Terms Plaintiffs Should Know About Personal Injury Damages

When a person is injured as a result of another person’s negligence, the financial and emotional expenses can be enormous. Accident victims are in danger of having a worse quality of life as a result of medical expenditures, missed income, and pain and suffering.

If you are the plaintiff in a personal injury case, there are a few terms that you may start hearing from your attorney or in the court proceedings. Make sure you are able to understand what is being said by learning the following terms:

Plaintiff: a person who brings a case against another in a court of law.

Defendant: an individual, company, or institution sued or accused in a court of law.

Liability: A legally enforceable claim on the assets of a business or property of an individual. In business, liability results from a breach of duty or obligation by act or failure to act. Liability also refers to the debt or obligation of a business in contrast to its assets.

Statute of Limitations: Any law that bars claims after a certain period of time passes after an injury. The period of time varies depending on the jurisdiction and the type of claim.

Duty of Care: an obligation to provide some measure of care toward another party.

Negligence: A failure to behave with the level of care that someone of ordinary prudence would have exercised under the same circumstances. The behavior usually consists of actions, but can also consist of omissions when there is some duty to act.

Burden of Proof: the standard that a party seeking to prove a fact in court must satisfy to have that fact legally established.

Compensation: Compensation is payment or remuneration for work or services performed or for harm suffered.

Economic Damages: the financial losses and expenses from a defendant’s negligent behavior. They are tangible expenses that include items such as medical bills, car repair, pay stubs for lost days at work, and others.

Noneconomic Damages: compensation for subjective, non-monetary losses such as pain, suffering, inconvenience, emotional distress, loss of society and companionship, loss of consortium, and loss of enjoyment of life.

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