Uncategorized - January 8, 2025

How Is Compensation Determined in a Personal Injury Case in Georgia?

If you’ve been injured in an accident that was someone else’s fault, Georgia law allows you to bring a claim for personal injury, and this claim should cover all of your losses and damages. However, one of the difficult things about bringing such a claim is properly calculating what compensation you should ask for and then fighting for that fair number. A personal injury lawyer in Atlanta has the experience needed to help you do both.

How Is Compensation Determined in a Personal Injury Case in Georgia?

1. Considering Your Economic Damages

The first type of damages and losses to put into your calculation is your economic ones. These are also known as “special damages” and are everything that is quantifiable. The most common types of damages here will be lost wages due to inability to work and medical bills. You may also be seeking economic damages for a property damage and losses, as well, depending on the type of accident. 

Even if your medical bills have already been paid by your insurance company, you still have the right to claim the full amount of all of your bills, including emergency transport and treatment at the scene of an accident, hospital stays in surgery, ER bills, and bills for any medications or physical therapy needed to get you back to full health. If your medical bills have already been paid by your insurance company, your insurance company will expect to be reimbursed for those expenses out of your settlement.

Your lost wages may include more than just the hours that you didn’t work. For example, if you typically worked a certain number of overtime hours, and those overtime hours were available while you were injured, you may be able to claim for these if you were able to show how often you consistently took that overtime when it was available. If you have a workplace situation where you accrue leave time, you may be able to make a claim to compensate you for this, as well.

Finally, don’t forget that your economic damages may include all kinds of other things that are genuine monetary losses but are not so obvious. For example, if you had to pay for an Uber or a taxi to take you to medical appointments because you were unable to drive yourself, you should claim these in your settlement. If you had to pay for childcare because you were unable to pick up your children from work or take care of them like normal, these out-of-pocket expenses should also be included. Your lawyer will help you to make sure that you’re not missing anything here.

2. Consider Your Non-Economic Damages

Non-economic damages are sometimes called “general damages,” and many people think of them with the term “pain and suffering.” These are meant to compensate you not just for your pain but also for your emotional distress, bodily disfigurement, or loss of enjoyment of life due to an accident. These can be difficult to calculate for since they are by nature subjective. That makes these damages often the most contentious in any settlement discussions, and here in Georgia, the law requires the courts to come to an agreement about these damages based on “the enlightened conscience of a fair and impartial jury.”

One of the important things your lawyer will do for you is to help you make a case for what is fair and impartial when it comes to your non-economic damages. There are two common ways of calculating these damages. 

The Multplier Method

The multiplier method calculates all your economic damages and then multiplies that by a number between one and five to get a total for your non-economic damages. The more catastrophic your injuries, the higher the multiplier number will be. So, for example, if you were in a car accident and broke your arm, and it was a clean break that healed normally without complication, you might have a multiplier of one or two at the most. However, if that car accident paralyzed you, your multiplier would be much more likely to be four or five. Since a simple arm break will also have much lower medical bills than paralysis, the difference in the payment for non-economic damages in these two cases would be huge.

Per Diem Method

The multiplier method can sometimes be more difficult to use if you are bringing a case before a jury. A jury tends to just see that big number, and sometimes it strikes them as unfair, particularly if you’re bringing the case once you have mostly healed from your injuries. If it doesn’t “look” like you’re suffering, it can be harder for a jury to understand what you’ve been through. That’s why your lawyer might recommend the per diem method of calculating non-economic damages for your case.

With this method, instead of giving that big final number, you give a daily number, such as $100 for each day that you suffered from the injury. You can even give a range, such as $80-$120 a day. Sometimes juries find this easier to comprehend and are more likely to sign off on it, but only your lawyer can tell you what’s best to ask for in your case.

3. Consider Punitive Damages

Punitive damages are very rare, and only a personal injury lawyer in Atlanta with experience of Georgia’s laws can tell you whether this is something worth asking for in your case. These damages are not designed to compensate you. Their purpose is to punish the liable party if it can be shown that their behavior was particularly egregious. For there to be punitive damages, you must be able to show clearly that the other party harmed you fraudulently or with malice, or that they were so grossly negligent that you can argue what’s known as the “presumption of conscious indifference.”

4. Consider Your Own Fault

Georgia has a comparative negligence rule, so anyone who is more than 50% at fault for an accident cannot claim any damages, but everyone less than 50% at fault can. However, their damages will be reduced by the same percentage as their fault. The idea here is to acknowledge that there can be more than one person responsible for an accident, and everyone should bear the costs of the consequences in proportion to their own degree of fault.

If you were at fault to some degree, your lawyer will help you to calculate what percentage of your damages are likely to be lost due to this rule. So, for example, if your damages are $50,000, but you were considered 20% at fault, you would lose $10,000 of your total damages in the end.

Talk With a Personal Injury Lawyer in Atlanta

Whatever your situation, you should begin the process of calculating what your damages are by talking to an experienced personal injury attorney. Your attorney will make sure you don’t miss anything in your calculations and then help you argue for it convincingly, both in settlement discussions with the insurance company and in the courtroom, if it comes to that.

For experienced and aggressive representation in your personal injury lawsuit, contact us at T. Madden & Associates, P.C. in Atlanta, Jonesboro, Augusta, or Decatur, GA today.