method.
Evidence Needed to Prove Non-Economic Losses
You might have a receipt for therapy counseling, but you won’t have a receipt for the feelings of anxiety that brought you to the therapy. To prove your non-economic losses, you must provide direct evidence such as medical records, physicians’ assessments, psychological evaluations, and rehabilitation reports.
These can speak to the severity of your injury and the expected duration of your recovery.
You can further support your claim with personal journals that document daily pain levels, emotional difficulties, and missed activities. You can also add testimony from spouses, family members, friends, and coworkers. They can share how the aftermath of the accident has affected your personality, relationships, and lifestyle.
The Role of a Marion Injury Lawyer in Maximizing Recovery
The good news is that Illinois does not impose a statutory cap on non-economic damages in personal injury lawsuits. The bad news is there is no guarantee that you’ll get unlimited compensation. Any non-economic compensation must be supported by evidence.
Prince Law Firm can help prepare your claim and ensure you have the right evidence to support it. We have a proven track record of success with these types of cases. We only move forward if we’re confident in the outcome.
To find out whether your claim has merit and the extent of your non-economic damages, call our office to book a free consultation.
The guidance we provide at that first meeting will help you decide what to do next.
